He observed the rudiments of the contemporary orthodox Hindu in Toto and tried, through his literary projection, to expose it. And, the Emilee Cola and the Balzac of Indian Writing in English, is the champion of the underdogs, the suppressed and the deprived in the India society. The thematic corpus of Mull Raja And consists preponderantly of the concerns of the depressed and the underprivileged classes in the Indian society. And is often castigated as being a propagandist, rather than a littérateur. His reviewers, however, fail to take stock of his artistic skills.
And is known more to be a novelist. His short stories have not comparatively received as much critical attention and acclaim. But, the fact is that his short stories, like is novels , also are of equal literary and social significance. Some Of his stories really are literary masterpieces and do invite critical attention and appreciation. One of his remarkable short stories is The Barber’s Trade Union (1944). Unlike others, Mull Raja Naiad’s literary focus is on the very people with whom he frolicked, played right from his childhood, namely, the repressed, the downtrodden, the untouchables in the society.
He himself acknowledges in the preface to Two Leaves and a Bud “All these heroes as the other men and women who had emerged in my novels and short stories, were dear to me because they were the fleeting of real people I had known during my childhood and youth, They were flesh of my flesh and blood of my blood and obsessed me in the way in which certain beings obsess an artist’s soul. And I was doing no more than what a writer does when he sees to interpret the truth from the realities Of life”.
And very vehemently favors art for the sake of life. Mull Raja Naiad’s concentration has always been on the eradication of social stigmas like chastise, intractability, unequal social gradation and stratification based on birth. He believes that man should be known by his worth and not by birth. He utilizes art with a view to fulfilling this intent. The social blots have been in the Indian society for ages together. And has a deep sense of sympathy for the depressed, their plight and predicament and calls them truly heroic.
On one hand he exposes the economic disparity among the Indian people and on the other hits hard against the age-old inhuman, base traditions which rendered these unfortunate sections of the society equal to the savage. This kind of hard stricture is conspicuous both in his novels and short stories as well. Bake, the protagonist in his debut novel untouchable Mono, the rotations in the novel collie like Chance, the protagonist in the short story under study – The Barber’s SHOO D SQUAMISH AJAR MULL NANA N SINS-0974-2832 Trade union all testify to the atrocities, coercion to which these ill-fated masses are subjected.
As mentioned, Chance , a barber boy, is the protagonist in the short story. He is quite unlike Bake and Mono in the sense that both of them are submissive and succumb to circumstances. Chance is dynamic and by the dint of his candor and ingenuity, he emerges triumphant at the end of the story, He turns out quite capable of penetrating the labyrinth of the hoary inhuman traditions. The story basically depicts the conflict between Chance and the orthodox, reactionary society, with the former turning out to be victorious and the latter at the receiving end.
The theme of the story is the exploitation of the oppressed at the hands of the so – called caste Hindus with a comic touch. Mull Raja And fully concedes dignity to man irrespective of his status. The short Story witnesses restitution of dignity to the protagonist robbed by the reactionary. The setting of the novel is typically Indian. The narrator Of the Story partakes in every single development in the story and as full allegiance to Chance, his friend, philosopher and guide. Mull Raja And has succeeded in maintaining the humorous vein throughout the story, elevating Chance.
At the very outset of the story, Mull Raja And wittily mentions -“Among the makers of modern India, Chance, the barber boy of our village, has a place which will be denied him unless press for the recognition of his contribution to history”. As we move on, Chance’s multifarious and realistic character is revealed to us. He is good at reciting poetry, but is bad at mathematics. He is not, however, solely responsible for it. He has to ply his hereditary profession at the sheets of his father. His schooling comes to a complete standstill on account of his fathers demise.
At a tender age, Chance embarks upon fulfilled domestic responsibility. Every morning Chance has to make errands to the notables in the village for shaving and hair-cutting. All goes well and the set ordered is not disturbed unless Chance starts going to the Talk for transacting business. He observes certain novelties there, particularly the rig out Of doctor Klan Khan- a white turban, a white rubber coat and a leather bag in hand. He is uncontrollably fascinated towards the apparel. He has attraction for the medical repression as he has bequeathed some medical tips and snippets from his father.
Chance’s new attire brings about great glamour and chaos in the village 22 “KS ‘k lee{ k VOLVO. I * ISSUE?16 RAN’ IRASCIBILITY/29954 when he approaches the landlord’s house. The landlord, an ideologue of dogmatism and orthodoxy, having seen Chance in the new robe, mortifies Chance in the foulest terms. The landlord reprimands calling Chance -the son of a pig! Get out ! Get out You will defile my religion”. It is a fact that innocent low -caste people like Chance are always treated with humiliation for fault Of theirs. Did Chance commit any blemish or lender by wearing a dress like doctor Klan Khan’s ?
The conservative society always prefers injustice and oppression. Chance is impelled to realize that due to his being a low-caste boy, he is not entitled to such felicity and that he is perpetually harnessed to serve the upper caste society. This is his ineradicable destiny and that he is bound to be in it. The village Sahara, too, goes one step ahead and deals with Chance in harshest possible terms -You little swine, you go on disguising yourself as a clown Bandit paranoid, the keeper of the village shrine, also bullies saying -“He is a low caste devil!
He is a rogue! ” Chance is thoroughly humiliated and exasperated at this treatment. There is a distinct discrepancy between Chance and Mull Raja And’5 other protagonists like Bake and Mono. They would have wilted, submitted and succumbed to the circumstance as normal creatures of circumstance would have. But Chance is entirely unlike them. He is one in hundreds and hundreds in one. He is intent on topped- targeting everything orthodox. He is representative of the modern man in the modern world.
Chance, insulted and affronted though, instead of giving into the village superiors, adopts a course of action with a view to teaching the idiots a lesson. His course of action is a course of revolt. He desires to change his fate and fate Of his fellow – brothers by way of overcoming his predicament. Despite his being a mere barber boy, he has prowess to outwit and outsmart others. With a view to teaching the orthodox idiots a lesson, he ceases to dance attendance to the village notables and others for shaving and hair -cutting.
Instead, he frequents the town for earning. Within a few days, the outcome is easily visible, causing a great problem and inconvenience, Chance is so shrewd and cunning that e has already had his Versa counterpart in his league. The result is that the landlord looks hoary and his wife has even threatened to leave him. The Sahara looks like a leper with the brown tinge of tobacco on his vs. j ewe Y;kid u Sins-09740832 moustache. The elders in the village become a stock subject of laughter. Chance very conveniently succeeds in his plan of non. Operation. The villagers approach the barber at Versa with a double money offer, but in vain. The villagers reel under the new situation while Chance makes hey in the town. He summons all the barbers in the purview of seven miles and convinces them that it was high time hat all the elders came to them and that they must stop dancing attendance to them. And thus, they launch into “Ratio District Barber Brothers’ Hairdressing and Shaving Saloon” and thus become the harbinger and herald of the new era of freedom and justice.
Chance’s victory assumes greater significance especially in the backdrop of the orthodox and inhuman traditions in the Indian society. VOLVO. * ISSUE? 16 RAIN RACIAL,’singsongs His triumph restores sanity to the situation. It is not a win which belongs only to Chance. It is victory of justice, parity, morality and rejuvenation Of human dignity. In the nineteen thirties, when Mull Raja And penned the Story, social stigmas like chastise, intractability were rampant. The proletariat’s and the ‘have – onto’ had no human dignity, being rendered to a barbaric and sub-human status.
