The
Rat is a short story, originally written in Tamil, by Ashokamitran, a prominent
figure in the post-independence Tamil literature scene. The story, as
summarized below, deals with a middle-aged and ordinary man’s attempt to
capture a rat that frequently visits his house at night. Before I continue
however, it is important to understand the mindset possessed by the writer
while crafting this story.
As
quoted from an exclusive interview of Ashokamitran with the newspaper The
Hindu:
_____________
Ashokamitran is suspicious of anything that has even a
hint of the grandiose. Try spinning parallels between philosophical notions and
the ordinary characters portrayed in his stories, and pat comes the reply:
“Anda madari pretentions kadiyade (there aren't such
pretentions here). I have written a story and it should be read and enjoyed as
a story.”
_____________
As can be gleaned from the above
extract, as well as the story itself, Ashokamitran does not seek to write in
the form of complex parables, as is the case with many other writers. Instead,
he writes about the world he knows. His stories are set in cities, either
Hyderabad or, in this case, Chennai. His characters are mostly middle-class
people, dealing with the small and inevitable problems of everyday urban life.
He often pays attention to, what is on the surface, an uneventful moment, and
then slowly zooms in, giving the reader an up-close look at the inner workings
of the human mind. This type of writing style is prominent in “The Rat”.
The story begins with the main
character, the narrator operating under the name of the man Ganesan, returning
home after work one day. Finding that there is no vadai or udappam left in the
house for him to bait the rat with, he finds himself irritated and goes to bed.
Around ten-o’clock however, he hears a rustling in the kitchen, the sound of
the rat knocking over the jars of oil. He rushes to the kitchen with his wife
just as the rat scurries away. He then gets involved in a heated argument with
his wife, as to why the latter doesn’t save any dosais or vadais for the rat.
The argument ends with Ganesan hurling an onion at his wife, and storming out
the front door in search of vadais. Unable to find any vendors selling vadais,
he continues searching, walking further and further. Seeing a crowd of 40 odd
people in the distance, he makes his way towards them. He observes a man
speaking emphatically on political issues to the crowd. Nearby however, he sees
a wala frying bajis on a cart nearby.
After waiting for a while, the vendor fries a batch of vadais and Ganesan takes
two, eating one himself and saving the other as bait. He returns home, sets the
trap and sleeps. In the morning he finds that the rat has been caught. Rather than killing it, Ganesan walks a fair
distance and lets it loose. As the rat scurries away to freedom, a crow swoops
down from the sky, snapping up the rat and carrying it away. A sense of dark
irony is also created in the final lines by the fact that, even the next
morning, the rat had not eaten the vadai placed in the trap.
The story is quite a simple one,
dealing primarily with the seemingly ordinary tale of a middle-class
urban-dweller in which the writer details his night-out in search of bait for
the rat trap. The rat has the last laugh, it gets caught in the trap, and there
is devastating irony in it leaving the bait untouched. However, there does
appear to be a glimmer of symbolism present throughout the tale. The end of the
story, in which Ganesan frees the rat, only to see it killed, examines the
complex relationship between man and animal. As is the case with many of
Ashokamitran’s other stories, the concept of how humans are in a constant
relationship with their surroundings, is reinforced gradually and continually
by the narrative as the story progresses. The fight between a man and a rat
that he is set to capture, is both physical and psychological in Ashokamitran's
story ‘The Rat’. While the former wins the physical battle, the rat
gets his moral victory over his captor.
There also appears to be an
unmistakable attempt by the author to draw parallels between humans and rats
throughout the short story. Just as rats congregate and are entrapped by the
irresistible allure of food, so are humans, as shown by the writer. In an
attempt to buy bait with which to catch the rat, Ganesan ventures to a nearby
opening, where a large number of people have gathered, listening to a man
giving a speech, and swarms of them trying to buy food from the nearby vendor.
The imagery and descriptive details used by the writer, serve to indicate the
lack of difference between the two species, an example of which, is shown
below.
_____________
With a long
perforated ladle, sizzling hot snacks were being taken out of bubbling peanut
oil and placed on a tray from which they were being sold off in bare seconds. Ganesan
went and stood near the pushcart. Like submarines immersed in the ocean, 20
chillies doused in batter were frying in the oil. A man nearby kept saying,
"Make vadais, ayya! Vadais" But the next time round it was chilli
bajjis again. Ganesan, too, said "Make vadais, ayya! There seemed to be a
great demand for chilli bajjis. One fellow got out of a car, ordered "Pack
up eight bajjis," and went to urinate into the darkness…
An uneasy feeling
came over Ganesan. There was a sizeable crowd around the cart. Everybody was
waiting for their orders…
_____________
Another
interesting theme present throughout the text, is the plight of the lower
middle class man. A sense of oddity with a hint of envy is evoked by the
sentence:
_____________
Every night in those
two rooms, in that little space where the ten of them could not sleep or eat at
the same time, four or five rats cavorted and frisked about with the utmost
freedom.
_____________
It
seems almost as if Ganesan is envious of the rats. While he is crammed into a
far too small room with far too many people, the rats wander freely. Another
comparison that could be gleaned from the passage would be the comparison of
the middle class man to the rat of the story.
The main character’s name is also
particularly important. In Hindu
mythology, the god Ganesha is accompanied by his mouse. The story behind this
is as follows: (As taken from an online
source)
______________
The below has been taken from an outer source
Once there was a demon called Gajamugasuran. He was a great devotee of Shiva and pleased with his presence, Shiva granted him some boons. Gajamugasuran became very proud and powerful and he started troubling the gods. Tired of his antics, the gods asked Shiva to save them from Gajamugasuran. Shiva sent Ganesha to help the gods. Ganesha went with several weapons such as bow and arrow, sword, and even an axe to destroy Gajamugasuran. But the demon had been given boon that none of these weapons could cause him harm, so Ganesha's attempts to destroy the demon proved to be ineffective. Finally, Gajamugasuran took the form of a small mouse and rushed towards Ganesha. Ganesha was very clever and immediately sat on the little mouse. Gajamugasuran was defeated and was forced to apologize for his deeds. Since then, Ganesha is always accompanied by a mouse as his vehicle.
______________
thanks a lot Vibhav !! interesting comparison between the rat and the legend of Gajamugasuran.
ReplyDeleteThanks for uploading this..
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot
ReplyDeleteThank u so much it's very use full to us to understand
ReplyDeletePls put essay in short story to understand
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