A Suitable Boy By Vikram Seth Summary
A Suitable Boy By Vikram Seth Summary - In this post you will get all the information about ‘A Suitable Boy’. The proper and easy explanation of the novel is written below, i hope will read the summary and know everything about ' A Suitable Boy'.
Introduction
A Suitable Boy By Vikram Seth Summary - A Suitable Boy is set in a newly post-independence, post-partition India. The novel follows four families during 18 months, and centres on Mrs. Rupa Mehra's efforts to arrange the marriage of her young
er daughter, Lata, to a "suitable boy". Lata is a 19-year-old university student who refuses to be influenced by her domineering mother or opinionated brother, Arun. Her story revolves around the choice she is forced to make between her suitors Kabir, Haresh, and Amit.
A Suitable Boy By Vikram Seth Summary - It begins in the fictional town of Brahmpur, located along the Ganges. Patna, Brahmpur, along with Calcutta, Delhi, Lucknow and other Indian cities, forms a colourful backdrop for the emerging stories. The novel alternately offers satirical and earnest examinations of national political issues in the period leading up to the first post-Independence national election of 1952, including Hindu–Muslim strife, the status of lower caste peoples such as the jatav, land reforms and the eclipse of the feudal princes and landlords, academic affairs, abolition of the Zamindari system, family relations and a range of further issues of importance to the characters. The novel is divided into 19 parts, with each generally focusing on a different subplot. Each part is described in rhyming couplet form on the contents page.
Characters
- Mrs. Rupa Mehra
- Raghubir Mehra
- Arun
- Varun
- Savita
- Uma Kapoor
- Lata
- Mr. Mahesh Kapoor
- Veena
- Bhaskar Tandon
- Pran
- Maan
- The Nawab Sahib of
Baitar
- Zainab
- Hassan and Abbas
- Imtiaz, a doctor
- Firoz, a lawyer
- Ustad Majeed Khan
- Begum Abida Khan
- Mr. Justice Chatterji
and Mrs. Chatterji
- Amit
- Meenakshi (married to
Arun Mehra)
- Dipankar
- Kakoli
- Tapan
Summary
A Suitable Boy By Vikram Seth Summary - In 1951, 19-year-old Lata Mehra attends the wedding
of her older sister, Savita, to Pran Kapoor, a university lecturer. Lata’s
mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, says that it is time for Lata to be married as well,
which Lata dismisses as she intends to concentrate on her studies in English literature.
Nevertheless Mrs. Rupa Mehra begins to put out feelers to her friends and
family, for a suitable boy for Lata.
In the meantime Lata is
approached several times by a boy her own age and after a few meetings feels
she is in love with him. His name is Kabir Durrani, and Lata is distressed when she realises he is
Muslim as her Hindu family would never allow her to marry a Muslim man. When
her early morning meetings with Kabir are discovered she tries to run away with
Kabir, who refuses. Ultimately Lata agrees to go with her mother to Calcutta to
live with her arrogant older brother Arun, who is already married.
As Lata is leaving
she is spotted by Haresh Khanna, an ambitious shoe manufacturer who is involved
in business with Kedarnath Tandon, the husband of Pran’s older sister, Veena.
He is intrigued by her beauty and sadness.
A Suitable Boy By Vikram Seth Summary - In Calcutta, Lata is surprised to find herself
enjoying her time with her brother, and his wife Meenakshi. She meets
Meenakshi’s eccentric family, the Chatterjis, and bonds with her older brother,
Amit, an England-educated poet who is under pressure from his family to marry.
Though Amit initially only intends on being friendly to Lata as a member of his
extended family, he begins to consider her as a possible wife. Mrs. Rupa Mehra
is horrified when she realises that Amit and Lata might be considering
marriage, as she dislikes Meenakshi and therefore disapproves of the Chatterjis. She goes to Delhi
to renew her efforts to find a spouse for Lata. By accident she is introduced
to Haresh Khanna and decides he is suitable for Lata. Despite the fact that he
is in love with another woman (whom he cannot marry due to her family's
objection), Haresh agrees to meet Lata. Lata finds the idea of marrying Haresh
ridiculous but nevertheless has an agreeable time with him and gives him
permission to write to her.
A Suitable Boy By Vikram Seth Summary - Returning home she hears that Kabir was involved in
reuniting her sister-in-law Veena with her young son after a mass stampede
separated them. She nevertheless vows to forget about Kabir only to be
surprised when they are both cast in the university’s production of Twelfth Night.
During rehearsals her brother-in-law Pran is hospitalised, and his wife Savita gives birth. Lata
takes on a more prominent role in taking care of her sister and niece which
results in her realising her mother is only trying to ensure her happiness and
safety. She begins corresponding more warmly with Haresh and despite still
being attracted to Kabir tells him that she is no longer interested in marrying
him.
Haresh loses his managerial job
at the shoe factory but inveigles his way into a lesser position as the foreman
at the Praha shoe factory with promise of upward mobility. His new circumstance
fails to impress Arun and
Meenakshi who are also biased against him as they are aware of Amit's
attraction to Lata and want to encourage that match.
A Suitable Boy By Vikram Seth Summary - In the new year the Mehra family once again
travels to Calcutta to spend time with Arun and Meenakshi and to reconnect with
Haresh. At a cricket match Haresh, Kabir and Amit all meet and recognise that
they are all loosely acquainted, but fail to realise that they are all, in one
way or another, courting Lata. Kabir is in Calcutta trying to work up the courage
to speak to Lata, however he fails to do so and Lata receives a letter from her
best friend informing her that Kabir was spotted in an intimate conversation
with another woman. Haresh is more persistent in his courtship of Lata, but
after she off-handedly calls him mean, he takes offence and their relationship
comes to a standstill.
A Suitable Boy By Vikram Seth Summary - In the new year, based on Kabir's invitation, Amit
comes to speak at Lata's school. She reconnects with Kabir where she learns
that the information he was courting another woman was false. However she tells
him she is seriously writing to Haresh and is strongly considering marrying
him. Amit also takes this opportunity to more seriously propose to Lata. Lata
meets Kabir one last time where she realises that the passion she feels for him
is not the basis for a good marriage. After receiving an apologetic letter from
Haresh renewing his offer of marriage and a second letter from Arun, strongly
encouraging her to reject Haresh, Lata decides once and for all to marry
Haresh.
A Suitable Boy By Vikram Seth Summary - Concurrent to the main plot is the story of Maan
Kapoor, a brother to her brother-in-law Pran. Maan is the feckless youngest
child of respected politician Mahesh Kapoor, the state Minister of Revenue. At
a Holi celebration,
Maan sees the courtesan singer, Saeeda Bai, perform. He visits her
house and begins to court her. They become lovers. Saeeda Bai later feels that
her feelings for him are interfering with her work and reputation. She sends
him away with her young sister Tasneem's Urdu teacher,
Rasheed, to his remote village under the pretence of wanting Maan to learn flawless
Urdu. Maan spends the time becoming acquainted with Rasheed's family who are
politically influential but immoral and corrupt.
A Suitable Boy By Vikram Seth Summary - When Maan returns to Brahmpur he resumes his love
affair with Saeeda Bai and gains favour with his father who decides to run for
office again in the seat where Rasheed's family lives. After campaigning with
his father, Maan returns to Saeeda Bai's house where he sees his friend Firoz
and believes from veiled comments of Saeeda Bai that the two have been having a
love affair behind his back. In reality, Firoz had come to propose to Tasneem,
when Saeeda Bai reveals that Tasneem is in fact her secret daughter and Firoz's
half-sister. In the ensuing confusion Maan stabs Firoz in a fit of jealousy. The scandal
that follows causes his father to lose his seat and his mother to die after a
series of strokes.
A Suitable Boy By Vikram Seth Summary - However once Firoz recovers he insists that the stabbing was caused by his own clumsiness and his friend Maan is made a free man. The wedding between Lata and Haresh takes place with joy to all except Kabir who is invited but does not come. A few days later Lata and Haresh take a train to his home to begin their new lives together.
Reference
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