SYLLABUS

PAPER D15: LITERATURE AND DISABILITY

COURSECONTENT
UNIT 1:NOVEL
Firdaus Kanga, Trying to Grow (1991) (New Delhi, India: Penguin, 2008).

UNIT 2:AUTOBIOGRAPHY
5,6, 8-15
(a) Helen Keller, (i) The Story ofMy Life (1903), Chapters 3,4,
(New York: ^imon and Schuster Paperbacks, 2010); (ii) 'HowS.I
Became a Socialist', in Helen Keller: Her Socialist Years, ed. Philip
21-26.
Foner (New York: International Publishers, 1967) pp.
(6) Frida Kahlo. The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait
(Introduction and Trans., Carlos Fuentes. New York: Abrams, 1995/
2005) pp. 234-35, 242-44, 251-52, 255-57
() Georgina Kleege, Sight Unsee, Chapter 1 (New Haven and London:
Yale University Press, 1999). pp. 9-42
(Reshma Valliapan. Fallern, Standing: My Lifeasa Schizoprenist (New
Delhi: Women Unlimited, 2015) pp. 10-15, 83-87, 145-150
Malini Chib, "Why Do You Want To Do BA', One Little Finger (New
Delhi: Sage, 2011) 49-82.

UNIT3: SHORTSTORIES
(a) HG Wells "The Country of the Blind". The Country ofthe Blind and
Other Science Fiction Stories, Ed. Martin Gardner. New York: Dover
1997. 1-30
(b) Andre Dubus, Dancing After Hours', in Dancing After Hours: Stories
(New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing, 2011) pp. 240-56.
Anne Finger, 'Comrade Luxemburg and Comrade Gramsci Pass
Each Other at a Congress of the Second International in
Switzerland on the 10th of March, 1912', in Call Me Ahab: A Short
Story Collection (United States of America: Library of Congress,
2009) pp. 61-72.
()Rabindranath Tagore. "Subha" (Trans. Mohammad A. Quayum)
Rabindranath Tagore: The Ruined Nest and Other Stories. (Kuala Lumpur
Silverfish, 2014) pp. 43-50
() Rashid Jahan, 'Woh' (That One), trans. M.T. Khan, in Women Writing
in India 600 BC to the Present, Vol. 2, eds Susie Tharu and K. Lalita
(New York: The Feminist Press, 1993) pp. 119-22.

(il )
 FOCUS: Literature and Disability

UNIT 4:DRAMA
in Collected Plays. Vol. II. (New Delhi:
Girish Karnad, 'Broken Images',
Oxford University Press, 2005) pp. 261-87. CONTENTS
Poetry
in the Speaker's Own Voice',
(a) Vassar Miller, Dramatic Monologue 9-35
Disability, ed. Jennifer Bartlett, 1. Unit 1: Novel
inBeauty is a Verb: The New Poetryof
Black and Michael Northen (USA and Mexico: Cinco Press, Firdaus Kanga, Trying to Grow (1991)
Sheila
2011) p. 51. 9
About the Author
Beauty is a Verb: The New 12
(6) Jim Ferris, 'Poems With Disabilities', in
ed. Jennifer Bartlett, Sheila Black and Michael Summary 14
Poetry of Disability, Questions and Answers
(USA
Northen and Mexico: Cinco Press, 2011) p. 89.

(e)Raghuvir Sahay, "The Handicapped Caught in a Camera', trans. 36-100

Harish Trivedi, Chicago Revieo, Vol. 38:1/2 (1992) pp.
146-7. 2. Unit 2: Autobiography 36
Ceramic (New Delhi: Writers (a) Helen Keller,
() Jyotsna Phanija, 'See', in Evening 36
About the Author
Workshop, 2016) p. 49. 36
Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay. "Poem 1" in The Mind Tree (New () The Story of My Life
36
York: Arcade Publishing). p.91 Summary
38
(ii) "How I Became a Socialist'
UNIT 5:READINGSS 38
Simi Linton, 'Disability Studies/Not Disability Studies', Disability
Summary
(a) Questions and Answers 42
& Society, Vol. 13.4 (1998) pp. 525-40.
(b) Frida Kahlo. 54
(b) LennardJ. Davis, 'Constructing Normalcy, in Enforcing Nornnalcy:
and the Body (London and New York: Verso, About the Author 54
Disability, Deafness,
1995) pp. 23-49 .The Diary of Frida Kahlo 57
)AtoQuayson, 'A Typology of Disability Representation', in Aesthetic 7
Summary
Nervousness: Disability and the Crisis of Representation (Colunmbia: 58
Columbia University Press, 2007) Pp. 32-53. Analysis
60
Life Writing', Questions and Answers
()Thomas Couser, 'Signifying Selves: Disability and (c) Georgina Kleege 74
in TheCanmbridge Conpanion on Literature and Disability, eds Clare 74
Barker and Stuart Murray (New York Cambridge University About the Author
Press, 2017) Pp. 199-211. 75
Sight Unseen,
(Shilpaa Anand, 'Historicizing Disability in India: Questions of Introduction 74
Subject and Method', in Disability Studies in India Global Discorurses, 76
Local Realities, ed. RenuAddlakha (New York: Routledge) pp. 35-60. Summary
77
Das, Veena and RenuAddlakha, "Disability and Domestic Anaysis
Questions and Answers 78
Citizenship: Voice, Gender, and the Making of the Subject" Public 80
Culture, Vol. 13:3 (2001) pp. 511-531 (a) Reshma Valliapan
About the Author 82
.Fallen, Standing: My Life as a Schizoprenist 84

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 CONTENTS
CONTENTS

84 Girish Karnad 148-200

Summary Unit 4 Drama :
85 About the Author 148
Analysis 85 'Broken Images', in Collected Plays. 154
Questions and Answers
88 154
(e) Malini Chib .Summary
88 Questions and Answers 154
About the Author
91
.One Little Finger 170
Questions and Answers
96 Poetry
170
(a) Vassar Miller
101-147 170
Unit 3:Short Stories About the Author
101 Dramatic Monologue in
(a) HG Wells
101 Own Voice' 173
About the Author the Speaker's
104 174
."TheCountry of the Blind" 104
Summary
175
Summary .Questions and Answer
106 177
Analysis (b) Jim Ferris
108 177
Questions and Answers About the Author
110 179
Cb) Andre Dubus
110 Summary
About the Author Question and Answers 179
'Dancing After Hours' 111
185
111 (c) Raghuvir Sahay
Summary About the Author 185
113
c) Anne Finger 186
About the Author 113 The Handicapped
188
Questions and Answers 115 .Summary
(d) Rabindranath Tagore 122 () Jyotsna Phanija 189

About the Author 122 About the Author 189

."Subha" 126 See 190
126 190
Summary Summary
128 191
Analysis Questions and Answers
.Questins and Answers 131 193
(e) Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay
(e) Rashid Jahan 137
About the Author 193
About the Author 137
194
"Woh' (That One) 139
"Poem 1
194
Summary 139
.Summary
200
Questions and Answers 142
Question and Answers
(7)
(6)
 CONTENTS
Literature and Disability
Unit 5 Readings 201-240
(a) Simi Linton 201
About the Author
'Disability Studies/Not Disability Studies'
Summary
201
202
202
1 -Firdause Kanga, Trying to Grow (1991)
Novel

About the Author

(b) Lennard J. Davis 205
Firdaus Kanga was born in Bombay with osteogenesis imperfecta
About the Author 205 (brittle bone disease), a condition that prevented his bones from growing
205 beyond a certain point. Also, this condition meant that his bones had the
'Constructing Normalcy potential of breaking easily. As a result, he spent most of his early years
Summary 205 bedridden, not attending school, leaving his home only occasionally to
206 attend the cinema with his family. It was not until he was nineteen that
(c ATOQUAYSON he obtained his first wheelchair. Kanga 's family
206 expected hi'to become
About the Author a solicitor, but he did not find his
experiences in law school satisfying. On
207 the other hand, he did study journalism and, in 1987, was awarded a
ATypology of Disability Representation prize in a British Council short-story competition. After receiving a degree
.Summary 207 in history from the University of
Bombay, he moved to England in 1989
and it was there that his publishing career began with the
(d) Thomas Couser 214 appearance of
Trying to Grow in 1990 and a travelogue, Heaven on Wheels, the next
About the Author 214 year. He is now working on a second novel, which is set in India.
In an interview with Nandini Lal for the Hindustan Times, novelist
Signifying Selves: Disability and Life Writing' 214
Bapsi Sidhwa was asked whether she had "mothered this whole Parsi
Summary 214 brood in fiction." Her response
suggests one of the majcr themes that
informs Kanga 's work: "Firdaus Kanga met me in London," she
(e) Shilpaa Anand 217 "and very
says,
sweetly said he didn't think Parsis could be worth
writing
About the Author 217 about, and with humor, till [her novel] Crow Eaters." Whether this was
his motivation, in his fiction and other
prose Kanga has been very
'Historicizing Disabilityin India: interested in portraying the Parsi
community, whether in Bombay or in
Questions of Subject and Method', 217 London. Trying to Grow, for
sct in Bombay, told
example, is a broadly autobiographical novel
Das, Veenaand RenuAddlakha 218 through the eyes of young Daryus Kotwal, son of Sam
and Sera and brother of Dolly. Older than
About the Author 218 Daryus, Dolly serves as his best
friend and his nurse, often sacrificing her own happiness to assure her
."Disability and Domestic Citizenship 219 brother's. Not surprisingly, given the fact that the narrator is restricted
to a wheelchair, the
setting for the story is limited to a one-square-mile
Summary 219 area of the city. Most of the
action is interior, in fact, and even
wnen
Questions and Answers 220 Daryus (nicknamed "Brit" not because of his family's admitted Anglophilia
but because of his defective
bones) is wheeled off the grounds to the cinema
or the seaside, the narrator
is busy analyzing his position in society arnd
his potential for love. Brit's
relationship with his father is somewhat
strained; the father tries to disguise his disappointment in his son's
(8) (9)
 Novel: Firdause Kanga
YE
10 FOCUS: Literature and Disability 11

his daughter marries and

commits suicide when
Kanga has "transcended physical affliction with high style and genuine
prospects but finally comic brio". Coming to much the same conclusion, Uma Mahadevan-
leaves home and he is left with his crippled son.
Brit is close to his mother,
to Tina, his deaf cousin.
Dasgupta, writing in the Indian Express, observes that Kanga "writes
who accepts her son's disability with grace, and
luminously and affectionately of his city [Bombay), remembering it even
As with any bildungsroman, the principal focus
of the plot is the
in his travels... delightfully... and with a
free of his necessarily protective parents touch of irony"
young man 's attempt to break his own Trying to Grow drew a good bit of critical attention, most of it echoing
and to carve out independent life. In the process, he discovers
an

awakening sexuality in encounters with a neighbor, Cyrus, and also

with the characterization made by G. G., in a reviewin the West Coast Review
Cyrus's girlfriend, Amy. Cyrus appears to be everything that Brit can of Books, who noted that it offers "a formidably unique version of life
lived beyond the pale". Maria Couto, writing for the Times literary
But the relatively
never be, and Brit's infatuation is immediate and intense.
idyllic world of childhood soon passes. Dolly moves to
America and Supplement, notes that the narrative is "remarkable for its unselfconscious
marries; Brit's father accompanies her and
walks into oncoming traffic; detailing of what it is like to be four foot nothing, to move only with the
aid of a wheelchair, and to have a soul which yearns and a body bursting
Tina is sold into prostitution; Brit's mother dies; Cyrus and Amy decide
melodramatic but recounted simply. The
with irrepressible sexuality". She admires his ear for the spoken word,
on marriage- all potentially
author seems to be clearing the decks for his narrator
because at this his frequent reflections
within the knit
on
"the moral rights and duties of individuals
move to England He does so, tightly system of the Indian family",
and his wit, warmth
point in the novel Brit sees himself as free to and humor. Some reviewers were not as impressed. G. R.
and his life, in a begins
sense, a new. Taneja, from the
University of Delhi, writes in World literature Today that the novel is
of a travelogue
Kanga 's next book, Heaven on Wheels, is something
Britain to which "Brit"
"one of the most delightful to be published in the 1980s
[sic]," in prose
that records his early impressions of the Great that has "extraordinary charm, fluency, and wit and exhibits remarkable
moved. In short, he is very favorably impressed by what he sees, offering control," but the novel "lacks a substantial center." It misses the
his mother country as
frequent comparisons with India that portray opportunity to stretch the boundaries of the form of the novel, and has
backward and insensitive, especiallyto the needs of the disabled.
"poorly conceived" fictive elements.
foods that
His Parsi friends in India ask him to send them favorite Heaven on Wheels met with a good deal of criticism,
I
had become less obtainable after independence: "And thought
how ironic especially in
India, for its Anglophilia- the very tendency lampooned in Trying to Grow
it was that this is what the Empire had meant to its most loyal subjects and described as the Parsi disease. The book sold
over." He utilizes the points in his itínerary to make
quite well, nonetheless,
something to salivate but was strangely criticized for
them relating to his own being too of used on the viewpoint of a
sociological or political observations, many of disabled person. lan Buruma, in the Times literary
Supplement, notes
from a former colony.
situation as agay disabled immigrant that Kanga is a "true-blue Thatcherite" full of "unusual views and eccentric
translated into four languages and forms associations," a "cultural as well as a political conservative". In this
Trying to Grow has been film Sixth Happiness
the basis for the screenplay that Kanga wrote for the travelogue throughout Britain, the novelist finds the English kinder than
(1998). The film, directed by Waris Hussein and produced by Tatiana the Indians back homne.
made in Britain and financed by the BBC, the British Film But
Kennedy, was
Between these two major Buruma complains that Kanga's "juxtaposition of Western
Institute, and the Arts Council of Great Britain. enterprise and Eastern inertia, or European freedoms and Oriental
Fun,"a
efforts, Kanga wrote and presented "Double the Trouble, Half the bondage, of Thatcherite individualism and Indian/socialist collectivism,
on gays and lesbians with disabilities, and "Taboo,"
which were is
program The portrayal of non-Western immigrants in the book is
too neat".writes
A Kind of
produced on Channel Four in Britain. He also Theatre play
wrote the
quite good, Buruma, but especially good is the portrayal of Kanga
Immigrant, which was produced by the Graeae Company, the himself-
He has subsequently "intensely personal without becoming sentimental".
leading theater group of the disabled in England. The most enthusiastic reviews have resulted from
produced a Channel Four travelogue on the
Coted' Azur and the Kanga's screenplay
Sixth Happiness, which was based on his first novel, and from his
possibilities of travel for the disabled. acting
in the lead role. The film won the Audience Award at the London Film
Salman Rushdie, in the introduction to his and Elizabeth West's
Festival. Variety, however, notes that the script "downplayis]
anthology of recent Indian writing- Mirrorwork: Fifty Years of Indian melodramatic potential and pathos in favor of a quirky, humorously
Writing 1947-1997 (1997)- remarks that in his various writings Firdaus anecdotal approach. Unfortunately, [it] seldom carrli es] it off Kanga's
 Novel: Firdause Kanga
13
FOCUS : Literature and Disability names, use the occasional cuss word in front of them and discuss sex

in feel saddlingeast with stilted dialogue."

openly). Exasperation and attection jostle for space in Brit's relationships
adaptatin remains hterary with Dolly and with his parents Sam and Sera. From his
part-time teacher
The sane journal observed that the decision to have "thirtysomething" Madame Manekshaw he learns the valuable lesson that "it's what
immediate you
Aanga play himselt trom age eight onward demanded an learn that counts, not what you study" and also that
"precious things are
to the film's
suspension of disbelief and seemed awkward. Responding brittle". Later, his friendship (though it briefly
promises to become
subtent, Gay Times suggests that it's about looking at ourselves in the
"

something more) with the smart Cyrus and with Cyrus's girlfriend Amy
mirror and seeing not the distorted reflection of the fairground, but a puts him on the road to understanding what it means to grow up.
picture of how beautiful we really are." As Kanga remarks in a review of It's an understanding that doesn't come easily.
Though Trying to Grow
Roland Joffe's film City of Joy that he wrote for the Times Literary unfolds as a series of episodes in Brit's life
Supplement, "Indians watching a film about India will catch the roughly between the age of
-

complexities ofwhat they see with one hand; anyone else will needa long
eight and his early twenties the chapters don't have convenient headings
-

that establish the time

course in metaphysics and history, not to mention tropical diseases." period in which they are set: it's only through
close
Thus the lIndian reviews of his own film offered a more generous response. reading and extrapolation that one discovers how old he is at any
given point. This is appropriate, for a major theme here is lack of
Jay Pal it concluded that "the filnm shows the uniquely rich heritage and developnment, the overall eftect that of a lengthy sequence of events
culture of the Parsee community, compared to the Bollywood practice of
blurring into each othei while the protagonist at their centre remains
using it as comic relief. frozen in time: Brit in his wheelchair, motionles, while all
around him
his family and friends grow up,
Summary nmarry, move elsewhere, get exciting jobs,
travel the world, grow old, die. (It's a bit like
Firdaus Kanga's Trying to Grow begins with a father likening his watching a crowd scene in
fast-forward, with people scuttling about busily, but with a
son's teeth to glass windows. "You can look through them, see?" he says single
stationary element in the middle of the frame.)
casually to the man sitting next to him on a bus. This is followed by a Accordingly, the process of growing is more complex for Brit - and
funny little episode involving a visit to a holy man for a miracle cure. the yardsticks much less defined than for "normal"
Within the first 20 or so pages of this book we know two things: one, that -

people whose bodies

narrator-protagonist Daryus Kotwal suffers from a serious physical undergo obvious changes with time and whose lives proceed in orderly
stages from school to college to office and so on. On the book's
abnormality; and two, that he can be droll about it, and about life in page someone mistakes Brit for a child of four when he is
opening
general.
this sort of thing continues for most of his really eight, and
life, even though he is in many
Daryus, nicknamed Brit (not because of his Parsee family's affinity for senses more
developed mentally than most others of his age. This
the former colonial masters but because his bones are extremely brittle), complicates his relationships too.
is a stand-in for the author; Kanga's book, first published in 1990 and All of this
recently reprinted by Penguin India, is a partly autobiographical account probably makes Trying to Grow sound very sombre, for
whichI apologise. It's a lighthearted, warm book, full of riotous throwaway
of his coming of age in 1970s Bombay and his struggle with the rare
condition known as osteogenesis imperfecta. This meant multiple descriptions ("Mrs Dinshaw wept in words, like someone from a comic
strip. 'Boo-hoo!' she sobbed, 'Boo-hoo-hoo!' "), affectionate
fractures before he was five years old, atrophying limbs, perpetual 1970s Bombay and insights into the Parsee glimpses of
wheelchair confinement (even though the disease burnt itself out by the community (needless to
everything mustn't be taken at face value: I'm not sure if they really say
time he
reached adulthood) and never growing beyond four feet. The the phrase "he hadn't even reach the
use
vulture's belly..." in the same way
story was subsequently turned intoa BBC which he played the
film in
lead role. Ihaven't seen the film, but I can't think of many other books that
that people who cremate their dead
say "his ashes hadn't even cooled...")
There's also a running
are so moving and effortlessly funny at the same timne. joke about the idea of karma: more than once, Brit
must contend with sanctimonious
Kanga's fluid writing style and sense of humour bring to life a ich his condition is a "sympathy" founded on the idea that
cast of characters, punishment for sins committed
in a past life. (One of the
beginning with the family Kotwal, who are never less
than believable, multidimensional
funniest exchanges the book sees him countering the remarks of the
in
people even as they live up to every karma-talkers by holding himself
up as a representation of the Bhagwad
endearing Parsee stereotype (such as the ability to talk o r holler Gita's lesson that the
unselfconsciously about things that would be taboo in most Indian body is merely a raiment for the soul.)
households; Brit and his sister Dolly address their
parents by their first
 FOCUS: Literatureand Disability Novel: Firdause Kanga 15
14

narration reminded me of Jaanvar, the chosen land. Referring to the dilemma of the expatriate writer Viney Kirpal
The ruder aspects of Brit's between observers: "His marginality itself is the result of his race, region and
memorable hero of Indra Sinha's Animal's People. Comparisons history and he writes with this realization in his bones. The Parsees carry
different in tone- but
the two books mustn't be taken far they are very
-

there's nothing martyred or their ethnicity to the "Promised Land". In the twentieth century, the
both narrators have enormous vitality, and creative epicenter shifted fronm the centre to the margins. The post-colonial
can see them first as
human
self-pitying about them. This means that we that we all have, and only writes are, in the words of Rushdie, , Writing back to the centre . The
with the insecurities, even baser desires
beings "different". Parsees prefer the west since it offers unlimited scope for Growth and
then as people whose physical limitations make them
real implications of prosperity. Dislocation is the part of the Parsee psyche. Exiled from Iran
In Brit's case, we only gradually learn about the twelve hundred years ago, they came to India. Now they are migrating to
for him on a day-to-day basis, and how
his condition what it means west in search of greener pastures. Thus, there is "double migration in
on. An
debilitating it must be for him as well as for those he depends case of Parsees. The flight in the eighth century was forced on them by the
three-fourths of
example of this is hisoffhand remark, made more than Arabs where as the second is the result of a conscious and deliberate
sat a toilet seat because "I was
the way through the book, that he never on
choice.
I had a special ring that fitted
too small, too terrified of falling in; at home, Shah-Nama, written by Firdausi was the earliest example of the Parsee
to underline an everyday
on". Another book might have taken care

such as this, to present it upfront, but this one treats it as writing of all literary forms, the short story and the novel seem most
inconvenience suited to the Parsee temperament as they give unlimited scope for Parsee
to Grow does fleetingly lead
a conversational aside. Even though Trying turns of phrase. Dina Mehta's The Other Woman and Other Stories and
into the dark corners of a world where not being able to reach-the top
us Rohinton Mistry's, Tales from Ferozsha Baag are major accomplishments
need can become an all-
of a cupboard for something you urgently in Indian short story and Parsee writing in English. Dina Mehta, Firdaus
testament to total helplessness, the book's defining
consuming problem, a
when Brit says "Iliked Kanga, Farrukh Dhondy, Rohinton Mistry, Boman Desai are some major
the end
quality remains its brightness of spirit. At
Parsee writers in English,
the way I looked", you believe him.
Parsee novel in English is a potent index of the Zoroastrian ethos. It
QUESTION AND ANSWERS5 voices the ambivalence, the nostalgia and the dilemma of the endangered
Parsee community. The Parsee novelists have forged a dialect which has
to Firdaus
Q1 Expatriate Parsee Writing in English with reference a distinct ethnic character. Their triumph in the use of English language is
Kanga's Trying to Grow largely due to westernization and exposure to English culture. Their prose
Ans. Parsees are an ethno-religions minority in India. Though they is interspersed with Persian words and Gujarati Expressions. Steeped in
forma miniscule community representing less than 0.016% of India's vast Parsee myths andAtlegends, the Parsee writers use English as an instrument
of
population, their contribution to Indian society, economics, commerce,
politics and literature has been remarkable. Dadabhai Naroji, popularly
self-assertion. the same time, they are not blind to the challenges
confronting the miniscule community.
known as the Grand Old Man of India, was the first Indian to be elected to Firdaus Kanga's Trying to Grow is a novel of education. It is a
the British House of Commons in 1892. Jamshedji Tata was a visionary
who laid industry at Jamshedpur. Thus, the Parsees have fully integrated
"bildungsroman" which dramatizes the maturation of Brit and his
themselves into India, the land which adopted them. But for their efforts,
development of awareness of his place in the world. The subject of a
India in general, and the city of Bombay in particular would not have
"bildungsroman" according to M.H. Abrams, is "the development
of the
protagonist's mind and character, in the passage from childhood through
been what they are today. Today, with their community in demographic varied experiences..into maturity and recognition of his or her identity
and social decline, the Parsees are forcing a virtual life- and-death and role in the world".
situation. The narrative follows the
pattern gradual adjustment and mature
They are attempting to assert their ethnic identity in diverse ways. acceptanceof harsh realities of life. Trying to Growis a "bildungsroman"
Parsees novel in English' reflects this assertion of Parsee identity.
is a complex phenomenon which involves a transition from since Brit, the protagonist faces "vocational crisis" while seeking to find
a
Expatriation
the knowm to the unknown. It is a shift from a familiar set of values and his in
place the world. Thus, the narrative deals with the theme of
initiation, gradually unraveling the contradictory hypocritical and seamy
relationships at home to an alien value system and relationship in the side of life. The novel drives its essence from the,central and biographical
16 FOCUS Literature and Disability Novel: Firdause Kanga 17

irrelevance towards
himself when
and an "emancipated
fact. Kanga revealsa sense of fun a Muslim. Dolly, though
Brit's sister, resolves to marry since she fails to find a suitable boy in
he recreates the original experience: to marry a Muslim
invalid who Dolly
is an imaginative girl is compelled of modern Parsee girls like
Brit, the fictional alter ego of Kanga, which would give the Parsee community.
The predicament
men in the Parsee
tries to Grow. His quest is for an identity absence of eligible young
passionately to the near

sterile existence some meaning. Brit and Lennie in Ice Candy- islargely due
his otherwise
between the worlds of community. which he has managed to
come to
Man are kindred souls since both are caught conviction of Kanga
in Trying to Grow the An important to Grow, his first
innocence and corruption. As in Sidhwa's novel, is his homosexuality. Trying
place on the physical terms with in London phenomenon of this discovery.
action is internalized to a large extent very little takes Brit's turbulent mind creative effort, records
the comic-painful
for which is commonplace
plane. Much of the action is physiological abnormal proclivity in India,
Homosexuality, though an meet half a dozen
is the locale. remarks: "If you go to a party, you
of westernized Parsees. in the west. Kanga to c o m e in contact
with the
Kanga's novel celebrates the social life still Creative enables
writing
Brit
over of colonization gay people".
Consummate Anglophiles in whose life hang adult world of pains and pleasures.
down upon every thing Indian which it brings,
persists, Sam and Sera, Brit's parents, look short story and the s u c c e s s
life, and Indian hotels. They The publication of his creative writer
including Hindu religion, Indian family life. His initial s u c c e s s as a

themselves with the colonizer. Brit on

the other hand, offer him n e w a v e n u e s in
growth as an individual is
consciously identify disinterest: strengthens his will tolearn and "grow.Brit's
takes the stance of an outsider and observes with neutral as well) that he is ordinary, though
his
Mahal hotel due to his conviction (and Kanga's
four hundred rupees at the Taj
My family happily spent out some tongue-scorching, parents do not accept it.
on English meal..but when it came to trying would sniff His eventual acceptance of
his image in the mirror is a
mature

made a bee-line for the cheapest joint they what he

tasty food, they limitation. He accepts with humility
out. Kanga's observation that Parsees are "reluctant Indians" captures acceptance of his o w n can't believe. I
"There are some things we just
the spirit of the wes ternized Zoroastrian community. hitherto shuns. He says:
what cannot be cured must be
Initially, he enjoys liked the way I looked". He learns that
Although broken in body, Brit is alive spirit.
in
into the adult worid brimming
which the fairy endured. Like Joyce's Stephen, he steps
different. He creates a mythical world of his own in
being
tales and fantasies whet his appetite. He lives like a toy prince in a toy with hope.
at a point where Brit
to Grow ends in a note of affirmation,
world, far removed from the adult world of pains and pleasures. On the Trying creative writer, o n his owm. Brit's
comes toa definite decision, to become a
other hand, his neighbours like Jeroo are skeptical. Birt observes: "I Wasn't self-actualization
to of
conscious shift fronm the plane of self-absorption
one
male. Not to them. The magic mirror of their minds had invented a formula:
His realization of his creative
osteo-sexlessness". is a vivid illustration of his "growth'".
of his initiation. The
His grim realization which shatters his complacent world constitutes potential becomes the culminating point of process in relation to
the second stage in Brit's evolution of consciousness. When Brit assures form of Kanga's Trying to Grow assumes significance
of child narrator in Ice Candy-Man. Both the novels employ
his father that he is happy, though it is only a half truth, Sam cautions Sidhwa's use a
located in the
him: "I don't want you to escape from what you are. It's no use pretending the first person point of view. In both the novels, action is
domesticc realm, though marriage is not necessarily the cause
of Lennie's
if you are pretending that everything's all right. Because it isn't". Thus, dilemma. In both, "awakening of the Parsee protagonist becomes central
Sam is instrumental in Brit s realization of his limitations. to the thematic purpose. In Trying to Grow, the quest for identity
is that of
One of the singular triumphs of Kanga is that he does not
sentimentalize the condition of his protagonist. The crisis in Brit's life is Brit, an individual. As partition becomes imminent, Lennie grows
apprehensive about the destiny of the Parsee community. Thus, in Ice-
born of the conflict between the over-indulgence of the Kotwals and the which is
indifference of the neighbours. His struggle for Growth, Candy-Man, The quest for identity is that of a community

psychologically, is part of his quest for identity in whichemotionally

and identity-
Brit's
he realizes his necessitated by simultaneously.
the birth of two nations
the
creative potential. crisis which is born of hisosteogenesis imperfecta is deepened by and
The issue of mixed over-indulgence of the Kotwals and the callousness of society. Cyrus
marriage which the endangered community 1s
Madame Manekshaw, who serves as crutches for Brit, are discarded
facing today is dealt within îrying
to Grow, though peripherally, Doly, eventually.
18 FOCUS: Literature and Disability
Novel: Firdause Kanga 19

Kanga's singular achievement in Trying to Grow is to blend the of difference within

autobiographical facts with the elements of fictionality so subtly that it is voice is extremely aware and articulates positions
discourses. He is able to occupy what can be
well nigh impossible to distinguish between Kanga, the creator and Brit disability and sexuality
this paper shall show
is a "symbolic pseudonym for Kanga. Written with compelling honesty, called a truly modern disability subjectivity. But,
rhetoric of
the narrative, besides dramatizing Brit's efforts to escape from a milieu of that Brit presents the reader with this modern, emancipatory
his and class status in the
intellectual aridity and to discover his true self, offers arich slice of Parsee disability because of the privileges of gender
cousin is
life. Trying to Grow is a significant work since it tells us much about the Indian context. Within the same text, Brit's disabled female
different fate. The
social life of the westernized Zoroastrian community in the postcolonial literally and figuratively mute and meets with a very
perod. paper shall thus investigate and try to complicate the representation of
The Parsee novel in English, the Zoroastrian worldview thus acts as disability, sexuality and the "modern" disability subjectivity in Kanga's
novel.
a propelling force and provides an excellent medium for adaptability. In
and Sexual Identity: How
spite of their expatriate of westernized experience, the commitment of the In an essay titled "Gender, Subjectivity
the Body, Sex and Marriage
Parsees to the Zoroastrian world view is at the level of "content while Young People with Disabilities Conceptualise
Addlakha writes:
generally ritualistic in all other cases. In any case, they draw their moral, in Urban India, "Renu
been a
deep
spiritual and even material sustenance from the Zoroastrian world view. Historically in India as elsewhere in the world, there has
Thus, this view plays a very positive and fruitful role in the all round rooted cultural antipathy to persons with disabilities. Throughout the
looked dowm upon with disdain, almost as if
welfare of the Parsees. ages, the disabled have been
subhuman. They have been portrayed as medical anomalies,
However, as in modern man's attitude towards religion, the Parsees they were
Even in
commitment may not be as rigorous. They respect their religion as it helpless victims and a lifelong burden on family and society.
some form of
and mythology, negative characters often had
religion
provides an enlightened source of guidance and inspiration for their
Growth and achievement in lite. The twin concerns of expatriation and deformity, be it Manthara, the hunchback in The Ramayana or Shakuni,
the lame of The Mahabharata.
westernization are intertwined in the Zoroastrian world view which is
this- worldly and promotes humata, hukhta and hvarshta Indeed, the law of karma decreed that being disabled was just
essentially
which every Parsee wants to promotes consciously and
practice in life- retribution for past misdeeds. Pity, segregation, discrimination and
whether he be a westernized Parsee or an expatriate. The novels of Parsee stigmatization became normalized in the management of persons with
writers dramatize the happy and adaptive lives of the Parsees wherever disabilities. Such constructions of the disabled by the non-disabled have
they are-in London, Canada, New York or Bombay. Most of these novels the dual effect of not only justifying the marginalization and
end in hapPy "resolution". "Conflict" is
always in redefining the external disempowerment of a whole population group but also leads to the
mode and means of adapting oneself in a "land of
willing exile" without internalization of such negativestereotypes by disabled
persons
failing to practise the Zoroastrian values. themselves. This acceptance translates into passivity, dependency,
Q.2. Trying to Grow as an out of Stereotypes or The Representation isolation, low self-esteem and a complete loss of initiative.
as in
of Disability, Sexuality and the "Modern"
Disability Subjectivity in The development of ideas relating to disability in India has,
west, passed through several stages. The moral model regarded
the
Firdaus Kanga's Novel.
Ans. Firdaus Kanga's novel,
Trying to Grow, tells the story of Brit impairments as punishments for sins in the previous birth, a result of
bad karma. The charity or welfare model of disability, guiding the work
Kotwal, a young Parsi boy with osteogenesis imperfecta,
life in the negotiating his of several disability organizations in India even today, perceives persons
Bombay of the 1970s. From the
beginning, this semi-
with disabilities as
autobiographical work draws our attention to the common religious and dependent on the sympathy, charity and assistance
medical perceptions of disability in
Indian society. This paper
proposes
of the "more privileged" medical
non-disabled members of the society The
to
study how the novel focuses on several aspects of the lived model again locates the problem of disability in individuals
andlooksat
person with "brittle bones" who does not reality of a anomaly
disability as an corrected with
or illness which needs to be the
The paper also grow more than four feet tall. help of medical intervention. In the medical model, disabled people are
explores how the novel focuses on and confounds the perceived as bodies that are "abnormal" and hence, not only not "ideal"
commonly perceived notion of the asexuality of disabled individuals. Brit's
but also pathological and therefore with a need to be "cured." The
rehabilitation model combines the premises and frameworks of the
 Novel: Firdause Kanga 21

FOCUS: Literature and Disability the categories based upon

20
disability social restriction must reject
as
scentific constructions and divorced from the direct
out that disability is a
lack that medical or social
medical and charity models and sets disabled people. All disabled people experience
disability as
rehabilitation or other professionals.
It believes experience of as a consequence of
needs to be addressed by whether those restrictions occur
and exercises, disabled people social restriction, of intelligence and
that with sympathy, proper care, therapy inaccessible built environments, questionable
notions
normal" life. In all the above models, of the general population to use sign
can be assisted to lead an "almost
and disabled persons social competence, the inability
thus, disability is perceived as a personal tragedy the lack of reading material in braille or hostile public attitudes
assistance and cures. These models essentially language,
requiring non-visible disabilities.
are seen as
between the disabled "dependent" person
to people with Discuss.
reinforce a power relationship Q.3. Alienation of people with disabilities.
and the "8enerous" service provider. mechanism of categorization
and
is a
to a difference between Ans. 'Enforcing normalcy This
In contrast, the social model points assumed difference of forms of the body.
It defines impairment as "lacking part
or all segregation based on an of identity-based on
impairment and disability. its best is a politicization
of a limb or having a defective iimb, organism
or mechanism of the body." system is arbitrary, and at or people with
disabilities like
or restriction of activity an assumed difference.
Disabled people
On the other hand, disability is "the disadvantage 'deformed', lacking in some vital aspects of the
caused by a contemporary social organization which takes little or no Kanga are thus considered are considered mutilated, incomplete
thus excludes As a result, disabled people
account of people who have physical impairments
and body. the tacit understanding that they do not
social activities". or deformed humans implying
them from the mainstream of of Human Rights. Essaka Joshua
the deserve to enjoy the rights and privileges
of disability on as a set of
Thus, the social model refuses to place the onus was most commonly conceptualized
whole is responsible for says, "Deformity of the period
individual. Instead, it implies that society as a characteristics that are the opposite of beauty. Philosophers
theorized and
the creation and perpetuation of disability. This model, characterize deformity negatively, and
standardize it as something
usually
elaborated upon by scholars like Mike Oliver and Tom Shakespeare, puts asymmetry,
in the body or that exhibits irregularity, disproportion, disharmony,
forth the argument that social structures and not deficits and decay". This aesthetic philosophy plays
a
peculiarity, sickness,
brain create disability.The notions and structures prevalent in society at of disabled people as deviant, evil,
and shaped by significant role in the stereotyping the
large-a society created by and for non-disabled people ugly, deformed, incomplete,
etc. A negative image is created and
their ideas and prejudices-often denies people with impairments access alization, discrimination,
and problematic phenomena, such as margin
to resources and subjectivity. This is responsible for creating with disabilities creating inequalities. One
becomes a socially constructed prejudice, etc. segregate people
perpetuating disability. Disability thus before the law" and
and not a biologicaliy determined category. The social model perceives basic principle of Human Rights is that "all are equal
discrimination". This
"all are entitled to equal protection against any
people with disabiliies as agents of change who can initiate dialogues principle has been clearly stated and spelt
out in the Article 7 of the
about changing existing social structures by establishing their difference Universal Declaration of Human
United Nations Organisation's (UNO)
and oppression. Michael Oliver in his 1990 book The Politics of
resisting "All equal before the law and are
Disablement also points to the rationale behind the use of the word Rights, 1948 which states that: are
of the law. All are
entitled without any discrimination to equal protection
disabled. He writes: discrimination in violation of
entitled to equal protection against any
.. the term "disabled people" is used in preference to "people with discrimination."
this Declaration and against any incitement to such
disabilities." It is sometimesargued... that "people with disabilities"is to McRuer the dominant àbleist-society deems this difference
According
the preferred term, for it asserts the value of the person first and the able-bodied norms onto
as deviant and attempts to enforce their
disability then becomes merely an appendage. This liberal and humanist with disabilities
marginalized, disabled identities. The alienation of people
view flies in the face of reality as it is experienced by disabled people
from mainstream society and culture is a consequence of the effects of
themselves who argue that farfrom being appendage, disability
an is an "compulsory able-bodiedness."
essential part of the self. In this view it is nonsensical to talk about the with
The focus of this categorization and segregation of people
person and the disability separately and consequently disabled people the forms of the body. For
disabilities is on the visible difference between
are demanding acceptance as they are, as disabled people. The second that reason, the visible difference in the body of Kanga
becomes a hallmark
disclaimer concerns precisely what is meant by the term "disabled different. The
people." Is mental handicap included, and blindness and deafness and of his identity.From an early age, he is made to feel that he is
non-visible disabilities like epilepsy? An
adequate
social of
theory
22 FOCUS: Literature and Disability 23
Novel: Firdause Kanga
lines: "His teeth
opening sentence of Trying to Grow begins with these Rights, 1948. It is interesting to note that through
the old Parsee with droopy white Declaration of Human
are like windows,' said Father to are created to insulate the
next to the bus. You can look through them- these myths and prejudices zones of seclusion
moustache, siting us on
threat of disruption of the established and
non-disabled people from the
see? "Father tried to hold open my mouth". Even Brit's (Kanga) father heterosexual norms of the ableist
institutionalized able-bodied and
looked at him as an odd and bizarre creature. He is not seen as a normal Morris in Pride against Prejudice: Transforming
Attitudes
society. Jenny
person. These lines, "Sam, Brit is a normal person. He's just got aproblem. to Disability argues
that being kind and generous to people with
Can't you see it that way?" "Normal? You call everything I told you of seclusion offers a comforting
disabilities by remaining within zones
normal? "suffices to say that the system of normality andin compulsory
the somatic feeling and satisfaction to the non-disabled people as regards their altruism
able-bodiedness is overwhelming and deeply entrenched to the disabled.
In the collective unconscious of the dominant the
psyche of the ableist society. Literature has always portrayed the queer/disabled people as

ableist society, the concept of compulsory able-bodiedness has an sexualities are generally subject
Other. People with disabilities and queer
overpowering influence so much so that it blurs the capacity perceive
to
literature has aided in the social
from a medical of ridicule and abuse. Historically
beyond the normal. The fact that Brit (Kanga) suffers constructionism of disability phenomena
in the society by depicting the
condition is not understood in its proper context, there is not
even an
and undesirable. Furthermore, traditional
assumed abnormal and this is de-humanizing. disabled as something n o c u o u s
been
attempt to. He is simply as
representations of queer and/or
disabled existence have always
As Brit (Kanga) grows (or tries to grow) he experiences the systemic 'able-bodied' or the so-called
biased and are usually about how
the
discrimination at work against the disabled. Here, the systemic
diverse forms of the body and queer
able-bodied 'normal people perceive people with
compulsory able-bodiedness segregates Brit (Kanga) from the sexualities. Yet it has been conspicuously
silent as regards the plight of
Asa of this endemic
like chaff is separated from the grain. consequence
the people with disabilities and queer sexualities. However, in a departure
compulsory able-bodiedness, people with disabilities like Kanga face from traditional representations
of queer and/or disabled existence,
alienation and (Human Rights) abuses. account of the lived experiences
of
Firdaus Kanga presents a first-hand
He has
Sociologist Melvin Seeman in "On the Meaning of Alienation" identified his precarious life in the Indian socio-cultural context and beyond.
five attributes that cause alienation viz., acclaimed books such as Trying to Grow
powerlessness, meaninglessness, to his credit a series of critically
The Surprise
normlessness, isolation, and self-estrangement. To this list of attributes (1990), Heaven on Wheels (1991), The Godmen (1995), and
from a crippling
identified as causing alienation of the disabled people can be added the disabled individual suffering
Ending (1996). As a severely bones disease) Trying to
notion of 'sexlessness' of the people with disabilities. "I wasn't male. Not disease called Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle
to them. The magic mirrors of their minds had invented a formula: osteo is a narrative of his lived
Grow (1990), a semi-autobiographical novel,
sexlessness" writes Kanga in Trying to Grow Kanga. Furthermore, in While his other
experiences of disability and tryst queer sexuality.
with
Kanga also discourse on queer sexuality and
Heaven on Wheels, "Who will marry you
writes, you work, Heaven on Wheels (1991) is a
cannot have children?". The assumption that "osteo- sexless1ness", and and disabled existence. Kanga
disability from the perspective of queer of the disabled
"cannot have children" is a failure to recognize Kanga as a human being. treatment queer and the
the critiques the ableist society's
Kanga has revealed that for twenty-nine long years he was told by which is tan tamount to Human Rights
abuse.
society that he was not a person. This stereotyping is not an exception work, "Trying to Grow".
but a rule cutting across the diverse cultural narratives of India. The Q.4. Explain the story of Firdaus kanga's
is marginalized writer, and the stereotypical
embodiment of the disabled human body as sexless and incapable of having Ans. Firdaus Kanga a
novel Trying to Grow (1990) is
an

children is a form of oppression for the reason that it reads the disabled Other'. Kanga's semi-autobiographical
experiences of Brit (Kanga),
a
unusual novel. It is a narrative lived
of the
body sans; (i) libido, (ii) sexual desire, (iii) sexual attraction, and Imperfecta) with rich and
correspondingly (iv) human feelings/emotions. This can be termed as one severely disabled person (due to Osteogenesis In a world dominated by
vivacious (queer) sexual desires and appetite.
of the worst forms of Human Rights abuses. This stereotyping is an individual and as a
writer is
disempowering and isolationist which violates the basic Human Rights abled and heterosexual people, Kanga as
from the 'norms', literally and figuratively.
His physicality
with a departure of the accepted norms of
of
people disabilitiesbecause "Everyone has the right to recognition
does not belong to or fall under the 'category
everywhere asa
person before the law" as stated and emphasized in 'able-bodied' and for this
what is considered to be the 'normal body'
or
Article 6 of the United Nations Organisation's (UNO) Universal he faces discrimination. His sexual
reason in every aspect of life,
 FOCUS: Literature and Disability Novel: FirdauseKanga
24
mainstream soiety. From
an early heterosexuality. Discuss it.
able-bodied
orientation further alienates him from 'normal- Q.5. Compulsory Able-Bodiedness and
and forced to think in terms of the binary Ans. Robert McRuer
in his essay "Compulsory
age. people are taught a social phenomenon
that other at length on a society's
abnormal paradigm engendering 2ueer/Disabled Existence has elaborated or 'able-
conform to the socially accepted norm.
with what is called 'normal body
individuals who do not conform to an ideal
redilection towards people is an 'ableist society,
McRuer
bodies pressured to society
our
Consequently, sexualities and
are odied'.Arguing that able-bodied
composition does not fall
biological society has space and tolerance only for the
when peoples' functioningare that
or
and 'Other' and are mphasizes ostracize
mechanism to
deemed inferior or has devised a
within these standards, they of a eople. For this purpose, society Therefore, e v e n though
the mainstream society. As a victim
not belong to the accepted
norms.
conveniently excluded from (brittle bones disease)eople who do
people they are NOT accepted
Osteogenesis Imperfecta u r society abounds with
ditterently-abled
CTIPpling disease called life on a wheelchair placing
him outside of the of the society. Thus, the disabled are marginalized
Kanga is confined toa able-bodied. It is interesting to note that
s an equal membeT
as freakish and exotic people. Usually,
category of the normal body or
and treated as the Other sometimes,
has never expressed remorse on his crippled treated as deviant, evil, ugly and
abhorrent in popular
in
his writings Kanga and with his queer sexuality. Kanga the disabled are
disabled people makes it evident that the
condition; rather, he is proud open
and disability lore.
The hostility towards
ascribed
reflects on the prevailing attitudes towards queer sexuality of harsh scrutiny where the body is
non-normal human body is a subject
the exclusionary processes at work that keep people
with that stigmatize those which are beyond the
and with symbols and meanings
bodies and sexualities away from the mainstream society which is a clear conventional methods of categorization.
that it is the society which
reiterates scope of the
violation of Human Rights. Kanga Butler's concept of "performativity"
enunciated in her path-breaking
and disables them and not the physicality of their bodies or sexual Matter: On the Discursive Limits of
queers book on gender studies Bodies that
orientation. In this regard, Lennard J. Davis' Enforcing Normalcy: of "performativity where
is
Disability, Deafness, and the Body is a significant
theoretical intervention 'Sex (1993) expounds that 'gender' question
a

sex is assignedroles that need to be performed throughout

that throws light on the existence of a restrictive regime in the society in a particular
women is essentially a
the form of norms, normal, and normality that creates the phenomena of life. It emerges that the inferior status assigned to and
'social constructionism' as the society has traditionally
This restrictive regime is an case of
queer and disability in the society. 'mutilated'/"deformed' bodies compared to
exclusionary process alienating people with disabilities from everyday historically regarded them as
is case of 'social construction' as different
men. Likewise, disability
a
life and violates their basic Human Rights.
the cultural
in
dimensions of the body became deviant/deformed bodies
Kanga has challenged several assumptions and myths associated with or worse as non-human
"OthersS".
the queer and disabled foremost of them being the notion of 'sexlessness' narratives and were seen as grotesques,
and not the norm [emphasis
of the disabled individuals. By portraying disabled people as healthy and Assuming that the disabled are exception
an
definition and the
rich in sexual desires and appetites Kanga demystifies the phenomena of added] they were regarded as individuals beyond
of the body is the
queerness and disability. He shows that disabled people can have rich sphere of "performativity". Here, "performativity" of deviant/
and satisfying (sexual) lives but, it is the 'ableist society that is not able to benchmark of social acceptance/recognition. The ambiguity
in the 'normal either/or
see, understand, and accept the queer and/or disabled. Everywhere there deformed bodies presented a challenge assigning
disable-bodied were
is a system and design of segregation to exclude the queer and/or disabled male-female gender binary because of which the
sexual desire or
from the society through the usage of an anti-queer/and anti-disabled assumed to be 'sexless', in other words lacking in libido,
attractiveness. In a way, both women and
language, discourses, narratives as well as in the design of spatiality that sexual attraction and sexual
rubric as mutilated/
is generally designed or structured without taking into consideration the disable-bodied are clubbed together under the same
of or the sensibilities of the queer people which is in question and whose
needs thespecially-abled deviant/deformed bodies whose 'ability'
for the
can be called
"design apartheid". Firdaus Kanga's works, therefore,
major sexuality needs to be regulated for a proper/healthy pro-creation hetero-
present a rich
and varied area of exploration on the intersection of sustenance of mankind through the tried and tested patriarchal
disability, sexuality and Human Rights from an interdisciplinary normativity.
theoretical framework. In this paper, an attempt has been made to re/ from Rich's theory
read Kanga's works from the lens of the
In disability studies, McRuer, borrowing his idea
intersectionality of Human Rights, and Lesbian Existence", broadens the
disability and queer sexuality in literature by focusing on the alienation, "Compulsory Heterosexuality
similar kind in the form of
concept to highlight the presence of a
precarity and alterity in the lived experiences of Kanga. Compulsory Able-bodiedness" in the society because
social institutions,
 Novel: Firdause Kany
26 FOCUS: Literature and Disability
mainly designed an
infrastructures are love is not alien to India it is not a foreign import". Modern Indian critics
cultural systems and physical 2uided nationalist fervour was uncomfortable with the idea of a
by
able-bodied. Because of this reason, individuals.wi
attuned for the
different bodily dimensions and
abilities are deprived of equality whid homosexual India and attacked the non-normative sexuality as 'Western
The disability phenomena in society an import conveniently discarding the available historical and literary facts
violates their Human Rights.
that presented a complexly different picture. In this respect, there was a
largely a s0cial construction. convenient'internalizing of colonialism' as it suited thepolitico-cultural
that masculinity is all about th
As feminists have argued all along similar
discourses of the time.
as well is a produa
jingoist social construction of power, disability
disable-bodied in the society. It
In the words of Dasgupta; "Through internalizing colonialism, the
and hostile treatment of the
of jingoism that reserves sexuality, and
new elites of post-independence India attacked non-normative sexuality
such an overbearing norrnalizing mechanism as nationalist critiquue".
exclusive preserve of the able-bodie
in this case, heterosexuality, as an
It is fascinating to note that the stigmatization of homosexuality is a
or normates creating the norm of compulsory
able-bodied heterosexuality
This norm has entrenched in the socio-cultural values and belief colonial legacy. The British colonial administrators (guided by their
libido and sexual desire Victorian Puritanism) zealously regulated sexuality and minoritized
constructing the myths of sexlessness (devoid of
of the disable-bodied and the existence of hetero-normativity. This social queer sexualities in India through anti-sodomy lawi.e., Section 377 of the
Indian Penal Code 1860, a law which continues to be enforced to this day.
constructionism of compulsory able-bodied heterosexuality is
The politico-juridical regulation of sexuality, solely guided by the vested
discriminatory segregating the people on false and artificially created
interests of the dominant heterosexuality, has imbibed an intolerant spirit
difference of the Other. Stigmatization of the disabled people occurs as
in the society
result of this normalizing practice that characterizes the disabled peoplk
as the Other and the disabled human subjects are given
lesser humar For this reason, society has become intolerant of non-normative sex;
dignity and place in society. this is particularly true of the Indian society where, borrowing Adrienne
The Otherness is due less with the difference of the sexuality Rich's conceptual term, 'Compulsory Heterosexuality', is imposed by
social norms and enforced through the enactment of laws by the state to
corporality of the queer/disable bodied than to the point of view and the
discourse endorsed by the society. Classification of people into regimes d this effect.
compulsory able-bodied heterosexuality is not just a symbolic or semiotit Section 377 is not merely a law against homosexuality but, is
practice but are oppressive and marginalizing practices that reconfigure regulation of sexuality in general by criminalizing certain forms of sexual
the differently-abled as lesser humans. Article 5 of the United Nations activity that digresses from the accepted majoritarian norms. Sexuality
Organisation's (UNO) Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 states is strictly controlled (even policed) in Indian society and its institutions
that: (8overnmental, legal, educational, familial), and heteronormativity is
"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading scripted and imposed.
treatment or punishment". However, the letter and spirit
have been regularly violated by the ableist society without
of Article The punitive measures indicate the hostility towards the different,
any remorse those who do not conform to the norms. What is personal is treated as
and what is even worse is the fact that for the ableist
society the disabled political. This arbitrarily encroaches upon the privacy of an individual
people are sinmply objects to be judged and manipulated.
Q.6. The personal is political as well as homosexuality in India
damaging his/her honour and reputation. The United Nations
Organisation's (UNO) has made an effort to ensure that this basic Human
Ans. Homosexuality was extant in pre-colonial India where heter Right of an individual is respected and upheld by enshrining in the
normatvity was NOTthenorm and homosexuality were widely accepted Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 a specific Article, i.e., Article
through social sanctions. Dasgupta states, "[t]he polyvalence sexuality
of 12 which states: "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with
Prevalent tillpre-colonialism
This is contrary to the
was disciplined through soial sanctions his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his
commonly held notion that honour and
homosexuality is a reputation.
foreign (Western) import. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such
or attacks". Nonetheless, homosexuality continues to be
Vanta and Kidwai explains, "An unbiased excavation into the ancient
and modern Indian cultures and traditions interference
criminalized in India to this day and regulated by the dominant
surely proves that same-sex
28
FOCUS: Literatureand Disability
Furthermore, an inaccessible
Novel: Firdause Kanga 29
heteronormative society and its institutions.
endemic democracy deficit ensures
justice system (too expensive) and
an
deserve to enjoy the rights and privileges of Human Rights. Essaka Joshua
that there is neither a legal recourse nor a process through which this says, "Deformity was most commonly conceptualized as a set of
addressed.
violation of Human Rights can be adequately characteristics that are the opposite of beauty. Philosophers of the period
towards the queer and
The continued hostility or intolerance in India usually characterize deformity negatively, and standardize it as something
disable-bodied indicates the overbearing nature of the State's as well as
Indian society's
that exhibits irregularity, disproportion, disharmony, asymmetry,
that of the dominant ableist and heteronormative peculiarity, sickness, and decay".
intrusion into the personal space of peoples' lives violating all forms of This aesthetic philosophy plays a significant role in the stereotyping
decency and Human Rights. An observation of this aspect reinforces the of disabled people as deviant, evil, ugly, deformed, incomplete, etc. A
merit in the statement, "the personal is political" as far as the regulation
negative image and the problematic phenomena, such as
is created
a personal matter has been
of sexuality is concerned. What is essentially marginalization, discrimination, prejudice, etc. segregate people with
the unbridled sexual conduct
conveniently turned into a political issue as disabilities creating inequalities. One basic principle of Human Rights is
is seen as a threat to the dominant heterosexuality, masculinity and the that "all are equal before the law and "all are entitled to equal protection
structures of power. against any discrimination".
human subjects
In the of the normal, the queer and/or disabled
reginmes This principle has been clearly stated and spelt out in the Article7 of
subordinate
given little or lesser value and human dignity ensuring
a
are the United Nations Organisation's (UNO) Universal Declaration of Human
position and lesser (social and political) power. Rights, 1948 which states that: "All are equal before the law and are
The regulation of sexuality marginalized queer sexualities and queer entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are
individuals which had a tremendous bearing on the socio-cultural sphere entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of
of India. First, it served to cement the dominant heterosexual ableism; this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination."
and secondly, it stigmatized and marginalized the lives of queer
individuals as abnormal and criminals forcing them to live in the margins
According to McRuer the dominant ableist-society deems this difference
as deviant and attempts to enforce their able-bodied norms onto
of the society in abject poverty without any voice, political or literary, to marginalized, disabled identities. The alienation of people with disabilities
raise their concerns making them vulnerable to violence and abuse. Society from mainstream society and culture is a consequence of the effects of
is unequal to the different or the non-normative.
"compulsory able-bodiedness."
The cultural narratives underwent a sea-change by the The focus of this categorization and segregation of people with
discriminatory politics of norms that allow humanity to be divided into disabilities is on the visible difference between the forms of the body. For
two binary opposing groups: one that embodies the norms and whose that reason, the visible difference in the body of Kanga becomes a hallmark
identity is valued and cherished while another one that doesn't is of his identity. From an early age, he is made to feel that he is different. The
regarded/treated as the Other, conveniently defined by its faults, devalued,
ostracized and discriminated, or in other terms dehumanized. opening sentence of Trying to Grow begins with these lines: "His teeth
are like windows, said Father to the old Parsee with droopy white
Dehumanizing certain sections of the society that do not conform to the
moustache, sitting next to us on the bus. 'You can look through them-
majoritarian norms is a clear violation of the basic Human Rights as it
see? 'Father tried to hold open my mouth". Even Brit's (Kanga) father
transgresses the ideals of justice, equality, and fraternity.
looked at him as an odd and bizarre creature. He is not seen as a normal
Q.7. Alienation ofpeople with disabilities. Examine. person.
Ans. 'Enforcing normalcy' is mechanism of and
a
categorization These lines, "Sam, Brit is a normal person. He's just got a problem.
segregation based on an assumed difference of forms of the body. This Can't you see it that way?' 'Normal? You call everything I told you
system is arbitrary, and at its best is a politicization of identity-based on normal?' "suffices to say that the system of normality and compulsory
an assumed difference. Disabled people or people with disabilities like
able-bodiedness is overwhelming and deeply entrenched in the somatic
Kanga are thus considered 'deformed, lacking in some vital aspects of the Psyche of the ableist society. In the collective unconscious of the dominant
body. As a result, disabled people are considered mutilated, incomplete ableist society, the concept of compulsory able-bodiedness has an
or deformed humans
implying the tacit understanding that they do not Overpowering influence so much so that it blurs the capacity to perceive
beyond the normal.
 FOCUS: Literature and Disability Novel: Firdause Kanga 31
30
a medical
condition is not Q.8.Somatocentrism precarity of the disabled people. Explain it.
The fact that Brit (Kanga) suffers from to. He is Ans. The privileging of able-bodied people over the disable-bodied in
understood in its proper context, there is not even an attempt
simply assumed as abnormal and this is de-humanizing,
AS
DIr E) the cultural value system denotes the pervasive social constructionism
the systemic discriminauon at in the social orgamzation of the dominant ableist society. The
grows (or tries to grow) he experiences
work against the disabled. Here, the systemic compuisory adie1s preoccupation with body image and the physical appearance of the body
like
charr shows the extent of cultural values and meanings attached to select
bodiedness segregates Brit (Kanga) from the able-bodied traits.
from the grain. As a consequence of this endemic compulsory phenotypical
separated face alienation and A hegemonic discourse confers recognizability on subjects which
able-bodiedness, people with disabilities like Kanga
(Human Rights) abuses. sufficiently conform to the norms. Marginalization, abjection, exclusion,
and the attribution of cultural values and meanings on divergent bodies.
Sociologist Melvin Seeman in "On the Meaning of Alienation"identified
whether positive or negative, is rampant and a result of somatocentrismn.
five attributes that cause alienation viz., powerlessness, meaninglessness,
To this list of attributes In Heaven on Wheels Kanga writes, "I could open my door and the
normlessness, isolation, and self-estrangement.
identified ascausing alienation of the disabled people can beadded the salesman would say, 'Poor thing you, to be like this' A passer-by would
notion of'sexlessness' of the people with disabilities. "I wasn't male. Not stop a friend who was wheeling me and exclaim, Well done! This is the
ta them. The magic mirrors of their minds had invented a formula: Osteo true spirit of service! A moustachioed man would block my way and
sexlessness" writes Kanga in Trying to Grow Kanga. Furthermore, in stare in horrified fascination as they did at Victor Hugo's boy who
Heaven on Wheels, Kanga writes, "Who will marry you a l s o - you laughed".

cannot have children?". These lines reveal the extent of 'violence' that colours the perception
The assumption that "osteo = sexlessness", and "cannot have children and treatment of people whose bodies do not sufficiently conform to the
is a failure to recognize Kanga as a human being. Kanga has revealed that norms. A complex convergence of norms, myths, and prejudices prevents
for twenty-nine long years he was told by the society t h a t he was not a the divergent bodies from being recognized as worthy of respect and

person. This stereotyping is not an exception but a rule cutting across the space in the social organisation. Unfortu nately, this is not an aberration
diverse cultural narratives of India. The enmbodiment of the disabled out a norm, a regular feature faced by disabled people like Kanga in
human body as sexless and incapable of having children is a form of 2veryday life which takes a toll on their psyche. As hegrows (or tries to
oppression for the reason that it reads the disabled body sans; grow) Kanga experiences
the extent of his abjection,
isolation, and
(i) libido, (i) sexual desire, (iii) sexual attraction, and correspondingly xclusion from the mainstream society which segregates disabled bodies
(iv) human feelings/emotions. This can be termed as one of the worst orcefully with violence violating his basic Human Rights.
forms of Human Rights abuses. This stereotyping is disempowering and According to Judith Butler, "precarity" designates that politically
isolationist which violates the basic Human Rights of people with nduced condition in which certain populationssuffer from failing social
disabilitiesbecause"Everyone has the right torecognitioneverywhere ind economic networks... ecoming differentially exposed toinjury
as a personbeforethelaw asstated and emphasizedin Article 6 of the riolence, and death". The concept of thesocial constructionism of
United Nations Organisation's (UNO) Universal Declaration of Human
disability infers that disability is largely a "politically
Rights, 1948. It is interesting to note that through these myths and oy the dominant ableist society which regards
induced condition"
the disabled as deviant
prejudices zones of seclusion are created to insulate the non-disabled hat is in direct conflict with the dominant social norms. In the zeal to
people from the threat of disruption of the established and rotect its domain, the dominant ableist society induces a hostile
institutionalized able-bodied and heterosexual norms of the ableist ondition to the point that it beconmes suffocating for the disabled people
society o live a normal life.
Jenny Morris in Pride against Prejudice: Transforming Attitudes to
Disability argues that being kind and generous to people with disabilities Theofexistence
nuch
of disabled people like Kanga becomes precarious. For
his life, Kanga had to live a life on the margins of the society
by remaining within zones of seclusion offers a comforting feeling and lassled and "robbed" of his basic Human The of
satisfaction to the non-disabled people as regards their altruism to the lisabledexistencecan be gauged from these lines, "Toprecarity
Rights. berobbed is Kangas
rarely
disabled. ainful for what
you lose; it's the thought of what has been done to you
 Novel: Firdause Kanga 33
FOCUS: Literature and Disability
32 as divergent. According to McRuer, the dominant identities enforce their
and awake into the night.
To be open h able-bodied norms onto marginalized, disabled identities rendering the
that keeps you trembling subtle terror disable-bodied as the perennial 'Others', the Otherness differing only in
at almost any time lends a
plundering of your personality the surface of your smile". Taking pan degree and not in essence.
lies sulking beneath
your life that tor Kanga as hi Firdaus Kanga experienced the process of the subjection of
out to be a traumatic experience qucer and
in everyday life turns intense scrutiny and violen disable-bodied people in its severest form due to the severity of his
an object) of
body becomes a subject (and deformity and queer sexuality. Kanga says that his deformity reduced
ableist gaze. violates the letter and him into "four feet nothingness" and photos made him "look like a
the ableist society
This treatment of Kanga by
United Nations Organisation's (UNO) Universa demon".
5 of the
spirit of the Article 1948 which states that:
"No one shall b In Heaven on Wheels he writes, "To be gay, in India, was to surrender
Declaration of Human Rights,
inhunman or degrading treatment your claim to be a man, to slide into self-parody of make-up and earrings,
subjected to torture or to cruel,
neither of which quite tempted me... The fact that I couldn't walk
punishment". of Kanga as automatically disqualified me, in the Indian mind, from marriage-or, for
sees the disabled body
The somatocentric perspective that matter, any romantic relationship".
attached to it. An invisible barrier crop
lesser-human and stigmas are
disabilities. In thi Kanga is twice marginalized because of his disability and queer
or ghettoizing people with
up in every space confining from the mainstream societ sexuality. Yet, he is unabashedly proud of his disabled and queer identity
way, people with disabilities
are expunged Kanga remarks that India is essentially an "uncomprehending culture"
invisible and silent although the
This renders people with disabilities o r th of teratophobia and homophobia. There exists a heightened version of
the sees is the able-bodied
are everywhere in society. What society normality in the Indian socio-cultural context and Kanga challenges this
disabled people is often taken simplya
normal body; the existence ofthe ".... t orthodoxy by accepting his disabled body and homosexuality as normal.
a fairytale, not a reality
and vanished from society. Kanga quips,
and disable Kanga can comprehend the existence of an alternative system that exists
I was Cinderella". Kanga's queer
most people, in Bombay, outside of the
existence does not matter essentially
because in the somatocentri purview of normality and embraces it wholeheartedly.
Ableism is a denial of an alternative system, or for that matter, alternative
matter.
worldview disabled bodies do not
bodies and sexualities.
other. How?
Q.9. Alterity is the otherness of the When Kanga quipped, "The good thing was, I was at everyone's crotch-
Ans. It is the able-bodied that matters,
the rest are simply the Other
Existence" Rober level getting the best view of my life.. ."what he meant was that his
In "Compulsory Able-Bodiedness and Queer/Disabled
McRuer shows the pervasiveness of this notion/prejudice in the societ deformity and disability bestowed him the ability or power to see and
which leaves no scope for a choice, to the point that, this compulsor comprehend the world in different, often multiple and alternate
able-bodiedness creates disability. A web of discourses and narrative perspectives. It is however a different story that the dominant ableist
leaves no room for different forms of the body in the social organisatio society could neither see nor comprehend the world as a multiplicity of
I forms and systems used as they were to a system of a unidimensional
creating a binary opposite of Us, "the Self, versus Them, "the Other. model. The Otherness of the Other is NOT a consequence of an essential
thisdichotomy the able-bodied is upheld as an embodiment of normality difference of the Other, but an outcome of a rigid unidimensional point of
an identity which is valued, while on the other hand the disable-bodier
is taken as gross, defined by faults, and is devalued and discriminatede view of the ableist society violating Article 1 of the United Nations
abnormal, the Other. Organisation's (UNO) Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states
that: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
The history of disability and queer sexualities are interspersed wit They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards
discourses of Otherness.Otherness is an endemic process ofthe subjectio one another in a spirit of brotherhood".
of the disable-bodied as abject and gross. Since the 1970s several model 10. Discourses of disability, sexuality, and Human Rights. Discuss.
of disability: medical model, expert/professional care model, tragedy and
Ans. Discourses of disability, (queer) sexuality, and Human Rights
or charity model, moral model, economic model, and social (justice)
mode ISSues related to the queer and/or disabled people have remained neglected
of disability have undergone revisions and changes. However, thes
models share a common essence-Otherness. In reinforcing the Othernes in literary narratives.

paradigm, discourses play a significant role by characterizing differenc

 FOCUS: Literature and Disability
34 Novel: Firdause Kanga 35
the experience of living inside
Kanga's narrative of his lived experience,
of queer sexuality is a unique questions the structural barriers in the social organization that Others
a disabled body, and that of his experience
the human complexities, the and de-humanizes the disabled people. Kanga's writings are not just any
expression of reality. He has thrown light
on

myths as well as assumptions that construct disability, the imposition of regular narrative on disability but, are a considered and authentic voice
Human Rights abuses that the from the marginalized people with disabilities and queer sexualities. By
heteronormativity as well as the rampant and questioning the myths, assumptions, and discourses of the ableist society
disabled face in everyday life. In his literary narrative, disability
discourse. he has sought to build an equal and just society that is inclusive of different
queer sexuality is at the centre of the and diverse members. He situates the queer/disabled existence as the 'new
readers ona
In Trying to Growand Heaven on Wheels, he takes the
of his disabled and normal'in society.
detour of his life, presenting the lived experiences
the of sexlessness Kanga, through the medium of literature, has made it clear that the
qucer existence. In the process, Kanga challenges myth
of the disabled people, decries the notion that the disabled are devoid
of much-vaunted United Nations Organisation's Universal Declaration of
human emotions/feelings, and critiques the pervasiveness of the 'Othering Human Rights, 1948 has remained simply a declaration (in the paper)
Human Rights of people with and not a practice as far as the rights and privileges of the disabled and
process that abjects and abuscs the
disability. the queer people are concerned, at least in the socio-cultural and political
narratives and practices in India. The Human Rights of the queer and/or
Kanga has affirmed the experiences of disability and queer sexuality
paving the way for a kind of disability and queer pride. Using a humorous disabled people are violated with impunity asthe normalizing discourses
such as compulsory able-bodied heterosexuality regulates the
language in his literary narrative he has revisited and resisted discourses
that presents a prejudiced way of thinking and social practices as wellas discrimination and oppression as normal, and receives it as an accepted
the rigidity and oppressiveness of normal subject positions. His writings practice.

gain an added significance because he shows that the novel (literature in The queer and/or disabled people are treated as
objects to be judged,
general), as an important cultural form plays a crucial role in normalizing segregated, discriminated and objected by those able to exercise power in
discourses about what counts as a normal human being and how it shapes so far as the discursive practices, cultural narratives and political will of
Ihe popular perceptions and representations of the queer and/or disabled. India are concerned.
In the presence of a normalizing discourse such as compulsory able- Furthermore, what can be called 'democracy deficit' in India acts as a
bodied
heterosexuality entertained and imposed by the ableist society
queer and/or disabled individual like Kanga throws light on the everyday
stumbling block towards legal, political, social, as well as cultural remedy
in the struggle for the basic Human
struggles of a queer and/or disabled individuals, and the rampant Human
Rights by the queer and/or disabled
people as they are generally poor, marginalized, and powerless. With the
Rights abuses suffered by the queer and/or disable-bodied. Kanga's rise of disability studies and queer
sexuality studies in the 1960s and 70s,
narratives of the lived cxperiences of queer and/or disabled existence form there has come about some
a
space-time continuum as the silences and gaps in mainstream literary perceptible change in the treatment of the
and other cultural narratives are filled with liminal
queer and/or disabled people, especially in the Western societies, even
voices of the queer then they too are stuck in
and/ or disabled. "governmentality", borrowing Foucault's
terminology, as it sees/perceives queer sexuality and disability asa
Kanga reconciles the dominant ableist society with the reality qucer of problem' displaying the prevalent attitudes towards the queer and/or
and/or disabled existence. Denied space in ihe
disabled individual's life is a society, qucer and/or disabled people.
story of the struggle for survival of the In such a scenario, it becomes
weakest and the
marginalized in an unequal and malevolent world. Kanga Nations
increasingly evident that the United
challenges the dominant discourses of norms and Organisation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 is
narratives to provide an objective normality in his
Ostensibly out of tune with the charnge of tinmes as it has failed to incorporate
understood issues of queer perspective to the
rarely and seldom and guarantee the Human
Rights of the queer and/or disabled people
sexuality and
disability and
and deprived section of the gives hope through its various Articles in unambiguous terms.
a new
to the most
marginalized
Human Rights. society in terms of

His Writings
explore (and exposes) the culture of "normal", and