The Lowland: Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

By early 1968, the United Front government has collapsed  and direct rule by the Central Government has been imposed. Students all over West Bengal are protesting their insufficient educations—which teach the young “to ignore the needs of the common people”—by boycotting exams, tearing up diplomas, and delivering incendiary speeches during convocations and graduations.

Despite this climate, Udayan and Subhash both begin their postgraduate studies. Subhash continues on at Jadavpur, while Udayan transfers to Calcutta University. Udayan’s schedule becomes erratic, and he frequently misses dinner. Subhash knows that the Naxalbari movement is spreading throughout India, and suspects that his brother is involved, but does not discuss these matters with their parents.

One evening, Udayan invites Subhash to a meeting in North Calcutta. In the small room, students are gathered together to engage in a study-session-like meeting at which the group must prove their familiarity with Mao’s tenets and Chinese history. Communist newspapers are distributed, and from reading them Subhash learns that the peasant rebels are still active in Naxalbari. They are even having some success, and landowners are fleeing after a spate of landowning families have been burned and decapitated.  Sinha, the leader of the meeting, tells the room that the CPI(M) is nothing but “lackeys of the United States,” and urges the creation of a new party to reflect their group’s radical views. Though Subhash is skeptical, Udayan hangs on every word.

Later that week, beneath the brothers’ bed, Subhash finds a can of red paint along with a folded piece of paper on which is written a list of slogans glorifying Mao and the uprising in Naxalbari. One night, when Udayan comes home late, Subhash asks if he has been out painting slogans. Udayan replies that the “ruling class” puts their propaganda everywhere, and so he and his group should be able to influence people, too. Udayan then invites Subhash to come help him paint the following evening.

The next night, Subhash again finds himself in the position of lookout as Udayan paints the slogan “Long live Naxalbari” in English on a wall. Subhash is not afraid of being caught, and remembers, in contrast, how terrified he was back when they scaled the wall of the Tolly Club. After the vandalism is finished, Udayan is elated and excited, but Subhash is angry with himself for going along with it. He knows he only followed Udayan because he is afraid that if he resists Udayan, the two will “cease to be brothers.” 

After finishing school, Udayan finds a job teaching science at a high school near Tollygunge, while Subhash applies to Ph.D. programs in the United States, where he can continue his research on the environment. Udayan insists he cannot walk away from what is happening in India and warns Subhash that leaving is selfish. Subhash tells Udayan that in engaging with radicals, he is endangering their family. Udayan then begs Subhash not to leave. Subhash, however, does not hear the request as one made out of love, but rather as a command—“another exhortation to do as Udayan did.”

It is Udayan, however, who goes away before Subhash, claiming he is traveling with friends. A month later, Udayan returns thin and bearded, with a noticeable tremor. He is diagnosed with an overactive thyroid gland and placed on medication. After Udayan recovers, things mostly go back to normal—but Subhash can tell that “some part of Udayan [is] elsewhere.” Something, Subhash realizes, has subdued and preoccupied his brother.

On April 22, 1969—Lenin’s birthday—a third communist party launches in Calcutta. They call themselves Naxalites. Majumdar and Sanyal are at its head—Sanyal is the “party chairman.” Sanyal gives a speech, christening the party the Communist Party of India, Marxist-Leninist—the CPI(ML.) He proclaims that the party’s chief task will be to organize the peasantry against the Indian state, using guerrilla warfare as its main tactic. Sanyal predicts that by the year 2000, “the people of the whole world will be liberated from all kinds of exploitation,” and communism will be celebrating a great victory.

The next day, the newspapers feature articles about the gathering, and photos of Sanyal and his followers. Subhash looks through them, seeing portraits of a city he no longer feels a part of. Already, he is preparing to leave Tollygunge behind. He knows that his brother was at the rally and feels slightly sad that Udayan did not invite him to come along. Subhash feels as if the two of them have already parted.