The Eternal Silence of These Infinite Crowds. - N.C. Chaudhari
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The author and an introduction to his essay:-
Nirad Chandra Chaudhuri (born. 1897) is one of the most controversial Indian writers in English. He gave up government service to edit The Modern Review", and then resigned his job as editor to become a free-lance journalist. The publication of his book, "The Autobiography of an unknown Indian in 1951 shot him into fame. His other books, "A Passage to England and "The Continent of Circe" have been no less controversial. But the fact remains that he is a commentator on men and manners, and his language has a charm and grace of its own.
The piece presented here has been taken from "A Passage to England"
About Ths Lesson
The writer, N.C. Chaudhuri tells us about his visiting in England with one of his English friends or with reference to places and towns. He contrasts his visiting in England to traveling in Delhi buses. Particularly he shows a contrast between the nature of Indian fellow-travellers in Delhi to that of English fellow-travellers in England. In Delhi buses which are generally crowded. with one gets introduced to another readily and they beguile the tedium of their journey by cheerful and helpful talks to one another. They are, for the time-being atleast, very generous, very cordial and very amicable. Even they enjoy making new friends. But in England fellow passengers, particularly in underground train do not talk much. They bury their faces in newspapers and scarcely look around them for new faces. They show their indifference but Indian fellow-passengers, as has been observed by the writer in Delhi buses, cannot remain silent for even a couple of minutes, nor do they like silence around them in a bus or in a railway compartment. They are mostly noisy and noise, to them, is an essential features of a cheerful life just as warmth of the sun is to our life.
The writer continues to talk about the silent nature of English people. When he was in England, he visited their pubs and restaurants and he found mostly silence everywhere. Every thing is smoothly done and people talk least. But in India people are almost everywhere talkative especially at the dinner table or in tea and coffee houses. They talk on all affairs even very private ones.
On the other hand, the writer says, the English people hate noisy talking They work silently. The writer, when he was in England, saw unending streams of people going along Oxford street without any sound, looking like long lines of ants going into their holes. In their pubs and restaurants also one sees silence. Everything is smoothly done and people talk least. The writer once, in a restaurant in England, broached a topic for conversation to an English of his, but the latter simply gave a pithy answer and closed the topic, showing that he was not discourteous but the pithy answer was enough to avoid further discussion.
Further, the writer talks of strange and funny things that Indian fellow travellers do. In a crowded fast moving bus, passengers lean against one another's bodies and deem it their privilege to do so. Rather, they ridicule the idea if anybody objects to their leaning against the other's body saying "Are you a woman who avoids a stranger's touching her body in a fast moving bus where one cannot remain steady.
Again, if a person not having a watch in his wrist very freely twists another passenger's wrist to see time on his wrist watch. Also, remarks about one another's dress is very common. A passenger once remarked that the writers topee' was heavier than his whole body whereupon the writer had to retort that it was not bigger than the observers turban. A similar funny remark was made by another passenger when he saw the writer jerking his head because of some irritable sensation caused by heat and his tight tie and collar. The remark was, "It is a habit or a disease. The writer had to ward it off somehow.
There are other details of funny things like an objection to the writer's standing at the exit door of the bus so as to alight quickly as soon as the bus stops or showing unwanted sympathy to the writer by exchanging his bad coin with a good one rupees note and so on. Also it was amusing to see the passengers quarreling over trifles and the driver's annoyance when he halts the bus and goes out returning only when the passengers personally go to appease him. there are cases when an abnormal person tries to commit suicide by trying to jump out of a fast moving bus. All these incidents shows that there are people of varied nature and temperament traveling in a Delhi bus and the writer, out of humour, calls Delhi bus a miniature representation of our national life. Again, the happenings at a bus stop in Delhi are quite extraordinary from the western standards. The frequency of buses is sometimes very low and they are late by half on hour or more. So generally people try to beguile the boring time of waiting by gossiping about multifarious topics private or public. Once such a talkative person engaged himself with the writer in talking about his own personal affairs like the marriage of his daughter and the litigation he had entered into against his own father who wanted to disinherit him of his property. The writer had to hear willy- nilly for a long time till he reached his destination.
The writer concludes his essay with a remark that overall Indians are generous, helpful and social though, they are mostly noisy and thinking noise to be an essential element of a cheerful life, while the English men are silence-loving, selfish in the sense that they keep reserved and they desire
Detailed study paragraph wise:-
Para I & II
When visiting.................... warmth of the sun
The writer, Nirad C. Chaudhari, talks of his visiting in England where he had no difficulty in moving about even in obscure corners because he had with him either an English friend or references to places and towns. He contrasts visiting in England to his moving about mostly in buses in India, particularly in Delhi, the capital of India. Also, he contrasts the nature and behaviour of the fellow- passengers in India to that of the English fellow passengers in England. In India passengers get warmly introduced to one another but show their indifference or chilliness when they come to the end of their journey. whereas in England fellow-passengers neither become very close to one another nor do they show their indifference or chilliness at the end of their journey.
Indian fellow-passengers cannot remain silent while travelling in a bus or in a train. Also, they do not like the silence of their neighbors in a train or bus. Cattle and English men do like silence. In India heartiness as also bad temper accompanied by a lot of noise is very common. To them noise is as essential for cheerfulness as warmth of the sun for life.
Para III & IV
For this reason ......................frighten me.
Summary:
The writer reads in a column of a newspaper about the silent habits of the English people and of their hateful behaviour in the underground trains where they could think of nothing better than bury their faces in their newspapers. This corresponds to the writer's own experience of English character when be was in England. He saw unending streams of people going along Oxford street without any sound, looking like long lines of ants going into their holes.
Para V & VI
I met the same silence................respect.
The writer continues to talk about the silent nature of the English people. When he was in England, he visited their pubs and restaurants and found mostly silence there. Everything is smoothly done and people talk least. In India people are very talkative specially when they are at the dinner table or in tea and coffee houses. They can't help conversing on public or private affairs. But in England things are different. Even in hotels and restaurants which are public places, people are generally silent. The writer narrates his own experience when in a restaurant he asked something to his English friend at the dining table, the latter made a very brief reply which though courteously made, was insufficient. Englishmea, however, are used to hearing comments about their silent habits particularly from the French people and other Europeans.
Para VII & VIII
In the buses of Delhi..................... his joke.
The writer talks of his experiences of Indian people travelling with him in crowded buses Delhi. Passengers lean against one another's body and they deem it as their privilege because if somebody objects to it, they are annoyed and remark "are you lady passenger who avoids being touched a man". It is difficult to keep steady in a moving bus in India where buses are generally over-crowded. Secondly it is very common in a bus to know time by frankly twisting another passengers wrist with a watch on, and this too they think to be their privilege while travelling with one having a watch on his wrist. Again conversation in buses is very common. They talk on all sorts of topics whether public or private. Also they are free to make remark about the dress or otherwise of a fellow passenger. A passenger remarked that the writer's 'topple' was heavier than his whole body, where upon the writer had to retort that his 'topple' was not bigger than the turban of the person joking with him.
Para IX & X
The writer tells about a funny experience he had while travelling in a Delhi bus. While travelling in a hot season the writer was jerking his head and perking it like a bird because of the inconvenience of wearing a tie and a collar, a passenger irritated him by asking if it was a habit or a disease to move his head like that. The writer felt very bad. Again, the conductor of the bus, by mistake, took a wrong turning causing great furor among the passengers. An other nuisance is that passengers often pick up newspaper leaves or even books belonging to other passengers and this has to be tolerated by the owners who otherwise are termed to be ungentlemanly.
Para XI & XII
I have the heart of ...................for some time.
The fellow passengers did not like the writer's heart of standing at the door of the carriage to get down as soon as the train stopped. The writer also felt that some passengers were too officious to offer help to him when he had with him a bad coin which the conductor had not accepted. One of them did not the writer by snatching that coin from the writer's hand and giving him a good one- rupee note mislead. The writer is of opinion that in a Delhi bus you can see people of different temperament and so it can be called a microscope of our national life. The quarrelling tendency of passengers compel sometime the driver of the bus to stop and park the bus aside and go out and stand aide till the quarrel subsided.
Para XIII, XIV & XV
Gist: The happening at a bus stop in Delhi are extra-ordinary from Western standards. The frequency of buses is sometimes very low and they are taken by half an hour or more. So,generally, people try to occupy the time which is otherwise very boring in all sorts of irrelevant talks. One incident has been narrated by the writer himself. A gentleman accosted the writer and after being introduced to him began to tell the writer something about his young daughter, and his young son and about their purpose of visiting different places in Delhi and then he began to rele the most irrelevant thing i.e. his litigation with his own father giving causes for the litigation in detail so much that the writer felt simply bored.
Para, XV, XI, & XVII
Gist-After persuading the writer to give a patient hearing to his round-about talk, the gentleman narrated whatever he wanted to do and at the end of his talk he wanted to know the name and address of the writer. On the writer's refusing to give his whereabouts the gentleman revealed that he wanted to send to him some mangoes of his own arched as a present of love giving the gentleman the pleasure of his company. The writer, however, thanked him for his kind offer adding that there was no occasion to oblige him with a gift like that. But the writer, draws a conclusion that while Indian people are large-hearted making no distinction between a VIP and an ordinary man, the English men are cold in their behaviour towards others, particularly towards their fellow.