Pavittar Paapi

Nanak Singh is one of the most famous and respected names of Punjabi literature. His novels were bestsellers when he wrote them (from the 40s to his death in 1971) and they are bestsellers still. Since childhood, I had been aware that his Pavitar Paapi and Chitta Lahu were remarkable novels. So,now when I decided to read him, I first picked up Pavittar Paapi.

I finished the book in 1 day. It is a short novel of 168 pages and is written very tightly. No superfluous words or ramblings, just the story. While you are reading it, you are totally in its grip.

The protagonist of the novel is Kedar. He is twenty-one year old and has just passed his B.A. (a big thing in those days) when his mother passes away. His father died long ago. In his grief, he leaves his home and just wanders off. He is near Rawalpindi (this tale is set in the pre-independence, undivided Punjab) when his last penny is exhausted.

He tries to find work the whole day but cannot and so has to sleep on the pavement with hunger clawing his stomach. The next morning, he again searches the market for a job. He goes to a watchmaker and asks him if he has any use for a B.A. or a watchmaker. He is both. The shop owner, a heavy sardar, gives him watches to repair. He does them excellently. Impressed, the sardar hires him on the spot. Kedar asks him for some advance to buy his food. The sardar tells him to wait till the man he replaces, comes to the shop and hands him all the important documents.

Panna Lal comes in a little while. He is a middle aged father of four, who once used to be very rich, but is now forced to feed his family with this job of a mere thirty-five rupees a month. Sardar tells him that he need not report to work again. Panna Lal is stupefied. He does as directed, bows before the sardar and comes out.

After some hours, a little boy hands over a letter to Kedar. It is from Panna Lal. In it, Panna Lal has cursed him for stealing his job. "You have done a paap. Now, you will be responsible for my family's starvation. You will be responsible for my death." Kedar is stunned. (So was I. I found it remarkable that Panna Lal did not bear any grudges to the master whom he had served so loyally and who had still thrown him out so unceremoniously. Is this the conditioning of a capitalist system?)

Kedar runs out on his hungry stomach, searches for Panna Lal everywhere but cannot find him. After hours, he returns to the shop.

In the evening, a young girl of sixteen, Veena and a younger boy, Basant, come to the shop, looking for Panna Lal, their father. Kedar is lying on a cot outside the shop. He gives them whatever explanation comes to his mind. He tells them that the sardar had to send their father to Bombay on an urgent business and that he will work in their father's stead till then. He asks them where they live and promises to visit their mother in the morning. The relieved children go back.

He goes to Maaya, Panna Lal's wife the next morning. She believes his story. She is much impressed by his gentle manner and education and offers to find a room for him in the same street. He readily agrees.

From then on, he becomes the son of the family. Maaya actually starts calling him her son, and he too calls her Beji like her own children. The children too become very fond of him.

Months pass by. He keeps inventing justifications for Panna Lal's failure to come back. His pay is much higher than Panna Lal's. He however keeps only a very small portion of it to himself and gives the rest to Maaya, telling her that it was Panna Lal's salary.

Kedar doesn't realize when he falls in love with Veena, who is very naughty and frank with him and calls him 'Bhraa ji' (elder brother) all the time. At one level, he recognizes that letting himself feel those feelings will be a betrayal of Maaya's trust. At another, he can see nothing, feel nothing, but Veena. His inner torment starts showing on his health. Veena is very concerned and tries to look after him. He avoids her. When she persists, he even shouts very rudely at her. With tears in her eyes, she retreats.

Later, Kedar is so overcome by remorse, and by his passion, that he can hold himself no longer. He walks over from his terrace to Veena's where she lies sleeping on a cot. He wakes her up, takes her to a quiet place and very awkwardly, tells her the truth.

Veena is flustered. She has been betrothed to someone since her childhood. She has never seen her fiance, has only heard about him, but still loves the idea of him and is looking forward to her marriage. She has never seen Kedar as anyone but a brother. She hates Kedar now, for poisoning the sweet, innocent affection that there was between them. Her whole being is repulsed by even the idea of marrying Kedar. Yet, she also worries that Kedar may die if she doesn't say 'yes.' She doesn't want her dearest Bhraa ji to die!

After a few days, they come face to face. Kedar notices that she was much worried by his absence and that now, she is talking to him without the word Bhraa ji. Veena notices that Kedar is not meeting her eye. Finally, Kedar insists on her calling him Bhraa ji. He apologises for his confession, cutting Veena in mid-sentence just as she starts talking about their marriage.

Kedar now avoids Veena totally, busies himself in helping Maaya make the arrangements for Veena's wedding and even sells his ancestral house to meet the expenses. Veena grows more and more anxious about him, even suggests that they run away but he declines.

Veena gets married. Kedar leaves the street soon after. He come to a new city, establishes his own watchmaking business, and regularly remits most of his earnings to Maaya. He no longer bothers about himself, about his looks or his health. He works maniacally the whole day, surviving on just cigarettes and black tea, which keeps getting stronger with time.

One day, a middle-aged man comes looking for him. He is Panna Lal. After sending Kedar the letter which accused him of being a paapi, he had tried to commit suicide but could not. He had then gone off to Haridwar but even two years of meditation could not pacify his mind, so he had returned, expecting to find his house in ruins and his children dead from hunger, but had been astounded to see them doing so well. He apologises to Kedar for the letter and insists that he go back with him.

Kedar is reluctant but feels the pull of Maaya's motherly love. Then, Panna Lal breaks the news. Veena is dead. She never could be happy at her in-laws, she loved only Kedar and fell ill and returned to her parents, and in the delirium of fever, told her mother everything. "How Maaya repented!" Panna Lal says. "If she had got even a hint, she would have gladly married you two. What could have been better! Now, she wants you to marry Vaani's younger sister."

Kedar is stunned. He refuses to go. He dies that night.

In this novel, I was disgusted by Panna Lal's character. What a weak man!

Kedar on the other hand is portrayed as an ideal man. Someone cast in the mould of maryada purshottam Ram.

The complex love story is handled well. One new technique that I learned through this novel was that of 'The other side Updates.' The narrator first tells us the story from one character's point of view. He shows us his or her reaction and what he did following that scene etc. Then, he goes back in time, and replays the same event from the other character's point of view.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. Plus, it made me feel proud to see the words of my mother tongue come together to make something so good.


P.S.: I hope that with practice, I learn to write succinct reviews. My apologies for the way-too-long post :-).