The character I like most in “The Village by the Sea” is Jagu, the man who ran the Sri Krishnan Eating House, the cheapest restaurant in Bombay whose usual customers were beggars, coolies and cart-pullers. The first time Hari met Jagu, Jagu was “hardly dressed at all and had nothing on but a dirty lungi wrapped around his waist, while his chest and back were bare and sweating.” Despite this humble first impression, Jagu was one of the most generous characters in the novel.
When he first met Hari, he offered the hungry boy a plate of food without a word, and tossed him another chappati when he saw him wiping up his plate with bits of bread. A kind-hearted man, Jagu allowed Hari to stay at his restaurant and work for his meals, together with two other boys whose parents were killed in a railway accident.
During the monsoon, Hari fell very ill and Jagu invited him to his house to stay. Even though Jagu was the owner of an eating house on a busy street and had plenty of customers, his house was in a slum. When Jagu’s wife saw Hari, she screamed “Hardly enough for us and you bring one more to be fed!” leaving Hari wondering why Jagu had brought him to this wretched home to add to his family’s misery.
Even though most of the characters in the novel were poverty-stricken and lived in adverse conditions, we could still see the compassion and kind-heartedness in Jagu’s actions. Without Jagu’s help, Hari’s fate in Bombay would not have changed for the better. Hence my favourite character is Jagu, for his generosity and selflessness.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Although my favorite character is Hari, I like Jagu too as without him, Hari would not have been able to come this far.
ReplyDelete