Reading Log

Date: June 10, 2007

Reading log on “The Grass-Eaters”

    When I first glanced at the title “The Grass-Eaters”, I wondered the identity of the protagonist of this story; I even imagined that the narrator might be a humble but prophetic cobra, creeping towards every corner of Calcutta, performing as an outsider and bystander of the Hinduism world, making critical comments occasionally. Obviously it was too naïve and romantic of me. Through the author’s prudent and moderate writing style, I am touched by the life of the people who are reduced to penury and suffering from extreme poverty gradually.

    Speaking of the country of India, what I recall is the mysterious Hinduism religion, eccentric yet good-looking women wearing sari, outlandish villages filled with curry stands, and thrilling cobras creeping towards every corner of this time-honored country. Ajit Babu, the protagonist of the short story, lived in a pipe and was reduced to eating grass eventually. So far, my feeling towards this sensational short story is complicated and beyond words, for I can’t conjecture the protagonist’s complex attitude towards hardship through the author’s seemingly peaceful tone and the factual depiction of the people from below endows me with an unprecedented feeling.

    I have heard of some traditions of the Hinduism religion, of which the value of reincarnation is the most prominent. Previously when watching some documentaries, I found that the Hindus firmly hold their philosophical attitudes towards the indigent life in spite of the poor living condition. There might be hundreds of millions of such people in India, who regard their misfortunes just as the destiny, endure the topsy-turvy reality with no complaint and pray to be reincarnated as a nobleman. However, as far as I am concerned, Ajit Babu is an exception. He works as a teacher in a municipal primary school, which obviously indicates that he could be counted as an intellectual. Unlike other people who are blindly allegiant to their religion, Ajit Babu is much more self-conscious and watchful about his own life. His description of life seems to be light-hearted, but I assert that he only camouflaged as a resilient person and was concealing his bitterness which is beyond words; He uncovered the serious problem of society, but it is paradoxical that he could do nothing about it, which would ultimately worsen his psychological bitterness.

    Although the story is short, I believe that it has unearthed several problems of our world. I keep thinking that since the purpose of religion is to endow people with ultimate care, why are so many people, especially the uneducated follower of a certain religion, still enduring the bitterest of life? It’s also shocking to find the vicious circle of poverty in this story. I am in favor of the opinion that penury is the origin of vice, and the poorest place could be a den of iniquity. The darkest side of human life can be observed from the story – robberies, riots, abandonment of infants…Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and the pioneer of micro loans movement, once said: “We can put poverty into museums.” But is the elimination of poverty only a myth? None of us is a prophet, but I am sure that every one of us is facing the toughest battle against poverty and our deep sense of responsibility is needed.

27.5.07 07:06