Shashi Tharoor’s works normally resound with rhetoric of multiple sociocultural affairs. Riot is also not an exception to the rule. In fact, Riot “confirms Shashi Tharoor as a major voice in contemporary literature.” Some of the great reviewers appreciate its concern with the multiple kinds of social, political and cultural affairs in varying degrees. Shobori Ganguli finds it touching ‘a rather raw nerve of contemporary Indian Politics.’ Adam Goodheart considers it as ‘a basic parable of the modern world, with its random human encounters, clashes of cultures and garbles international communiques.’
There are reviewers, like Renuka Narayan who has not been able to digest these collisions and so sensed it as ‘a dark elegy to India.’ The authors believe she has taken only the negative side of conflicts and collisions. She has failed to appreciate that it is not democracy which is at fault but the way we practice it. The appalling quality of our leadership may be a matter of concern to us, but the solutions to the flaws of democracy also lie in democracy itself not outside democracy.
Shashi Tharoor himself has confessed in many of his interviews that the novel is full of collisions of various sorts — personal, political, emotional and violent. This major voice has tried to solve different kinds of global problems as a senior official of the UN for more than two decades. Besides, he has searched the way-out of pacifying communalism and violence plaguing Indian awareness to a great extent. Naturally, this novel discusses various types of conflicts between individuals, between cultures, between ideologies and between religions. This article aims to answer some really interesting questions with regard to these conflicts:
- Is Riot really riotous in terms of multiplicity of conflicts?
- Do all the conflicts contribute significantly to the development of the plot of the novel?
- Is it not imperative for the west to tread carefully and understand the host (Indian) culture before barging in with its ideas?
- Should India’s multiple identities be considered the main cause of hatred between communities?
- Do many clashes and conflicts occur as a result of contending narratives? Are these narratives often based on recapitulations of history?
- Is gossip more potent than truth in Indian culture? Can it cause even a great disaster?
The Plot and Its Conflicts
The novel centres on Priscilla Hart, a 24-year-old American volunteer working in association with ‘Help-Us.’ She is involved in developing awareness among women about population control. However, she does not find anything changing as women are still so submissive that they cannot raise a question even for their welfare rather they submit to the demand of their men folk and accept any number of pregnancies happily. This is a great conflict, which is difficult to resolve for Priscilla. She herself acknowledges that her task is not so easy but at the same time it is difficult because religion, age-old traditions and the male’s ego intervene in getting her objective achieved.
The American version of the novel has been labeled “A Love Story.” This is really a sensual but ill-fated romance between Priscilla Hart and V Lakshman (nicknamed Lucky), an older married government official positioned as the district Magistrate. This relationship brings to surface several kinds of conflicts, like the conflict between the existential need and social expectations. Lakshman, though deeply in love with Priscilla Hart, refuses to go with her, as he does not want to lose his social image, his job and his daughter.
Conflict of Standards and Social Taboos
On occasions, Priscilla has been shown to question the very foundation of the traditional Indian marriage system where the elders of the family arrange the marriage. On a close scrutiny, the affair with the American lady paints a conflict between Lakshman’s being and nothingness. His whole being cries for this woman so much that he is unable to remain away from her even for a week. This also brings to the surface some of the so-called social taboos, like sex for discussion in a very bold way as sex also plays a very vital role in bringing this civil servant closer to the foreign researcher.
Connected to the conflict of standards in Indian society is the conflict between the scientific facts and public opinion. Priscilla is shocked to find that even now ordinary people believe that a lady is responsible for the birth of a girl or a boy not the gentleman. Through Sundari, Tharoor experiences the trauma and pangs of the evil of dowry. Kadambri calls it our major concern: “That is the real issue, for women in India. Not population control, but violence against women, in our own homes” (p. 249).
Communal Conflicts
As Riot is a product of increasing communalism, it is always concerned about the growing gap between the two communities — the Hindu and the Muslim. In the novel Ram Charan Gupta represents the Hindu ideology but Moh’d Sarwar articulates the Muslim one. Lakshman and Gurinder have been shown being neutral and always dancing as puppets in the hands of politicians.
However, the world is known for having varieties of people with different perspectives. Tharoor considers India as ‘an extraordinary, polyglot, polychrome, poly-confessional, country with five major resources of division — language, region, castes and sub-castes, class, and religion.’ Though, himself a practicing Hindu, he does not subscribe to Gupta’s points of view in constructing a temple with bricks and cement, rather he advocates building a temple in people’s hearts.
Multiplicity of Narrators and Pluralism
Riot portrays different types of conflict — of people, attitudes, philosophies, religions, loves and hatreds. Therefore, it was difficult to have just one point of view and naturally, a multitude of narrators was needed to have, presumably, different points of view. In addition, the theme of juxtaposition, used by narrators, also lends greatness to the novel. A national narrative has been sharply contrasted with the narrative of individual love and loss. This brings it closer to the category of the great novels, like Anna Karenina, of the world.
Tharoor keeps on repeating that given the enormous challenges of India’s ethnic, religious and linguistic diversities, only an all-inclusive pluralism will guarantee the survival and success of the Indian nation.
Works Cited
- Ganguli, Shobori. “The Great Indian Novelist Returns with a Riot.” The Pioneer, August 18, 2001.
- Goodheart, Adam. “Mr Right is Mr Wrong.” New York Times, 25 November 2001.
- Harvard International Review. “Of Novels and Nations: A Diverse Life in a Diverse World.” Intelligence, Vol 24(3), Fall 2002.
- Narayan, Renuka. “Big Stories, Little Lives.” The Express Magazine, August 26, 2001.
- Patil, G.M. Shashi Tharoor: His Vision and Art. New Delhi: Creative Books, 2007.
- Tharoor, Shashi. “The Indic Civilization.” Weekend: Khaleej Times, 15-21 February, 2008.
- Wiesel, Elie. “Shashi Tharoor.” Online.