The Door I Shut Behind Me. Uma Parameswaran

The door I shut behind me is a short story by Uma Parameswaran. The title of the short story reminds the Indian tradition of a bride leaving her parents’ home forever after marriage. The story explains an Indian leaving his country to become a possible immigrant in Canada. The simile is very apt as both the situation involves crossing over to a new life; this crossing over involves fear and uncertainty coupled with hope and desire.

The story opens with Chander, the protagonist, flying to Canada on a two year research associate ship, at an annual salary of $ 8500. Agarwal, the crude and loud fellow passenger who doesn’t have an immigrant visa feels envious of Chander. Agarwal appears to be a perfect portrait of an ugly person. The writer has analyzed the mindset of an average Indian who goes abroad, his obsession with money and savings as well as his dreams of luxury and comfort.

Agarwal criticize everything western. He says “our toilet habits are much cleaner”. For him the westerners are far behind in their appreciation of arts. The writer portraits the class of Indians, who criticizes the west and its culture, yet wants to stay abroad, earn money and lead a life of comfort and luxury.

Chander finds that Agarwal is nostalgic for his country and wanted to be with his own people and speak his own language. They visits Mundra’s house. Agarwal greeted every one with warm enthusiasm, but Chander was unable to do so. The people gathered were from different parts of India, but the language they spoke was English. They were all proud of speaking English.

They question of identity, whether they are Indians or Canadians, entangled them. They had not changed their food habits, their costumes. They wanted to go back, but like the mythological king Trihishanku, they stood suspended between two worlds, unable to enter either.

The story says when we leave our country we shut many doors behind us though we are not aware of it at the time. Chander replies “There are many doors ahead of us”. The story thus ends on a note of hope for the future. Uma Parameswaran endorses a positive approach; if people decide s to adopt another country to live in; they must not look back but look forward with hope.

The Bear on the Delhi Road. Earl Birney

The Bear on the Delhi Road is a poem by Earl Birney. The poem has five uneven verse paragraphs. The poet describes the sight of a huge Himalayan bear on a Delhi road. It was being brought down from the mountains by two Kashmiri men.

The poet says the bear is unreal. By the word unreal, the poet means away from his natural habitat. The Himalayan bears are supposed to live in the icy Himalayas. But now the bear is in an extremely contradictory habitat. Delhi is a hot place. The bear is facing a sudden climate shift. Thus the bear is unreal. Two bare thin Kashmiri men accompany him on the road. The first man pulls on a ring in the soft nose of the bear. The second one flicks with a stick up at the rolling eyes of the bear.

The third paragraph pictures the purpose of the two men. They have captured the bear not to kill it, but “simply to teach him to dance”. They want to make the bear a dancing bear in the great markets of Delhi, where his owners will earn a living from his performances. It is a wild animal, by teaching him to dance, the men takes him away from his natural way of living. Thus again the bear is made unreal.

We are told that the men are peaceful. All they want is a living. They want the bear to stay alive. They dance around him and want the bear to be like them on two legs and dance. They are also away from Kashmir’s cool air. The poem discusses the complex relation between our species and other animals and living an unreal life away from our natural places.