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Eleanor (“Nell”) Swan
Captain David Durance is a colonial official who works with the Resident in Jummapur, as well as one of Flora Crewe’s three suitors (along with Nirad Das and the Rajah). A convinced and unapologetic imperialist, he believes that the British are right to exploit and enslave Indians, whom he views as a savage, subhuman people who need to be civilized by force. Like many colonial officials, he does not recognize that the growing Indian independence movement is a response to the British Empire’s abuses. He also thinks it’s inappropriate for Flora to stay with the Theosophical Society and associate with Indians like Coomaraswami, Das, and even the Rajah. Flora finds his views repugnant, but still agrees to go on dates with him, and her sister Eleanor suggests that they may have slept together. According to Eldon Pike, Durance died during World War II.
David Durance Quotes in Indian Ink
The Indian Ink quotes below are all either spoken by David Durance or refer to David Durance. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 2 Quotes
DURANCE Indianization. It’s all over, you know. We have Indian officers in the Regiment now. My fellow Junior here is Indian, too, terribly nice chap—he’s ICS, passed the exam, did his year at Cambridge, learned polo and knives-and-forks, and here he is, a pukkah sahib in the Indian Civil Service.
FLORA Is he here?
DURANCE At the Club? No, he can’t come into the Club.
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The case was dismissed on a technicality, and the policemen were awfully sweet, they got me away through the crowd in a van. My sister was asked to leave school. But that was mostly my own fault—the magistrate asked me why all the poems seemed to be about sex, and I said. “Write what you know”—just showing off. I was practically a virgin, but it got me so thoroughly into the newspapers my name rings a bell even with the wife of a bloody jute planter or something in the middle of Rajputana, damn, damn, damn, no, let’s go inside.
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DURANCE Would you marry me?
FLORA No.
DURANCE Would you think about it?
FLORA No. Thank you.
DURANCE Love at first sight, you see. Forgive me.
FLORA Oh, David.
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“Heat collects and holds as a pearl at my throat,
lets go and slides like a tongue-tip down a Modigliani,
spills into the delta, now in the salt-lick,
lost in the mangroves and the airless moisture,
a seed-pearl returning to the oyster—
et nos cedamus amori …”
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DURANCE Where did you get such a thing?
FLORA His Highness gave it to me.
DURANCE Why?
FLORA Because I ate an apricot. Because he is a Rajah. Because he hoped I’d go to bed with him. I don’t know.
DURANCE But how could he … feel himself in such intimacy with you?
[…]
DURANCE … but I’m in a frightfully difficult position now.
FLORA Why?
DURANCE Did he visit you?
FLORA I visited him.
DURANCE I know. Did he visit you?
FLORA Mind your own business.
DURANCE But it is my business.
FLORA Because you think you love me?
DURANCE No, I … Keeping tabs on what His Highness is up to is one of my … I mean I write reports to Delhi.
FLORA (Amused) Oh heavens!
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The terror of the Empire Day gymkhana, the thrower of mangoes at the Resident’s Daimler.
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Quite possibly. Or with Captain Durance. Or His Highness the Rajah of Jummapur. Or someone else entirely. It hardly matters, looking back. Men were not really important to Flora. If they had been, they would have been fewer. She used them like batteries. When things went flat, she’d put in a new one … I’ll come to the gate with you. If you decide to tell Mr Pike about the watercolour, I’m sure Flora wouldn’t mind.
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David Durance Character Timeline in Indian Ink
The timeline below shows where the character David Durance appears in Indian Ink. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1
Suddenly, Captain David Durance arrives on a horse. He greets Flora and Das—who leaves on his bicycle. Durance...
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Durance tells Flora to visit the British Club. They shake hands, and Flora asks about Durance’s...
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The electricity returns, and the ceiling fan turns on. Flora tells Das that Durance invited her to dinner, and then she asks if Krishna and Radha were punished for...
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Act 2
Flora Crewe and David Durance dance with two other English couples in the Jummapur Club in 1930, while across...
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...be in town for the ball honoring Queen Victoria’s birthday—she says no. Flora explains that David has promised to take her for a ride in his car, and the woman notes...
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Settings and timelines mix together onstage. In a letter to Eleanor, Flora writes that Durance took her out in his car, that she ate dinner at the Club, and that...
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Durance asks about Flora’s health and offers to show her the English cemetery. He says that...
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David asks Flora to ride with him in the morning and tells her to say yes:...
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David Durance mounts a horse and starts practicing his polo swing. Flora asks about India’s future....
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As Flora and Durance ride out in the country, a group of birds startles their horses. Flora admits that...
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Back in 1930, Flora wakes up at dawn and meets David Durance on her verandah. He offers to take her for a ride and show her...
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Durance asks why the Rajah would give Flora a painting, and Flora comments that perhaps the...
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...interest, but also that she’s finally leaving Jummapur. (In a footnote, Eldon Pike explains that David Durance died during World War II.) Flora writes that she feels better and is starting...
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...same letter. Anish declares that Pike is wrong to insinuate that Flora’s affair was with Durance, because it was really with his father, Nirad Das. But Swan argues that it’s not...
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