Ahimsa

Anjali and her friend Irfaan are vandalizing the property of a British officer who was formerly her mother’s boss. Anjali isn’t sure why her mother lost her job, but her parents fought about it. Her great-uncle Chachaji didn’t approve of her mother’s job because he didn’t think women should work outside of their homes. However, Anjali’s mother has a college degree and is fluent in five Indian languages. Not knowing exactly what happened, Anjali decided to get revenge.

They planned to paint “Q,” which stood for “Quit India” (4). The pair sees a girl on the street nearby, but she’s a member of the lowest caste (an “Untouchable”), so Anjali knows that she won’t tell on a member of a higher class. Anjali is of the Brahmin caste. When they finish, Anjali makes a noise, and the British captain hears them. They flee.

However, Captain Brent catches them, and Anjali notices that she got paint on her ghagra-choli, which she got for Diwali the previous year. The officer takes them back to his house, where Anjali’s mother, Shailaja, is waiting. She was at a meeting. Anjali denies doing anything.

A woman suddenly comes in and begs Captain Brent to pardon her son, who burned down a municipal office. He’s set to hang. Anjali’s mother tries to defend the boy. She then defends Anjali too, leaving with Anjali and Irfaan. Anjali tries to hide the paint on her arm from her mother.

Anjali and her mother return home. She loves her home, especially her family’s cow, Nandini. She feels like the cow understands her emotion. She climbs onto the milking stool to eavesdrop on her parents. They’re fighting; Anjali isn’t sure why but thinks it concerns her mother losing her job. She decides to go see Captain Brent.

Anjali stands in line, waiting to see Captain Brent. She finds a peacock feather on the ground. She believes that peacock feathers can make anything bad get better.

When she doesn’t speak at first, the officer asks if she speaks English, even though he heard her speak English before. She tells him to give her mother her job back, and the captain responds, “Your mother has been replaced. You’re all replaceable” (23). An English woman in the room calls the captain by his first name, and Anjali finds it strange.

As she leaves, she hears the captain call her a “pest” (23). She comments on how the English invaded their country and is ushered out as the captain grows angry.

At home, Mahatma Gandhi’s voice comes over the radio. Anjali sits and listens with her Baba, Chachaji, and their maid, Jamuna. Gandhi originally gave the speech several weeks ago, in August 1942, and the radio announcer reminds listeners that Gandhi is now in prison and that he suggests that “each family must give one member to help the cause. Together, we can do this” (26). The announcer reminds people to act nonviolently. Anjali thinks of those she knows who joined the freedom movement and is grateful that her father is still there.

Chachaji doesn’t think that the movement has been effectively, criticizing Anjali’s parents for saying “Jai Hind” (27), a salute to India. He doesn’t think civil disobedience works. He thinks it’s good that the British are occupying India, but Anjali’s mother points out that some citizens have fallen ill because they can’t pay the taxes on salt and that cotton processed outside India is sold back to Indians with marked-up prices. She says she saw many injustices perpetrated under Captain Brent. Anjali is impressed. However, Chachaji retorts that women today are disrespectful and that it’s good she quit her job because she should be at home.

Anjali’s mother replies, “Times are changing, Chachaji. Perhaps you should too” (29), stunning the older man. They begin to fight, but Anjali interrupts to say that it was she who painted the Q. Anjali’s parents then explain that Quit India is a movement of civil disobedience based on ahimsa, which means that they must never hurt anyone. It also means that the British can stay but peacefully and without ruling. Anjali is surprised. Her parents then reveal that her mother plans to join the nonviolence movement.

Anjali prepares for school, thinking about her mother’s decision to join the movement. The night before, her parents explained that Baba needed to support them, so Ma would go. After breakfast, Anjali arrives late at school. She has a hard time focusing, thinking of her classmates whose parents have left to join the freedom fight.

After school, she goes to look at the Q she painted with Irfaan, but it’s already been cleaned away. She sees Anasuya, whose parent went away, and decides to follow her to see what her life will be like. Like Anjali, Anasuya is in the Brahmin caste, but her living conditions aren’t as nice as Anjali’s family’s. She worries that her family will grow poor but reminds herself that Baba will keep his job. When Anasuya and her mother fight, she spots Anjali. When Anjali explains, Anasuya laughs, saying that she’s excited for another classmate, Suman, to find out that Anjali will be wearing khadi.

On her way home, Anjali spots Suman leaving her house, wearing an elaborate ghagra-choli. When Anjali arrives at home, her parents have laid out their nicest clothes on the porch. Among them is Ma’s wedding sari. They send her to get her ghagra-cholis. She adds them to the pile. Ma explains that the clothes were made from Indian cotton spun in England then sold at high rates as cloth in India. They must purchase only homespun clothes and get rid of these clothes. Even Baba is shocked when Ma lights hers and Baba’s on fire. Anjali reluctantly adds hers to the burning pile. She runs to the cow stall, crying, and holds Nandini.

Anjali is heartbroken over her clothes and is sad to dress in white like Anasuya. She worries that Suman will make fun of her and is mad that her mother’s decision to join Gandhi affects her so much, though she doesn’t like how Captain Brent rules in their village. At breakfast, she learns that her mother has been going to freedom fighter meetings in the morning.

At school, Anjali wonders what she’ll wear at Diwali. She has a hard time focusing until her teacher explains that they have a special guest. It’s Ma. She has a wooden spinning wheel called a charkha with her. She explains that Gandhi uses a charkha (or loom) to turn Indian cotton into homespun clothes called khadi. During Ma’s demonstration, it’s clear that she’s still new at using the charkha. Anjali meanly comments that she doesn’t have to worry about her mother making her school clothes since she’s bad at it, and the teacher hits her knuckles with the ruler. Ma then accidentally pokes herself with the spindle. She lets Anjali try, and Anjali is surprised to find that she’s good at it. She thinks that “[m]aybe her mother’s new job as a freedom fighter wouldn’t be so awful” (62).