My Passage to India 2018
By Jay Chauhan
E.M. Foster wrote the novel ‘Passage to India” and published it in 1924. lt became one of the top selling novels in English. It is a fictional story of the Indian and British relationships in the pre-second world war period of the 1920ies when the racial divide between the British and the Indians had reached it height. The story of love between a British woman and an Indian man would have been unthinkable at that time as E.M. Foster eloquently portrays.
The background of the story shows the status Britain enjoyed as a super power with 60 colonies and the largest Empire in history at that time. When Foster wrote the novel, British had ruled India since 1857 and by 1924 had brought down the morale and confidence of Indian people and civilization. The forbidden relationship of an Indian man and English woman, as portrayed through the characters of Dr. Aziz and Ms. Adela Fielding, was reflected in the drama of their relationship in India. Ms. Adela Fielding, as an English woman, and Dr. Aziz was an Indian medical doctor. Adela coming from England at that time was more open minded and encounters Dr. Aziz. She accepts his invitation to visit Malabar caves where Adela panics in the cave. She accuses the innocent Dr. Aziz of assault. In this fictional story, this is followed by a trial where Adela finally retracts her accusation and Dr. Aziz is acquitted.
The awkward relationship between the European and the Indian characters is displayed by the English writer with surprising amount of understanding of the culture of the time. E.M. Foster had visited India in 1912 and saw the cultural hierarchy between Europeans and Indians, and the divide between the Muslims and Hindus. The behavior of Dr. Aziz more clearly shown in the movie, based on this novel, how he interacted with European characters. The author showed the way British lived it up in India and interacted with the local Indians and each character in varying degrees treated the Indians according to respect or contempt they had for Indians in their own country.
This British and Indian relationship in the 1920es, which formed the backdrop of this remarkable novel, was in stark contrast to the prior period of Anglo-Indian relationship which began with the voyages that English ships conducted to trade between England and India. The trading relationship of England with India began in 1600 to purchase spices, silk and trade with a nation which had enjoyed centuries of dominant economic status in the entire world, and the highest GDP of any country totaling 25% of the world GDP. India was a magnet not just to England but most European countries in that period.
Knowing the opportunities for trade, King James wrote a request through Sir Thomas Roe in 1614 to then ruling Moghul Emperor Jahangir who was contemptuous of the gifts he was receiving from the British Monarch, but managed to write a polite letter responding to the request for trade and said:
“When your Majesty shall open this letter let your royal heart be as fresh as a sweet garden. Let all people make reverence at your gate; let your throne be advanced higher; amongst the greatness of the kings of the prophet Jesus, let your Majesty be the greatest, and all monarchies derive their counsel and wisdom from your breast as from a fountain, that the law of the majesty of Jesus may revive and flourish under your protection……
I have commanded all my governors and captains to give them freedom answerable to their own desires; to sell, buy, and to transport into their country at their pleasure.”
There was no hint in the novel of E.M. Foster of the relationship of India and England in any dialogues of the time between 1600 and 1800 when English treated Indians with great respect and were inspired by the opulence of the elite of India. Men came by long voyages around the cape of good hope, before Suez Canal was built, and many men who came single married Indian women, learnt to be white Newabs, wearing the Indian costumes and spoke Hindustani, as told in the novel of William Dalrymple, called ‘White Mughals’. Aa a result there are many Anglo Indians living in India today.
East India Company traded for centuries, but contrary to the permission to trade, assembled its own army, and attacked Mugal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, in 1857, took over Delhi and India, and put control of India in the hands of the British Monarch and Parliament. It took mere 50 to 75 years to transform the respectful relationship to that of humiliation. The English language and customs became the norm, and English came to be addressed as “Sir” and “Madam”. The Indian costumes which the British wore in India were replaced by the shirt and tie and suit with the expectations that Indian follow suit.
In my view good literature and characters in the novels should be seen from the perspective of the time in history that the novel portrays. From that point of view Shashi Tharoor has published excellent analysis of the British Raj in India. He published ‘Inglorious Empire’ in England and the same book that demystifies the pretence of bringing civilization to India was titled “An Era of Darkness” in India. On my recent trip to India I chose the Indian version of the book and bought it at Mumbai airport and read it on my passage to India in December of 2018. It was an eye opener for me.
I have made my passage to India from Canada for nearly 20 years now, and I have watched India transform from the humiliated society after independence to a confident society in the last 20 years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India is regaining its past glory of ancient civilization that can now once again compete in the world where economics determines the worth of a civilization. India now demonstrates growth rates of 7.5 % per annum, and can send successful missions to Mars, and maintain the largest democratic state in the world and has nuclear power. Its citizens now own some of the largest enterprise in car and steel manufacturing in England and have the highest average family incomes in United States. As I saw Gujarat and Mumbai recently, I feel that India is no longer the same as Foster describes.
In my novel, “Love in the Empire”, I have illustrated through a non-fictional autobiographical story of Arun, how the men-women relationships have played out in the 1960ies when the migration reversed and the colonial citizens moved to England. The story in ‘Love in the Empire’ narrates the life of Gujarati Indians who helped the British build many colonies, including the East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zanzibar. After the end of the British Empire and second world war, many migrated to England and Canada where men and women relationships began to change.
It is in the context of this change that I wrote my autobiographical style non-fiction novel, which portrays story of a Gujarati Indian who falls in love with an English woman in England in the 1960ies. It is the story of challenges both face to find love and make professional careers in the west. The novel describes the challenges of careers, love and ambition through the characters of Lisa and Arun who meet in Europe but end up in Canada, which as a country has more liberal attitudes to multiculturalism as shown by the current prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
*Jay Chauhan is a lawyer and author of Love in the Empire novel published in Canada by North Star Publications.