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I would like to continue with a few more notes from the novel "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" by Salman Rushdie.
The story line appears to be fairly basic, at least at the outset:
- Chap. 1 The Keeper of the Bees
- The title is an allusion to the original Orpheus myth. The Keeper of the Bees is the one who brings life out of death. Rai will attempt to do the same be telling the story of Vina Apsara.
- Vina dies in an earthquake in Mexico and Ria decides to "bring her back to life" by telling her story.
- Vina had recently left her long-time love to embark on a solitary singing career.
- Chap. 2 Melodies and Silences
- The title is a double reference to the nature of music, and to the ebbs and flows of a life.
- This chapter provides background information on the Cama family. We meet Ormus's parents (Darius Xerxes Cama and Lady Spenta Cama) as well as Ormus's two brothers (Cyrus and Virus)
- Darius Xerxes, as his name suggests, is interested in classical literature and history
- Lady Spenta withdraws from much of normal life after the tragedy of the stillborn death of Ormus's twin brother.
- Virus is hit by a cricket ball, suffers brain damage, and retreats into a state where he no longer talks or tries to communicate with others
- Cyrus becomes jealous of Ormus, tries to kill him and is committed to an institution.
- We are also introduced to the Merchant family (Rai's parents). They are friends of the Cama family.
- Chap. 3 Legends of Thrace
- The title is a play on Thrace (an area north east of present day Greece) and the name of a district in Bombay (where the Cama and Merchant families live).
- This chapter provides background information on the Merchant family.
- We read about the early difficulties between Piloo Doodhwala (a distant rich relative) and the Merchant family. The Doodhwala's are taking care of Vina.
- At the end of the chapter Vina is kicked out of the Doodhwala home and she runs to the Merchant's for refuge.
Here are a few of my favorite quotations from chapter 2:
- "... the unflappability of a soul fully occupied on the spiritual level, ... a soul who found in her everyday routines a means of communing with the divine." [p. 24]
- "an intentionally oxymoronic flash of wit, 'the miracle of reason' ". [p. 26]
- "In spite of all the evidence that life is discontinuous, a valley of rifts, and that random chance plays a great part in our fates, we go on believing in the continuity of things, in causation and meaning. But
we live on a broken mirror, and fresh cracks appear in its surface every day." [p. 30]
- "... and history moved, like a railway train diverted by a sudden switching of points, down an entirely different path." [p. 32]
- "The psychically unattached. Comets travelling through space, staying free of all gravitational fields." [p. 43]
- " 'The only people who see the whole picture ... are the ones who step out of the frame." [p. 43]
On page 44 there is a brief comparison of an Indian epic called the Ramayana with the tales of Homer. Typing "ramayana" into a search engines quickly gives;
Continuing the quotes:
- "Sound and silence, silence and sound. This is a story of lives pulled together and pushed apart by what happens in (and between) our ears." [p. 47] (Here is the author's summary of the novel!)
- "Human history clanked along, and the hot, blind stars wheeled overhead." [p. 51]
- "We find ground on which to make our stand." [p. 55]
- "... there is also this mighty conflict between the fantasy of Home and the fantasy of Away." [p. 55]
On page 55, we are given the lyrics to a song called The Frontier of the Skin
At the frontier of the skin no dogs patrol.
At the frontier of the skin.
Where I end and you begin.
Where I cross from sin to sin.
Abandon hope and enter in.
And lose my soul.
At the frontier of the skin no guards patrol.
At the frontier of the skin mad dogs patrol.
At the frontier of the skin.
Where they kill to keep you in.
Where you must not slip your skin.
Or change your role.
You can't pass out I can't pass in.
You must end as you begin.
Or lose your soul.
At the frontier of the skin armed guards patrol.
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