FINAL SOLUTIONS- IMP QUESTIONS - SHORT NOTES - SEMESTER III - B C A & B B A

 

FINAL SOLUTIONS

IMP QUESTIONS

 

Answer the following questions in a word or phrase each.

1) Which character in the play maintains a diary?

Ans. Daksha (Hardika) maintains a diary in the play.

 

2) Name the city where the Gandhi family lived before India became independent?

Ans. Amargoan

 

3) Who was Daksha’s favourite singer?

Ans. Noor Jahan

 

4) Name the friend at whose house Daksha listened to her favourite songs on the gramophone.

Ans. Zarina

 

5) What happened to the Pujari during the chariot procession?

Ans. Someone had stabbed the pujari during the chariot procession.

 

6) When did Hardika’s family migrate to India?

Ans. Hardika’s family migrated to India after independent.

 

7) Mention the real reason Bobby had come to Amargoan.

Ans. In search of job for Javed

 

8) Whom does Daksha refer to as “gaju” in the play?

Ans. Daksha’s mother-in-law.

 

9) How did Smita know Bobby?

Ans. Bobby was Tasneem fiancé and Tasneem was Smita’s classmate.

 

10)What business was Ramink engaged in?

Ans. Ramink had a saree shop in kapada Bazar.

 

11)What was Bobby’s real name?

Ans. Babban

 

12)Mention the real reason Javed had come to Amargaon.

Ans. He came to kill pujari in the procession.

 

13)Does Javed accept the job offered to him by Raminik?

Ans. No

 

14)Who demand that Javed and Bobby be handed over to them?

Ans. Aruna

 

15)Who is referred to as “Wagh” in the play?

Ans. Daksha’s father-in-law.

 

16)Who are called “traitors” by the mob?

Ans. Ramink Gandhi and his family.

 

17)What does Booby pick up in the puja room?

Ans. Krishna’s idol.

 

18)How is Bobby related to Tasneem?

Ans. Bobby was Tasneem’s fiancé.

 

19)What happened to the chariot during the procession?

Ans. The chariot had damaged and fell down during the procession.

 

Answer the following in a sentence or two each.

1) Why does the mob call the Gandhi family as “traitors”?

Ans. The mob called the Gandhi family as traitors because Ramnik Gandhi had given shelter to Bobby and Javed after knowing incident which occurred during the chariot procession.

 

2) Why does the warden of the Girls Hostel phone the police?

Ans. The warden of the Girls Hostel phoned the police because someone had bombed the hostel and

everyone was frightened.

 

3) Why had Babban changed his name to Bobby?

Ans. Babban had changed his name to Bobby because everyone was making fun of his name as baboon rather than calling him Babban.

 

4) What incident made Javed very bitter towards Hindus?

Ans. Javed happened to touch a letter of his Hindu neighbour who abused the former badly.

 

5) Who had burned Zarine’s father’s shop and why?

Ans. Hardika’s father in law and her husband had set the shop of Zarine’s father on fire.

 

CHARACTER SKETCH/ SHORT NOTES

1) Daksha

Daksha is the young bride of fifteen. Article intends to discuss the cross migration of Daksha to Hardika, adaptation of a married girl, giving up her former identity, interests, dreams

and bearing new identity, the character of Daksha in the play Final Solutions. Hardika is the mother of Ramnik. She is also known as Daksha in the play when the play revolves around the past. Daksha writes down everything in her diary because diary is her best friend. Right from her first day at her in laws house to making a new Muslim friend namely Zarine, she writes down everything in her diary. The diary symbolizes the past and the present. Daksha as a young girl in the past writes down everything on the pages of her diary and Hardika in the present, teaches things to her family about the past, from her diary. Daksha at her young age, had a Muslim friend whose name was Zarine. Zarine’s house was the only place for Daksha where she could found some solace and freedom. Daksha was fond of the Noor Jehan songs and she could hear the songs only at Zarine’s place. Zarine and Daksha were good friends, but their friendship was not meant to be last forever. Daksha’s father was killed by the Muslims in a riot and from then onwards Daksha started to hate the minority people. Infact she lost all her faith from her Lord Krishna as well. Daksha is a such a character who symbolizes the majority or the Hindus and their sufferings as well.

 

2) Hardika

Hardika, along with Javed, is the most important characters for us to understand the psychology of people who have stereotypical notions and prejudiced thoughts about. It is also important to note that it is because of stereotypes and prejudices that people persuade themselves to commit inhumane acts such as murders and riots. Hardika has the scare of the loss that she suffered in Hussainabad by the hands of Muslims which made her prejudiced against Muslims and because of this prejudice Hardika cannot like Javed but has a favourable opinion for Bobby. The reason for her having no problem with Bobby is that she thinks Bobby is Hindu as the name suggests. Hardika and Javed are both against each other; they have no connection to each other’s problem. They suggest the common human psyche in such situations. Hardika and Javed are the products of a discourse in which the image of a targeted community is projected as being ‘other’, which fills people with hatred for each other. This hatred further leads to the next step of releasing the frustration caused by the toxic of hate leading to riots,–because of which they are prejudiced and have forgotten human values.

 

3) Ramnik

Ramnik Gandhi, son of Hardika, is a very liberal minded man and he doesn’t support the communal hatred, he doesn’t support the hatred of his mother towards the Muslims because he knew the truth which his mother was unaware of. He even gives refuge to the two Muslim guys in his house because he wanted to atone the sin committed by his father and grandfather in the past. Ramnik knew this truth but he did not reveal this to his mother because he did not want his mother to suffer more. He just tried proves himself to be a true secularist. Ramnik even thinks of giving a job to Javed so that he can earn his livelihood in an honest and peaceful way and in this way he can get rid of the guilt. As Ramnik quoted: - “And we burnt it, your husband, my father, and his father. They had burnt it in the name of communal hatred, because we wanted a shop. Also they learnt that . . . those people were planning to start a mill like our own. I can’t take it any longer. I don’t think I will be able to step into that shop again . . . When those boys came here, I thought I would . . . I hoped I would be able to . . . set things right. I-I wanted to tell them that they are not the only ones who have destroyed. I just couldn’t. I don’t think I have the face to tell anyone.”

 

4) Javed

Javed is a Muslim boy in the play. He is a young baffled boy who becomes a victim and a terrorist. The politicians exploit him in the name of Jehad, the Holy War. Javed takes training for the terrorist activities. He goes rather he is sent to a street where the Hindus live. The street is also known as Mohalla. The Rath Yatra procession comes on to the street and there comes many people who join in the procession. Javed feels happy as he comes there to work for the holy war. He throws a stone at first to the procession to create a chaos. He had the responsibility of murdering the pujari or the priest of the Ratha Yatra. Javed moves towards the pujari with a knife in his hand, he gets mingled in the crowd. Though Javed has the responsibility to kill the pujari, he fails to do so. The knife fails down from his hand and he feels nauseous and thinks in his mind that what he is doing in the procession. This state of mind of Javed clearly shows that, though he is a terrorist, he has heart of a human being as well. Moreover he doesn’t have the courage to kill a person who is innocent. Javed is not the actual murderer of the pujari, infact the knife fails down from his hand and he clearly beholds that someone else takes up the knife from the ground and kills the pujari. He becomes the victim of his fate. The charge of the murder comes on him though he did not murder. Javed talks about the police department who never arrest the main culprits when it is necessary to do so. He says that police always harass the innocent and common people and that is the reason the victims lose their faith from them. Mahesh Dattani through the character Javed brings forth the true nature of the police department who show negligence to the work.

 

5) Bobby

Bobby, whose original name is Babban, is a friend of Javed. Though he is also a Muslim like Javed, he doesn’t want to show that off to the world and that is the reason he changes his name from Babban to Bobby when he goes to college. Unlike Javed, Bobby has a control over his temper and he doesn’t react angrily in all the situations. He is the one who saves Javed from the Ratha Yatra procession and takes refuge in the house of Ramnik Gandhi. Bobby is the one who makes Aruna, wife of Ramnik, to understand that God doesn’t differentiate between people. To Him all are equal. This is evident from the following quote,:- See, Javed! He doesn’t humiliate you. He doesn’t cringe from my touch. He welcomes the warmth of my hand. He feels me. And he welcomes it! I told Him who is sacred to them, but I do not commit sacrilege. (To Aruna) You can bathe Him day and night, you can splash holy waters on Him but you cannot remove my touch from His form. You cannot remove my smell with sandal paste and attars and fragrant flowers because it belongs to a human being who believes, and tolerates, and respects what other human beings believe. This is the strongest fragrance in the world! Bobby also believes in believing one another. He feels and says that if people believe in one another, then nothing can be destroyed.

 

6) SMITA

Smita, daughter of Aruna and granddaughter of Hardika is a girl of modern period. She believes in liberal ideology and she doesn’t support her mother’s activities from heart, though she helps her in all the household chores and work of her God. She loves her mother but at one point of time she feels stifled and expresses her feelings to Aruna. She requests her mother not to bind her with prejudices any more. She even did not have hatred for the Muslims as her close friend is a Muslim girl whose name is Tasneem. Smita is a girl who believes in liberal ideology. She does help her mom in her pooja work because she loves her mom but she doesn’t personally support all the things from heart. Rather at one point of time she gets tired of her mother’s prejudices and conveys her feelings to her mother. And Smita quoted as:- “Please, mummy, don’t try so hard! You are breaking me. Ever since I was small, you have been at me to go to the temple, make garlands, listen to you reading from the Gita. I love you, mummy, that’s why I did that. I listened to u and I obeyed you. I tolerated your prejudices only because you are my mother. Maybe I should have told you earlier, but I’m telling you now, I can’t bear it! Please don’t burden me anymore! I can’t take it!”

 

7) ARUNA

Aruna, wife of Ramnik Gandhi, is a typical Indian house wife who is a God-fearing person as well. Aruna represents the second generation. Aruna, daughter in law of Hardika is a typical Indian house wife who is seen busy in doing pooja and household chores most of the time in the play. She even teaches her daughter to learn the works of God and the household chores as well. Aruna is very particular about her God and she can never really compromise with anything when it comes to her God She has spent her whole life in pooja path and she doesn’t like to compromise with anything that is related to her God. She also believes that everybody has their own way to worship God. She strongly dislikes the decision of her husband, the decision of allowing the Muslim boys to stay with them under the same roof. Aruna did have sympathy for the two boys, but at the same time she was scared of them as well. Infact, when Javed tries to help her out by filling up the drinking water, she clearly tells him that outsiders are not allowed to fetch or fill water in their house.

 

WOMEN IN THE PLAY

Dattani has always given importance to women in his plays. The women in his plays are sometimes meek, submissive, and calm and cool in nature. Whereas sometimes they are intelligent, brave, courageous and protest when required. In this particular play Dattani talks about three different women who represent three different generations. Hardika represents the first generation; Aruna represents the second generation and Smita represents the third generation. Hardika, is also known as Daksha in the play, who has seen the partition of India and the communal tension as well. Hardika even talks about her father’s dream of an independent India. Hardika is such a woman who did love the Muslims until they killed her father in a communal riot. Aruna, daughter in law of Hardika is a typical Indian house wife who is seen busy in doing Pooja and household chores most of the time in the play. She even teaches her daughter to learn the works of God and the household chores as well. Aruna is very particular about her God and she can never really compromise with anything when it comes to her God. Smita, daughter of Aruna and granddaughter of Hardika is a girl of modern period. She believes in liberal ideology and she doesn’t support her mother’s activities from heart, though she helps her in all the household chores and work of her God. She loves her mother but at one point of time she feels stifled and expresses her feelings to Aruna. She requests her mother not to bind her with prejudices any more. She even did not have hatred for the Muslims as her close friend is a Muslim girl whose name is Tasneem.

 

CONCLUSION

Mahesh Dattani’s Final Solutions is a problem play that talks about the socio-political aspects of a society in India. Two different types of community live in India, one is the majority and the other one is the minority. Each of the communities has hatred for each other and the reason of the hatred is actually silly and baseless. God is one and the same but people do fight on God and each and everyone claims that God is mine; God is ours, whereas God loves everyone like parents love all the children, if there is more than one child in a family. Dattani, the playwright, has shown the true colours of the politicians and the police department very well through his play. The politicians force the innocent people to work for them in the name of religion. Javed in the play, has been shown as such a character who works for the politicians who did brainwash him in the name of Jehad, The Holy War. Like Javed, there are many people who become the puppets in the hands of the politicians and later suffer like anything as they become the victims. Dr. Dipti Agrawal says that Dattani has made use of the mob or the chorus as a stylistic device to enhance the presentation of Hindu and Muslim people in the play. She also says that Daksha’s diary ascertains the history of division, the sense of us and them, the one and other by linking personal experience with the political and social hatred. We all must understand each other and must stop hating each other as well. It is the responsibility of people of India, to make it a secular country in the true and real sense. The conflict of the minds must be stopped first, and then only the conflict or the fight that takes place outside can be stopped. Dattani also focuses on patriarchal hegemony and gender bias, which is the other side of the play. He has tried to show with the help of the character Daksha, that, gender bias and sufferings of women have not totally swept away from India. Though India has got its independence or freedom, the Indian women in most of the families, still live like caged birds with shackles in the legs. India shall receive its true independence or freedom only on the day when women will be receiving their due respect and freedom. Also, the people must start loving and accepting each other, rather than hating and misunderstanding