Freedom struggles

Date
2010
Authors
Jackson, Kamala Mary
Supervisor
King, Barry
Cranna, John
Item type
Thesis
Degree name
Master of Creative Writing
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Auckland University of Technology
Abstract

A first draft novel and exegesis. The novel [embargoed until 31 March 2013] is set in India in 1947,48, in a mission station on the borders of the Princely State of Hyderabad. The principle protagonist is Anand, the son of a widow, a servant in a missionary household. He is sent to Hyderabad city to learning the printing trade. There he makes friends with Satyan, a member of the Communist Party. This is a period of political unrest: communist rebellion in the countryside against the feudal landlords and the feudal, Muslim ruler, the Nizam, the emergence of a radical Islam sworn to defend the Nizam against the communists, and the government of the newly independent India who is putting pressure on the Nizam to give up his independence and "accede" into India. In keeping a promise to his friend, Anand finds himself in a turbulent countryside, unable to contact his mother and Rosie, the schoolgirl he wishes to marry. They have their personal crises of which Anand is unaware, and they in turn fear he is dead. Anand and Satyan fall out over the violence of the Communists. The larger political matter is resolved when the Indian Army marches into Hyderabad State and the Nizam surrenders. A soldier rapes a mission servant and kills a schoolboy, and Anand and Satyan are both imprisoned by the Army as enemies of the India. This is a temporary situation and the novel ends with some hope.

Description
Keywords
Hyderabad , Nizam , Post-colonial , Protagonist Anand , First-draft novel , Police action , Indian Christians
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