I am reading Under African Skies which is a collection of modern African short stories. Each one is a master piece.
Apartheid, hunger, civil war- the stories are centered on these themes. The writings are touching but at the same time the styles are good. What I wonder is modern day Indian writings might have become shallow because our bellies are filled and we are obsessed with material things. We do not know what real suffering is.
The story which touched me is about a family in SA where there is boycot of consumer goods to oppose apartheid. People are not supposed to shop. Husband and children do not understand this at all. They keep asking the mother, why there is no food when there is money. The wife finally decides to catch a bus and buy some groceries and bring them stealthily to feed these people. When coming back she is caught by comrades who snatch her bag, spill all the food packets and stampon them. She narrates this to her husband and then mentions that her teen age son was among these comrades. But she has saved some of the groceries by hiding them in her dress. She cooks with these and feeds the family. In the midnight the son comes and asks for food. Mother asks him to get it from the road where he and his friends have spilled it. He keeps asking her. Then father gets up and scolds the son. In the fight, in a fit of anger father hits the son with a stick and son bleeds to death. What do we say for this? Should we appreciate the son for his idealism or critisize his meanness for expecting food even after all this. How does the father live now with a guilt of murdering his own son? How do these comrades expect people to survive without buying any food.
Apartheid, hunger, civil war- the stories are centered on these themes. The writings are touching but at the same time the styles are good. What I wonder is modern day Indian writings might have become shallow because our bellies are filled and we are obsessed with material things. We do not know what real suffering is.
The story which touched me is about a family in SA where there is boycot of consumer goods to oppose apartheid. People are not supposed to shop. Husband and children do not understand this at all. They keep asking the mother, why there is no food when there is money. The wife finally decides to catch a bus and buy some groceries and bring them stealthily to feed these people. When coming back she is caught by comrades who snatch her bag, spill all the food packets and stampon them. She narrates this to her husband and then mentions that her teen age son was among these comrades. But she has saved some of the groceries by hiding them in her dress. She cooks with these and feeds the family. In the midnight the son comes and asks for food. Mother asks him to get it from the road where he and his friends have spilled it. He keeps asking her. Then father gets up and scolds the son. In the fight, in a fit of anger father hits the son with a stick and son bleeds to death. What do we say for this? Should we appreciate the son for his idealism or critisize his meanness for expecting food even after all this. How does the father live now with a guilt of murdering his own son? How do these comrades expect people to survive without buying any food.
Comments
Post a Comment