Ranga's marriage

INTRODUCTION TO THE CHAPTER

This story is about a young boy Ranga, who was the son of village accountant. Ranga hails from Hosahalli, a village in Mysore. Like many other cultural aspects artistically portrayed by the author the custom of child marriage too is typical to this village. 

Ten years ago when the village accountant sent his son Ranga to Bangalore for studies, the situation in the village was different. At that time people didn’t know English. And they didn’t mixed English words while talking in Kannada, their mother tongue. But now they do it with an abominable pride. For instance, Rama Rao's son was not ashamed to use the word 'change' while buying some firewood from a woman who knew no English, thereby creating confusion. 

Now people are so fond of the foreign language and education that Ranga's homecoming is made a big affair. People crowd his house to see if he has changed. They return home on finding no significant change in him. The narrator is particularly happy to find the boy still quite cultured as he respectfully does 'namaskara'. The narrator spontaneously blesses him saying 'May you get married soon.' 

But the boy is not ready for marriage, he says. He is of the opinion that one should better remain a bachelor than marrying a young girl, as the custom of the village is. The narrator is disappointed to hear this, but as he sincerely wants Ranga to be married, settled and offer some service to the society. So, he takes a vow to get him married, and that to a young girl of eleven by the name Ratna, Rama Rao's niece, who has come to stay with Rama Rao for a few days. 

The narrator plans to make the prospective bride and the bridegroom meet each other. So, he does by asking Rao's wife to send Ratna to his house to fetch buttermilk. As Ratna arrives she is asked to sing. As planned at that very moment Ranga arrives and gets mesmerized by Ratna's singing and almost instantly falls in love with her being oblivious of his theories regarding child marriage. The narrator, from his experience, notices this quite well but purposely disappoints Ranga saying that Ratna is married. 

The next morning the narrator meticulously plots with Shastri, the fortune teller, to trap Ranga and have him marry Ratna. He tutors him in what is to be said and done when he will bring the boy to him. 

The narrator finds Ranga miserable that day. The latter complains of headache and the narrator suggests that they visit Shastri. Thereupon Ranga is taken to Shastri who cleverly reacts by saying that their visit has been a surprise. The narrator acts foolishly forgetting what he is supposed to say but Shastri cleverly manages the scene. 

Everything goes well as per the plan. Shyama, the narrator, asks Shastri what might be worrying the boy. Shastri calculates throwing his cowries and suggests that it is about a girl. On further calculation he suggests that the girl's name has connection with something found in the ocean. The narrator asks if it could be 'Kamala'. Then he suggests 'Pachchi', meaning moss. When Shastri hints 'pearl' or 'Ratna', the narrator becomes jubilant and Ranga is amazed. Shyama further asks if there is any chance of negotiation of the marriage bearing any fruit, to which Shastri answered affirmative. But once again the narrator pours water on Ranga's hopes by saying that Ratna is married. 

However, on the way the narrator enters Rama Rao's house and comes out of the house to inform Ranga that Ratna is unmarried and the previous information about her marriage was wrong. Now visibly Ranga's joys have no limits. When the narrator asks him whether whatever the astrologer told is right, he admits that it is true and further adds that there is more truth in astrology than he thought. 

Later the narrator informs Shastri about the success story and makes a sarcastic comment about astrology. But Shastri is not ready to accept. He says that the former gave only the hints and whatever he said was the result of his calculation. 

Whatever the case might be, Ranga finally gets married to Ratna and fathers two children, moreover Ratna is now eight months pregnant. The narrator is invited to the third birth anniversary of Ranga's child, who was named after the narrator as 'Shyama'. On finding this, the narrator mildly chides Ranga saying that he knows that it is the English custom to name the child after someone one likes, but it is not fair to name him 'Shyama' because he is fair complexioned.

Masti Ayengar

·         Belonged to Karnataka

·         Four time recipient of Jananpith award

·         Born in Masti village

Questions Answer:-

1.       Comment on the influence of English- the language & the way of lif3e- on Indian life as reflected in the story. What is the narrator’s attitude to English?

Ans. The story takes us to those times when there were few people in Indian villages who knew English. The narrator belongs to a famous village Hosahalli in south India. The village accountant was the first to send his son to Bangalore to study. Those days’ people did not speak in English nor did they use English words while talking in Kannada. However, English was considered to be a ‘priceless commodity’. That was why Ranga’s home coming in village was a great event. People rushed to look him if he was the same Ranga. Many people believed that those who received education in English lost their caste. The attitude of the narrator towards English is quite positive. He considers it to be priceless commodity but also shows that it doesn’t have any adverse influence on the people.

2.       Astrologer’s perceptions are based more on hearsay & conjecture than what they learn from the study of the stars comment with reference to the story?

Ans.  People suffer from many superstitions and one of the popular superstitions is the perception of astrologers towards astrology. Whether astrology is science or not may be a debatable issue. It is true that astrologers don’t base their perceptions on the study of stars nor do they care much for the movement of the planets & their effect on men’s life. They are like Shastri of the story. All their predictions are based on here say & conjecture or rational study of stars. The Shastri in the story is just like a parrot, who speaks whatever the narrator asks him to say.

3.       Indian society has moved a long way from the way the marriage is arranged, in the story. Discuss?

Ans. In today’s world each & every Indian is well- qualified & cultured. As knowledge is increasing, expectations or vision is getting wider. This deep thought was there in narrator’s mind which gave origin of the story. Narrator has plotted the whole drama to make Ranga realize the marriageable age & how to choose the right partner. He knocked at Ranga’s heart & he welcomed Ratna in. If narrator had asked simply & proposed for Ratna, Ranga might have run away giving excuses.

4.       What kind of a person do you think the narrator is?

Ans. In today’s self-centered & fast world, no one takes pain for others but the narrator is a different man. He not only devotes his time but also selflessly makes plans for Ranga’s Marriage. In fact he extends a nature & experienced help to tender head & immature mind of Ranga in choosing a right, life partner. As a reward of his selfless deed Ranga named his son shyam after the narrator’s name.

EXTRA-QUESTIONS

5.       How did the narrator carryout his resolve to get Ranga married to Ratna?

Ans.  Narrator after knowing Ranga’s views on marriage and his decision to continue as a bachelor decided to find a suitable bride for him. And he felt that Ranga and Ratna would make a good match. So he arranged their meeting and in that Ranga was impressed by Ratna’s quality of singing. Later he manipulates things in a clever way and finally got them married.

6.       What was special about Ranga? How did villagers react to it?

Ans. After his return from Bangalore where he had been studying, much to everyone’s surprise, he was just the same. His homecoming became a great event for the villagers. People rushed to his door step wanting to have a look at him. An old lady even ran her hand over his chest and remarked the janewara was still there. He had not lost his cast.

7.       Who was Ranga and what was special about him?

Ans. Ranga was the village accountant’s son who had gone to study Bangalore to study. People thought city education would change him but to their surprise he wasn’t changed at all. He still respect village elders and wore the sacred thread. However his views on marriage had changed.

8.       What’re narrator’s views on English language?

Ans. Narrator had a mixed attitude to English language. At the beginning of the chapter he said the title is not “mouth filling” because it was “Ranga’s Marriage” instead of “Ranga’s Vijaya” or “Ranga’s Vivaha”. This shows he didn’t liked this language much. Later if we mark the characterization of Ranga we see him giving a positive focus on the language. As villagers thought city education would change Ranga a lot. But to their surprise he wasn’t changed. Instead he still respected elders in old traditional way and wore the sacred thread. It’s only his perception of marriage was changed. This positive outlook of Ranga’s character shows his affirmative attitude to English too.

9.       Why was Ranga’s homecoming a great event?

Ans.  Ranga’s homecoming was a great event because he was the first person from his village to go to Bangalore to study. People rushed to his door step wanting to have a look at him. An old lady even ran her hand over his chest and remarked the janewara was still there. He had not lost his cast. Because they all thought city education would change him. But it was not so.

10.   What was Ranga’s view on marriage?

Ans. Ranga’s views on marriage are quite different.  According to Ranga one should marry the girl he admires. And one shouldn’t marry a young girl. In support of his view he gave example of the officer who was married to a young girl and also Shakuntala and Dushyanth. He wanted to marry a mature girl whom he admires but not the girl arranged for him. But by the end he follows the conventional way of choosing a girl for himself.

QUESTIONS FOR HOME WORK

1. Who was Ranga? What was special about him?

2. How did the narrator carry out his resolve to get Ranga married to Ratna?

3. What are the narrator’s views about English language?

4. How did the narrator let Ranga have a glimpse of Ratna?

5. What were Ranga’s views on marriage?

6. Why was Ranga’s homecoming a great event?

7. Why does the narrator call the Indians a flock of sheep?

8. Why does the narrator often deviate from the main story?

Q2 Answer the following question in about 100-125 words

1 What kind of a person do you think the narrator is?

2 Ranga’s views on marriage are quite different, yet he follows the conventional

way of choosing a girl for himself. Elucidate.