THE
FREE RADIO || INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH || SALMAN RUSHDIE:
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR OF THE FREE RADIO:
Salman
Rushdie is a British Indian novelist and dramatist. He was born 19 June, 1947
in Mumbai. His second novel ‘Midnight’s Children’ accompanied a new
trend of writing. He used a hybrid language-English generally peppered with
Indian terms, to convey the vast canvas of Indian theme. His novel ‘Midnight’s
Children’ won the Booker Prize in 1981. He was also rewarded
with The Best of the Booker.
SUMMARY
OF THE FREE RADIO:
The story “The
Free Radio” is about a Rikshaw puller, Ramani. Ramani dreams of having a
movie career. He is lured into marrying a poor thief’s widow. She is ten year
older than Ramani. She is attractive and mother of five children. She had seven
children but two them died and five are still alive. Ramani agrees to marry her
on the condition that he undergoes the government sterilization program. He
wanted the free radio that Laxman had received some year ago after his
sterilization.
This story
is narrated by an old retired teacher. He is sitting under a banyan smoking his
hookah and observes the going-on, where Ramani plies his rikshaw. The story
relates with India’s socio-political history and refracts it though the lives
of the lowest rung of the social layers.
By agreeing
to undergo a vasectomy, Ramani believes that by this program he is not only
making his wife happy but also serving the national interest and beside all
these things he will be getting a free radio. The imagination of the
free radio was making him cheerful and happier than at any time in his life.
The other illusion
Ramani had that he has the looks of movie star and can make it in the movies in
Bombay. While his other dream of getting a free radio has been faded and on the
other hand, he did not want to leave his other dream of becoming a movie star. For
that he sells his rikshaw and moved to Bombay with his wife and his five
children in a believe of becoming the bigger film star. He writes a letter to
the narrator that the retire teacher, boasting of his success and prosperity.
Ramani had fallen in every aspect of his life whether it’s his life decision
making, fallen in being the right husband and being a great father.
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