The 4 th semester foundation English..Unit 2..The essay given below
The Eternal Silence of Infinite crowds by Nirad C Choudhri
This essay is from Chaudhary’s book 'Autobiography of an Unknown Indian.' It describes the silence of the British crowd in contrast with the excessive conversational impulse of the Indians.
Englishmen are like cattle in their gregarious life. Indians exhibit their kindliness in public; and they love a good deal of sound. Noise is to us as essential a condition of cheerfulness as the warmth of the sun.
It is this cheerfulness that made an Indian friend of Chaudhary complain against the silent habit of the English people. He said that the Englishmen have nothing to do in an underground railway journey than to bury their faces in a newspaper. Life in London, even in the most crowded streets seem like a film of pre-talkie days. People move on the London street in an unending stream without uttering a word. They looked like ants moving into their holes. Chaudhuri quotes Pascal and says that "this eternal silence of the infinite crowds frighten me."
The public places are also noted for silence. In India such places would be buzzing or booming with talk. There is no social life in English public houses. Once Chaudhuri was politely avoided by a man to whom he wanted to talk.
In the buses of Delhi people make use of one another for bodily comfort. They lean against one another, or put their arms round a fellow passenger. If any one wants to know the time he takes up the neighbor’s hand and looks upon the watch.
The buses are full of conversations of a purely private character, not only between acquaintances but also between people who have never met before. The jokes are loud and hearty. One day a fellow passenger said that his sola tope was heavier than his whole body. Chaudhuri replied that it was not bigger than the other's turban. The man apologized with good humour.
One day when he jerked his shoulder several times a passenger asked whether it was disease or habit. Chaudhuri asked him what it was; the man imitated him. Chaudhary said it was habit and the other continued "habit is second nature."
The co-passengers help one another in giving information about their destination. They even take the uncommon freedom of using another man's newspaper.
One day Chaudhuri had only a bad rupee with him. Another man gave him a good coin and relieved him. Sometimes there are quarrels between passengers and also between the driver and the conductor.
One day Chaudhuri was waiting at a bus stop. A stranger talked to him freely about his visit to Delhi, and pointing at his daughter said that he was thinking of her marriage. Then he shifted to a lawsuit with his father who had brought a concubine to stay with them. Just before the bus came he wanted to get his address so that he might send him some mangoes as a token of their friendship. But the arrival of the bus saved him from accepting the gift.
It is this human comedy, this obliteration between private and public affair, this craving for sympathy in widest commonalty spread that make us recoil from the unfriendliness in British behavior.
All the best dear students
28 дек 2023
