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
