The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

 The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

This Blog is a part of a Thinking Activity given by Dilip Barad Sir , HOD of the Department of English, MKBU. In this Blog I am going to give answers to some of the questions related to 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness'.

Arundhati Roy : 

Arundhati Roy (born November 24, 1961, Shillong, Meghalaya, India) is an Indian author and political activist who is best known for the award-winning novel The God of Small Things (1997) and for her involvement in environmental and human rights causes, which resulted in various legal problems. (Tikkanen) 

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness : 

"The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" novel by Arundhati Roy. The novel revolves around the lives of a diverse set of characters in Old Delhi, with Anjum, a transgender woman, at the center. Anjum was born as a male named Aftab but realized her true identity at a young age. After running away from home, she joins a khwabgah (house of dreams) community of hijras (transgenders).

The narrative alternates between Anjum's present life running a guest house and her past experiences. It explores her relationship with her Muslim foster family, her romance with Zainab, her stint as a courtesan, and the founding of her guest house which becomes a refuge for outcasts.

Other key characters include Tilo, an architecture student turned activist who creates makeshift shelters and communities; Musa, an ex-guerilla fighter with one leg who falls in love with Anjum; and Biplab Dasgupta, a bitter Hindu nationalist whose life intersects with the others.

The novel deals with themes of identity, resistance, belonging, activism, and the quest for dignity against the backdrop of the Emergency period, Partition riots, and the Kashmir insurgency. It's a vibrant Interwoven story that captures the complexity of modern India through its diverse characters. (Claude)

How are the intertextual references to other writers in the novel connected with the central theme of the novel?

As mentioned in Dr Dilip Barad Sir’s Blog that , The novel is divided into twelve chapters of varying lengths, unevenly distributed into six sections, each introduced by a short epigraph. The six quoted authors were all poets or writers who held strong, dissident political views, who rebelled against persecution, who refused submission and compromise. Tormented by institutional violence, censored, imprisoned, some were forced to flee into exile, and some were killed. Others were discriminated against for their skin colour, and/or their sexual orientation and gender “indeterminacy”. All were resolutely insubordinate.

They can all be counted among the “Unconsoled” to whom the novel is dedicated, and whose “Minister”, Hazrat Sarmad Shaheed, symbolises the refusal to submit to any authority other than one’s conscience, one’s intellectual and spiritual integrity.

• I mean, it's all a matter of your heart...(यानी सारा मामला दिल का है...)

                                                           Nâzim Hikmet

Before the first chapter titled 'Where Do Old Birds Go to Die?', there is a quote from the poem "On the Matter of Romeo and Juliet" by Nâzim Hikmet: "I mean, it's all a matter of your heart."

In her writing, Arundhati Roy connects the famous story of Romeo and Juliet to the Arabo-Persian tale of Laila and Majnun. This shows how stories and cultures from different places blend together and influence each other across borders.

Arundhati Roy highlights how writers from various backgrounds inspire one another, ignoring claims of one culture being superior over another. One of the main characters, Anjum, is a transgender woman who playfully uses words in a way that hints at her gender identity and promotes inclusivity. Anjum runs a cemetery where people rejected by society find acceptance. This contrasts with how cemeteries in India are often segregated spaces for minorities.

Ironically, Anjum's inclusive cemetery represents the diverse and accepting India of the past, rather than the present reality. Roy seamlessly weaves together different cultural stories and emphasizes how diversity and inclusion should be embraced, making Anjum's cemetery a symbolic space of acceptance.

• In  what language does rain fall over tormented cities? (बारिश किस भाषा में गिरती है यातनाग्रस्त शहरों  के ऊपर ?)

                                                              Pablo Neruda

Before the third chapter titled 'The Nativity', there is a quote from the poet Pablo Neruda, who faced persecution and threats during Pinochet's regime in Chile. This quote evokes the defiant funeral procession held for Neruda despite Pinochet's refusal to allow a public funeral - an act of resistance. Roy draws a parallel between this and the fervent protests that occur during the burials of Kashmiri martyrs in her novel.

This Quote discusses how Arundhati Roy's novel incorporates quotes and themes related to resistance, mourning, and the treatment of marginalized communities. It mentions Roy using a quote from Pablo Neruda's last book to evoke the defiant funeral procession for Neruda despite the regime's opposition, drawing parallels to the depiction of burials as protests in Kashmir.

The novel explores broader themes surrounding the mourning and disposal of the dead, symbolized through the plight of vultures and the mistreatment of communities like cow skinners. Roy's narrative style is described as experimental, incorporating techniques like mock multiple-choice questions and reading comprehension passages to highlight the attention given to language and diverse cultures.

• Death flies in, thin bureaucrat, from the plains - (मौत एक छरहरी नौकरशाह है, मैदानों से उड़कर आती हुई -

                                                                    Agha Shahid Ali

Before the 7th chapter titled 'The Landlord', there is a quote from the opening line of a poem by Agha Shahid Ali, a Kashmiri-American poet. Despite living in the USA, Ali's work reflects the pain and suffering experienced in his homeland Kashmir. The quote, metaphorically depicting death as an intrusive "thin bureaucrat" entering Kashmir, sets the tone for the following section narrated by the character "The Landlord" - representing the cold, cynical authority of the State.

Ali's poetry, especially his collection "The Country Without a Post Office", has provided solace and inspiration to many Kashmiris. His voice echoes through the works of other Kashmiri writers who have drawn from his powerful words since his death in 2001. In Roy's novel, a vivid and tragic scene is painted - of mourners fleeing gunfire at a funeral, leaving countless shoes scattered behind as they escape the violence gripping Kashmir. 

This poignant image captures the harsh realities and immense tragedy the Kashmiri people have endured. The use of Ali's evocative opening line, followed by the Landlord's perspective, creates a haunting juxtaposition that reflects the harsh oppression and ever-present spectre of death and loss that hangs over the Kashmir valley.

• Then, as she had already died four or five times, the apartment had remained available for a drama more serious than her own death. (क्योंकि वह पहले चार या पाँच बार मर चुकी थी, अपार्टमेंट उसकी मृत्यु से भी ज़्यादा गंभीर किसी नाटक के लिए उपलब्ध था।)

                                                                             Jean Genet

Before the 8th chapter titled 'The Tenant' is from Jean Genet, the author of the 1942 novel "Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs" which he wrote while imprisoned. At first glance, Genet's literary world may seem disconnected from "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness." However, there are many underlying connections.

Jean Genet's own life experiences as an outcast and provocateur place him among the "Unconsoled" and "Indeterminate" in society - much like some of Roy's characters. His novel's controversial blend of eroticism and religion led him to be embraced by both spiritual believers and blasphemers. Genet's turbulent youth, prison suffering, activism for oppressed groups like African Americans and Angela Davis, and outrage over atrocities like the Shatila massacre strongly resonate with the themes Arundhati Roy explores. His narrative experimentation, with fluid genres, shifting perspectives, and defiance of categorization, likely inspired Roy's own quest for complexity over simplification.

In "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" Roy combines comedy, political satire, elegy, tragedy, poetry, realism and magic realism through constantly shifting viewpoints. This amalgamation reflects Genet's pursuit of originality in storytelling by refusing to conform to traditional conventions. Genet's uncompromising perspective as an "outcast" parallels Roy's own self-described position as that of a "churail"  channeling voices society has marginalized or silenced.

• And they would not believe me precisely because they would know that what I said was true. (और वे मेरी बात पर सिर्फ़ इस वजह से यक़ीन नहीं करते थे की वे जानते थे कि मैंने जो कुछ कहा था वह सच था।)

                                                                      James Baldwin

Before the 9th chapter 'The Untimely Death of Miss Jebeen the First', there is a quote from James Baldwin's essay "Down at the Cross" which reflects on race relations in America - an issue still highly relevant today. However, when applied to the context of caste in India, Baldwin's observations remain equally pertinent. Arundhati Roy highlights similar states of denial in Indian society, where the pervasive influence of the caste system is often sidelined or ignored by the intellectual elite, despite its undeniable presence.

Roy criticizes the privileged classes who presume caste discrimination has been eradicated, simply because they haven't directly experienced it - likening it to presuming smallpox no longer exists. Her choice to quote Baldwin over Martin Luther King Jr., who admired Gandhi, reflects her critique of Gandhi's deification and sanitized portrayal in modern India.

While acknowledging that caste and racial discrimination are distinct, Roy insists they are comparable in their dehumanizing targeting of people based on ancestral identities and perceived "impurities". Baldwin's insights about the psychological impacts of racism and casteism resonate in the Indian context, where victims often internalize narratives of their own inferiority.

• Then there was the changing of the seasons. ‘This is also a journey,’ M said, ‘and they can’t take it away from us.’ (फिर मौसमों में परिवर्तन हुआ।  'यह भी एक यात्रा है,' एम ने कहा, 'और इसे वे हमसे छीन नहीं सकते।')

                                                      Nadezhda Mandelstam

Before the 10th chapter 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness', the final quote used is from Nadezhda Mandelstam's memoir 'Hope Against Hope'. It recounts the tragic fate of her husband Osip Mandelstam, a poet persecuted during Stalin's purges in the USSR.

Nadezhda played a crucial role in preserving Osip's legacy by memorizing his unpublished poems and secretly smuggling them out for publication. Her memoirs capture the absurd cruelty and randomness that defined life under Stalin's oppressive regime. Yet they also reflect on themes of hope, despair and human dignity in the face of such oppression. Nadezhda's contemplation of whether to howl out or remain silent against injustice resonates with Roy's own portrayal of human suffering and resilience. Roy's depictions of extreme torture and the martyred bodies of Kashmiri youth convey a similar sense of cold rage and dark humor in confronting harsh realities.

Arundhati Roy also emphasizes finding "hope against hope", drawing inspiration from Mirza Waheed's motif of yellow flowers that intertwine symbols of hope amidst grief. The "Russian connection" in Roy's novel can be contextualized by the influence of the Indian Communist Party, which facilitated cultural exchange with the USSR and enabled access to Russian literature through translations into Indian languages like Bengali. Even characters like Revathy, raised surrounded by Soviet books, symbolize this lingering connection to Russia's literature and politics. Nadezhda's ability to transcribe truth and preserve human voices amidst totalitarian erasure reflects Roy's own novelistic mission to uplift marginalized narratives.(Pesso-Miquel)

What is the symbolic significance of Vulture and Gui Kyom (Dung Beetle) in the novel?

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy , In which Two symbolic significance are : Vulture & Gui Kyom (Dung Beetle) 

Vulture : 

Vulture represent the Untouchable caste of traditional corpse handlers and scavengers in India. Their catastrophic decline due to consuming cattle carcasses treated with anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac metaphorically symbolizes the marginalization and slow demise of these oppressed communities.

In the novel, the vulture symbolizes not just death and destruction, but also highlights the interconnected cycles of life and death in nature. Its presence is often associated with scenes of violence, riots, or disasters - serving as a reminder of the harsh, cruel realities of life. 

Roy's use of the vulture goes beyond just representing death. By eating the carcasses of dead animals, vultures play a vital role in the ecological process of recycling death into new life. This symbolizes how even in death, life persists through these natural cycles.

More profoundly, the declining vulture population points to how human actions can disrupt these delicate ecological balances. Roy draws a parallel between the vultures consuming diclofenac-laced cattle carcasses and the injustice faced by the Untouchable communities tasked with disposing of dead cattle and leather work their livelihoods poisoned by societal prejudice.

The vulture reminds us that those in power often benefit from the suffering and dehumanization of marginalized groups like the Untouchables who perform the essential but condemned labor of handling the dead. Its absence would leave corpses uncleared, just as the oppression of these communities leaves human indignities unaddressed.

Roy's reference to the vulture encapsulates not just social injustice but also highlights our environmental disconnects and disregard for ecological systems that preserve balances of life and death. The Dalit resistance to taking up carcass disposal captures their defiance against injustice a refusal to be society's ritualistic vultures gobbling up their own oppression.

The vultures' role as natural recyclersof death into life parallels the Untouchables' work of disposing of the dead, which was essential but viewed as impure by mainstream society. Their disappearance highlights society's disregard for ecological balance as well as human indignities faced by Untouchables.

The drug, diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory commonly prescribed for arthritis and pain in people, caused acute kidney failure in vultures when they ate the carcasses of animals that had recently been treated with it. The findings, which followed a two-year investigation by an international team of 13 scientists, were published online by the journal Nature.

Dr. J. Lindsay Oaks, an assistant professor of veterinary medicine at Washington State University who was the primary author of the report, said the devastation of vulture populations was the first clear case of major ecological damage caused by a pharmaceutical product. There has been growing concern among scientists and environmentalists about the ''vast amount of drugs that end up in the environment one way or another,'' he said, but no effect of this magnitude. (Gorman)

• Here is one video about the essential role vultures play in cleaning our ecosystems and why their conservation is key to a healthy planet.

• The video below showed that , Most of these birds are being poisoned, often unintentionally, by humans. We know the impact that mass vulture death can have on humans, because India suffered the same fate just 20 years ago. Neelam Tailor looks into how humans are accidentally killing millions of vultures, and the deadly impact it has had on people. 

                                                                              

Gui Kyom (Dung Beetle) : 

The Gui represents the perseverance of these marginalized groups in carrying out stigmatized but vital work. Its presence draws attention to ecological connections, just as these communities connected life and death cycles through their occupations.

The gui also highlights themes of refuse, waste and the environments inhabited by the most oppressed sections of society. It symbolizes the Untouchable community of cow-skinners, rearers and leather workers who were traditionally involved in disposing of cattle carcasses. Like the Dung Beetle rolling dung into balls, the cow-skinners rolled and transported animal hides, an activity deemed impure.

The Dung Beetle or 'Gui Kyom' carries very different symbolic meaning  one of strength, perseverance and the capacity for transformation. Dung beetles are renowned for their unique ability to take waste and repurpose it into something nurturing rolling dung into nutritious soil balls to foster new life and growth. This act metaphorically signifies finding value, beauty and renewal in the most unlikely of places.

In the novel, the Gui Kyom is intricately linked with the character of Anjum, a transgender woman who curates her own unique perspective finding dignity and hope amidst society's prejudices against her identity. (Claude)

Just as the dung beetle alchemizes waste into fertile potential, Anjum cultivates her own space of belonging and community for society's outcasts from the discarded margins. Her defiant embrace of her truth, despite immense adversity, mirrors the gui kyom's resolute life-giving work. The dung beetle embodies the power of resilience, transformation and the reclamation of one's narrative from the rotting remains of subjugation.

Its presence serves as a reminder that even in the darkest, most dehumanizing of circumstances, the indomitable human spirit can thrive  metabolizing the refuse of injustice into something beautiful, subversive and ultimately life-sustaining against all odds.

Work Cited: 

• "Claude AI." ClaudeAI.com, Claude Technologies Inc., 2022, https://www.claudeai.com/ 

• Gorman, James. “A Drug Used for Cattle Is Said to Be Killing Vultures (Published 2004).” The New York Times, 29 January 2004, https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/29/world/a-drug-used-for-cattle-is-said-to-be-killing-vultures.html . Accessed 24 February 2024.

• Pesso-Miquel, Catherine. “Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, or How to Recruit Art and Intertexts in the Battle against “Stupidification.”” Polysèmes, 2021. https://journals.openedition.org/polysemes/9239 .

• Tikkanen, Amy. "Arundhati Roy". Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Apr. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arundhati-Roy . Accessed 23 April 2024.

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