2. THE RETURN By K. S.

Maniam SYNOPSIS The Return is a story about Ravi, the narrator, whose grandmother and father migrated from India to Malaya. The settle in Bedong, Kedah where the family runs a dhobi business. Ravi is sent to an English school but this causes him to be alienated by the people around him. In spite of this, Ravi continues to pursue an English education. His father?s business continues to expand. nbsp;Later, he goes to England on a scholarship to do a two ? year teacher training course. When he returns to Malaysia, he finds it difficult to adapt to his family?s traditions and customs. He is posted to Sungai Petani as a teacher and rarely visits his home. His father eventually becomes mentally ill and dies in fire PHYSICAL SETTING ? Bedong, Kedah, which is surrounded by rubber estates. ? Bedong Group Hospital ? serves the community and the estate workers who live in longhouse HISTORICAL SETTING ? The story is set in the 1940s when many Indians came to Malaya to works in the estates. ? We read the Japanese Occupation, the colonial era, the Emergency period, pre-independence years through Ravi?s eyes CULTURAL SETTING ? Most of the estate workers are from India and they brought with them their traditions and customs. ? The majority of these workers are poor, uneducated and therefore, they have to submit to the socially superior class such as the one to which the Chief Dresser belongs THEMES ? The role of education in self ? development. ? The search for personal identity ? The role of woman ? Class distinction and discrimination ? Growing up MORAL VALUES OR MESSAGE ? One should strive to improve oneself. ? One should not give up easily ? One should act on one?s dreams

CHARACTERS ? Ravi * Ambitious * Hardworking * Resilient ? Periathai * Resourceful * Resilient * Courageous ? Kannan * Hardworking * Generous * Determined * Stubborn ? Karupi * Strong ? minded * Manipulative * Capable ? Chief Dresser * Respected * Stritc ? Ravi?s Mother * Quiet * Sympathetic * Protective

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BOOK REVIEW The Return By K. S. Maniam

K.S. Maniam is indeed an excellent Malaysian writer. His novels and writings chronicle the lives and events of the people living in Malaysia. Specifically speaking, his attitude and his views about immigrants and Diaspora communities in Malaysia have appeared significantly in his writings. Being a descendent of immigrants from India and being a part of the India Diaspora community in Malaysia, he is a writer that is ,without a doubt, in the position to write about the Diaspora Indian communities in Malaysia. The Return is well written, interesting and at the same time informative. A book, I must say, that can be used as a means of seeking pleasure as well as to impart on its readers the knowledge about culture and the diversity of Malaysia in terms of its culture and people. I would say that this book is written in a very practical and straightforward manner so that readers of all ages can enjoy it. The book starts off with the protagonist cum narrator, Ravi recounting the life and death of his grandmother; of what she did during her struggle for survival in a foreign land and a recount of her occupation and arrival in Malaya, the name of Malaysia before independence. This is what has been written as a brief synopsis about the book, "the story depicts the experiences of an immigrant community in Malaysia before and after independence in 1957. It documents the bewilderment and loss of bearings felt within a once secure world coming to an end in political change and cultural fragmentation". Periathai (Ravi's grandmother), Naina (Ravi's father), Karupi (Ravi's stepmother), Ravi's mother and Ms. Nancy are the few characters besides Ravi that played vital roles in the development and the transitions of events in the book. Maniam's characters in this book are well

developed and shared a substantial amount of importance for the smooth flowing of the stories that are told in the book. Without these characters, this book would have definitely been very bleakly written and events as told in the book would not have reached climatic stages. However, there are still some areas in the book that I do not agree with. Like a saying goes, too much of a good thing is bad and in this case, The Return is certainly of no exception. There are two questions that I want to propose in this regard. Would mentioning only the Diaspora Indian community do justice to the book? And Why didn't Maniam write more about Ravi's encounter and experiences in England? If Maniam could have in some ways answered these two questions through his writing in this book, this book would be in some way perfect. In conclusion, The Return is a book that reflects the dilemmas and agonies of an Indian community in Malaysia. It is richly written and elaborated on, making it suitable for all types of readers, be it a Malaysian or a foreigner. A book that would touch the heart and soul of readers. Reviewed by : Jeremy Ong Eng Liang essay on The Return by KS Mainam The Indians Identity in Malaysia An Interpretation of the Indians Experiences in Mainams The Return

Malaysias ethnic division among its peoples has been a cause for problems and racial discrimination ever since colonialism times. Even in the present times, as Malaysia has earned independence from the British, these problems have begun to take effect and are difficult to solve, as the Malay, Chinese, and Indian groups fight for their beliefs, culture, and religion to become the majority and dominant hegemony in the country. Colonialism has brought about the problem Malaysia is now facing as the British before was the one responsible for bringing in the two different cultures far from their homeland into Malaysia. This in effect creates the a deep dissention among the groups as they fail to unite and understand each other because of their deeply ingrained roots in traditional cultures of their own. Being a post-colonial country, they also have the problem of trying to stand on their own feet as they achieve independence. Most of their writers nowadays write in English, and this language as well helps the different groups understand each other. This is also the medium in which writers from the three different groups write in regards to their need to assert their authority now that the British are gone. Upon reading various pieces of literature from the three main groups in Malaysia, we now come across the Indian perspective of the people in the country. They are now a small minority in terms of percentage in the population, yet they are considered to be in equal with the Malays in terms of education, business, etc. where the Chinese are retained by the law (they are considered to be second class citizens) to make the two ethnic groups thrive and represent Malaysias countrymen. Still, they are not considered Malaysians because they have Hinduism as their religion and Tamil as their language (as stated in the Malays belief of who are truly Malaysians). This separates them from the other ethnic groups, in the same way as the Chinese and the Malays are, and causes a rift that different tradition and beliefs create that is difficult to cross.

The novel of KS Maniam, The Return, is an example of a post-colonial work which deals with the Indian perspective that gives us a view of their history under the British rule. It also gives us a grasp of their culture as the characters, especially Ravi and his family, strive for identity in Malaysia, yet are also struggling to maintain what is indeed their tradition and their culture in the face of colonialism and progress that is morphing and changing their beliefs. In understanding the experiences and the path that the Indians have to take to integrate themselves as also part of Malaysia, we would have to take an analysis of certain characters of the novel, and the experiences of Ravi, the speaker in the novel. The Return uses autobiography as a way of showing the readers the personal journey that becomes the voice of the Indians treading the same path towards identity and understanding a culture that for some, cannot fully be taken as their own as they strive for identity as Malaysians. The first of the characters who is introduced in the novel is Periathai, the grandmother of Ravi. She gives us a brief description of an Indian that is true to the culture of her own homeland, even as an immigrant in Malaysia. Her rituals and beliefs that is taken from Hinduism gives Ravi a sense of what his culture is, and she instills in him as a boy a love in the religion. Being also famous in their village, she is industrious and hardworking, yet never wanting to rise above her position as a worker, which is also part of the Hindu belief of dharma and of her caste. Periathai also symbolizes Indian traditions and beliefs, which until her death is her way of lifestyle. Eventually, the main desire of Periahtai as she approaches death is the desire to own her land, which gives us an insight on how these immigrant Indians, unable to return to their homeland then desire to set their roots down in Malaysia. Even in the description of the home she has made is fille3d with Indian articles, and she exclaims that he home is like treading Indian soil once more. (chapter 1, page 3) Yet this is prevented by the authorities as the land is taken away from her, as well as her freedom to attend and act in... Posted by: Jason Cashmere