Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Corruption, Political Violence, and Capitalism
Resilience and Hope
Gender Identity, Social Division, and Coexistence
Social Hierarchy vs. Social Inclusivity
Religion and Power
Summary
Analysis
In another corner of the city, at midnight, a baby appears on the concrete. She has “blue-black” skin, and, although wide awake, is silent—perhaps because “in those first short months of her life, she ha[s] already learned that tears, her tears at least, [are] futile.” Around her, the city sprawls out, at the “dawn of her resurrection. Her new masters want[] to hide her knobby, varicose veins under imported fishnet stockings, cram her withered tits into saucy padded bras and jam her aching feet into pointed high-heeled shoes […] It [is] the summer Grandma [becomes] a whore.” As India is on its way to becoming a global superpower, international companies like Kmart and Starbucks arrive in Delhi. One particular British Airways commercial even features a diverse cast chanting the Gayatri Mantra, ending with “And may everyone fly BA.”
Presumably, because the baby is “blue-black” she is of low-caste, and this status might be why her tears, in particular, are futile. Low-caste tears are ignored by the society and by the government. By contrast, the government is busy trying to market itself to the world—the metaphor that compares India to an elderly woman plays off of the idea that under gender oppression, women are like objects to be bought and sold. This metaphor also suggests that the city has real problems, analogous to the grandmother’s described health problems, that it wants to pretend do not exist in order to attract foreign investors and tourists. The detail about the commercial in which people sign the Gayatri Mantra suggests that the world is blind to the religious-based violence that occurs in India. The only other context in which the Gayatri Mantra appears is when Anjum teaches it to Zainab so she may protect herself from a Hindu extremist crowd. It is clear that the actors in the commercial, and the audience whom the commercial seeks to target, have no idea that an apparently peaceful, spiritual mantra could be associated with a violently oppressive religious majority.
Themes
Meanwhile, though, the poor of the city are being dislocated. A Supreme Court judge has declared that people who can’t afford to live in cities shouldn’t live in Delhi, instigating the mass removal of the city’s slums and “surplus people.” But the poor of the city fight back, armed with sticks and rocks, to defend the “unauthorized” settlements where they live. Without anywhere to go, many of them tell the government that they can kill them, but they won’t move. Unfortunately for the government, “there [are] too many of them to be killed outright.”
Here, the reason that the government provides for not killing the poor citizens of Delhi—simply that they are too many—reveals that it blatantly does not care about the lower-class, lower-caste residents. What’s more, the fact that there even are so many poor people to get rid of demonstrates the government’s failure to care for all of its people in the first place.
Themes
The conflict between the poor and the government causes the city to break under the tension, in what is supposed to be the summer of its “renewal.” Scores of young reporters roam the city streets “asking urgent, empty questions; they ask[] the poor what it [is] like to be poor, the hungry what it [is] like to be hungry, the homeless what it [is] like to be homeless.” In spite of the work of journalists, however, the beggars are shipped out of the city (only to be shipped back in by their contractors) and 3,000 unidentified human bodies are found on the street, with no response from the government. Meanwhile, the economy is booming, and “people (who count[] as people)” find the surplus of shopping items available remarkable.
Roy’s mockery of the young journalists in this passage is the beginning of an extensive critique of the media’s role in corruption. In this moment, it is clear that the reporters have no genuine interest in helping the poor; rather, they seek to exploit their narratives of struggle and hunger to gain viewership. This type of journalism is sensationalist, and will do nothing to alleviate the struggles of the people covered in the stories. Additionally, the detail that the beggars are shipped out of the city only to be shipped back in by contractors further emphasizes the level of corruption and economic exploitation of the working class.
Themes
Still, the poor who’ve been evicted from the city haven’t all left. Many of them peddle goods like pirated management and self-help books to the rich as they sit in comfortable, air-conditioned cars at traffic lights. The poor that have left live on the city’s outskirts, among the pollution of plastic bags and human waste, where the air and water alike are poisonous.
The contrast between the realities of the rich and the poor is stark here. Roy’s mention of self-help books is especially ironic, as it is clear to anyone that the people who really need help—and not self-help, but genuine aid from their government—are the ones outside the cars, not inside them.
Themes
Get the entire The Ministry of Utmost Happiness LitChart as a printable PDF.
At the observatory where the baby first appears, thousands of protestors for various causes, along with over 20 TV crews, have gathered around a new public figure. A fat old Gandhian has committed to fasting to the death in protest of the level of corruption in India. Being broadcast to the whole nation, he lies in front of a portrait of Mother India, which is “a many-armed goddess with a map-of-India-shaped body.” Indeed, that summer has seen more than its fair share of government scams, in which “businessmen-politicians and politician-businessmen” have “made off with unimaginable amounts of public money.” So the old man’s protest is a hit, and huge groups of young professionals come in “jeans and t-shirts” to protest corruption alongside him. Even policemen, former government officials, and army officers participate.
Roy is intentional in emphasizing how the old Gandhian’s protest is not radical at all, and instead perpetuates old myths and beliefs that are not of service to all people of the country. Firstly, the personification of India as a woman has sexist undertones. Secondly, the fact that this protest attracts the quintessential young professional suggests that it does not address the problem that Roy has demonstrated in the previous pages is most important in India: class oppression. The “jeans and T-shirts” are signs of relative class privilege, and suggest that those participating in the protest are still able to thrive under the government, no matter how corrupt it may be.
Themes
Thrilled by his “instant stardom,” the old man begins to state his opinions on matters beyond just corruption. He has something for everyone: Hindu chauvinists, Muslims, members of the lowest castes. When he says something to please one group that offends another, a select member of the offended group is invited to appear beside him on TV. This way, everyone is happy—and television viewership “skyrockets. Advertising roll[s] in.” When the old man begins to weaken from his hunger strike, “luminaries” line up beside him and beg him not to die (although no one really believes he will).
Here, the old man’s willingness to try to please all groups only speaks to the lack of integrity behind his cause. No truly dedicated activist is thrilled by “instant stardom.” The fact that the Gandhian is thrilled suggests that he may be just as corrupted as the government he is protesting against. Rather than accepting bribes, though, he is morally corrupt. He is willing to say anything to the camera, in order to remain as popular as possible within as many different groups as possible. Rather than choosing to use his position of power to advocate for meaningful change, he uses it to become a celebrity.
Themes
Advertisers aren’t the only ones to take advantage of the protester’s popularity: Gujarat ka Lalla and his political party organize to be seen in supporting the anti-corruption protest. Funded by Hindu millionaires, they distribute free food to the poor. They do not wear their signature saffron clothing, nor do they even mention their leader by name. And their subtle strategy works: within a year, Lalla is elected prime minister.
Gujarat ka Lalla—the politician who advocates for religious oppression and violence—takes advantage of the situation. Anti-corruption is a cause that can unite people of varying political beliefs, and Gujarat ka Lalla takes advantage of the populist movement—a common strategy of the far-right—to convert voters to his party.
Themes
Next to the anti-corruption canopy, which has space for thousands of people, another Gandhian activist is fasting to the death. Her cause is a bit more specific than the fat old man’s: she is fasting on behalf of the famers and indigenous peoples whose land rights the government has violated. Since big agriculture funds many TV channels, she’s not nearly as popular as her neighbor activist on television, and instead is heavily insulted by the press. Still, the activists on the ground adore her, and do everything they can to help her. Around them are still more activists and protesters, one who has painted his whole body with superglue for reasons he will not explain; another “performance artist” who does nothing but wander through the crowds in an English bowler hat.
In this passage, Roy further reveals the inauthenticity of the Gandhian’s protest. The protest is against corruption, and yet one of the protest participants doesn’t receive airtime, or receives only negative airtime, due to what is essentially corruption: the people she is protesting against own the TV channels. What’s more, her protest is much more specific and seems much more urgent than the vague call to end corruption. The lack of attention she receives suggests that the type of activism that attracts the masses, media attention, and politicians’ attention is more performative than it is sincere.
Themes
This is the sight that Anjum, Saddam Hussain, Ustad Hameed, Nimmo and their companion Ishrat, a visiting Hijra from Indore, see when they join the protest to help the poor. Nimmo has driven them all to the protests, which Saddam thinks are one big scam but where Anjum insists that they’ll learn something. So insistent is she on this possibility that she sends Saddam from activist to activist to gather information about what is being protested and why. Meanwhile, Ustad Hameed has no interest in what’s being discussed, and young Ishrat spends the entire time taking selfies. At one point, a pair of filmmakers making a documentary against corruption is filming protesters saying into the camera, “Another world is possible.” Anjum, instead of saying this, says, “We’ve come from there…from the other world.” The filmmakers don’t know what this means, but can’t be bothered to try and find out.
In this moment, the filmmakers’ lack of interest in understanding what Anjum really means to say is evidence of their own superficiality, their lack of genuine interest in the causes being protested. In trying to convince everyone to say, “another world is possible,” the filmmakers likely mean to encourage their viewers to believe in the possibility of a better world. So when Anjum says that she and her party have come from “the other world,” readers can interpret that as meaning she has come from the better, different world that the documentarians are encouraging their viewers to imagine. In a way, this is true: Anjum comes from a tiny world in which the caste system, corruption, and other forms of oppression are simply non-issues.
Themes
Another group featured in the documentary is a handful of bald men who have taken a vow of silence until Hindi is declared the national language. The documentarians give them a sign to hold up that declares, “Another World Is Possible,” while making sure to cut the group’s arch-conservative signs demanding Hindi be the national language out of the frame. Beside them are people maimed in a gas leak caused by Union Carbide in Bhopal, demanding clean water and medical care. Since this is old news, no one pays attention. As part of their protest, they’ve gotten a small TV on which they show a clip of American Warren Anderson, CEO of Union Carbide Corporation, arriving in India after the leak. “I’ve just arrived,” he tells journalists. “I don’t know the details yet. So hey! Whaddya want me to say?” Then, waving into the camera, he says, “Hi Mom!”
The filmmakers’ choice to ignore the causes that the participants in the video are protesting demonstrates their total lack of regard for any sort of activism. All those interviewed believe another world is possible, but the filmmakers clearly don’t care what exactly they imagine happening in an ideal world. Meanwhile, the Union Carbide protestors seem to be advocating for a truly important cause, and are given no attention. It is almost as if there is an inverse relationship between the importance of the cause and the amount of media attention it receives. Finally. Warren Anderson’s dismissive attitude about the carbon spill demonstrates the unimportance of Indian lives, particularly low-caste Indian lives, to the powerful people that are leaders in the globalist capitalism system.
Themes
At the protest site, a gleaming bathroom stands in stark contrast with the grimy, bleak surroundings. It costs “one rupee for a piss, two for a shit and three for a shower.” No one can afford that, so people pee on the wall of the toilet outside. Above the toilet is a billboard advertising the latest luxury Honda. The billboard has its own security guard, meant to protect it from vandalism, and the toilets have a guard too. He is Brahmin, though, and outsources his toilet-cleaning duties to another man who is a member of “what most Hindus overtly, and the government covertly, [think] of as the shit-cleaning caste.”
It is ironic that a businessman seeking to earn money has installed a toilet at a public protest where no one can afford to use it. This speaks to the working class’s lack of access to comfort, and the upper class’s lack of understanding of working-class needs. The Honda billboard is likely just as futile as the bathrooms; if the intended clientele can’t even afford one rupee to pee, how are they expected to purchase a luxury Honda? This passage demonstrates the ways in which the capitalism fails to benefit the masses.
Themes
In front of the toilets are three more groups of protestors: Manipuri Nationalists advocating for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which allows the Indian Army “to kill on ‘suspicion,’” refugees from Tibet advocating for their country’s liberation, and, finally, the Association of Mothers of the Disappeared, whose sons have gone missing in the Kashmiri conflict. This last group receives absolutely no attention from television —like the gas leak victims, their story is old , and some of the mothers have grown bitter and jaded. Supporters of Gujarat ka Lalla tell the mothers that “Muslim Terrorists do not deserve Human Rights.”
In this moment, Gujarat ka Lalla’s supporters let their non-extremist masks slip a little bit when they declare, essentially, that Muslims do not deserve human rights. The far-right advocates automatically link the words “Muslim” and “terrorist,” even though there is no evidence from the rest of this passage that the missing children or their mothers are terrorists at all. Revoking human rights from any group of humans is inherently absurd, but because Muslims have been so dehumanized in the eyes of India’s religious right, the supporters of Gujarat ka Lalla are unable to see how absurd this statement is.
Themes
The baby has appeared right next to the Mothers of the Disappeared. Because she is “the color of the night,” the mothers do not notice her at first—Kashmiri babies are white as “almond blossoms.” When the baby, who has stayed silent, finally cries out, one of the mothers picks her up and reads the note attached to her in English, which says, “I cannot look after this child. So I am leaving her here.” The mothers decide that the baby ought to be handed over to the police, but Anjum has a different idea and protests. But she is shut down by someone who jokes that giving a female baby over to a Hijra would be useless, as Hijras only have use for castrating male babies. Anjum, though, isn’t going down without a fight.
In this passage, the fact that a baby appears out of nowhere next to a group called “Mothers of the Disappeared” is a strangely hopeful omen. It is as if, in spite of the violence and oppression that takes children away from their mothers, the force of life in the face of these things is so strong that it is able to continue in the form of new babies and new generations. Additionally, the fact that Anjum suffers discrimination at an event that is supposed to be a protest against various forms of oppression implies that she is so marginalized from society that she is not deemed worthy of protection even here.
Themes
Her main opponent is a former bureaucrat and aspiring politician, Mr. Aggarwal, who aims to establish himself as a leader by settling the conflict between Anjum and the Mothers of the Disappeared. Anjum insults the man heavily, but before the conflict can escalate, Saddam and Ishrat intervene. Ishrat “wade[s] into the battlefield, intervening in the practiced way that only Hijras [know] how to when it [comes] to protecting each other—by making a declaration of war and peace at the same time.” She begins to sing a classic song from a popular film and to dance, using “her outrageous, aggressive sexuality” to embarrass the bureaucrat. But someone tries to push her, and a fight breaks out. The police arrive on the scene, and Anjum and Ustad Hameed are arrested. The next morning, they are released on no charges, but the baby is gone.
This is another moment in the story where the feminine is cast as more powerful than the masculine. Mr. Aggarwal is helpless before Ishrat’s fierce expression of her sexuality. In making a “declaration of war and peace at the same time,” Ishrat makes it impossible for Mr. Aggarwal to fight back. Additionally, the blunt way that Roy describes Anjum and Ustad Hameed’s arrest goes to show how vulnerable the population is to police brutality, as Anjum and Ustad Hameed spend a night in jail for no legal reason.
Themes
