Two leaves and a bud

by Mulk Raj Anand

Mulk Raj Anand's third novel Two Leaves and a Bud is the story of a coolie, named Ganju, and his family who were forced to leave their house and premises in Hoshiarpur district of Amritsar. Buta, an agent of tea planters, appeared in front of them as a savior and promised them money, land and security in the distant Macpherson Tea estate in Assam. Anand portrays the miserable condition of coolies in the tea plantation and how are they trapped by the planters.

Genres: Fiction

250 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

Mulk Raj Anand was an Indian writer in English, notable for his depiction of the lives of the poorer castes in traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, he, together with R.K. Narayan, Ahmed Ali and Raja Rao, was one of the first India-based writers in English to gain an international readership. Anand is admired for his novels and short stories, which have acquired the status of being classic works of modern Indian English literature, noted for their perceptive insight into the lives of the oppressed and their analyses of impoverishment, exploitation and misfortune. He is also notable for being among the first writers to incorporate Punjabi and Hindustani idioms into English.

Reviews

[Mohi Uddin · Rating 4 out of 5]

“In the time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” – George Orwell

Mulk Raj Anand is one of the pioneers of Indian-English fiction writers. He is better known for his book “Untouchable”. He likes to write about the Indian belief systems and its inherent drawbacks and compares them to the English system. The Indian belief system though centuries old but it is considered inferior and savage-like by the colonials. Mulk Raj tries to give us a context or a background to the events.

The setting of “Two Leaves and A Bud” is the colonial-age Assam or in the present-day world, it is located somewhere in Upper Assam (near Jorhat, Dibrugarh). The coolies are amassed from all over India to work in these gardens. Though lofty dreams are shown when they are recruited, they can hardly manage to feed themselves when they actually reach the gardens. The terrain of Assam and its weather is well-accounted for and it is painted vividly in the book.

The trials and tribulations of the common Indian peasant of pre-independence days and the urges to feed himself and his family force him to take up all possible troubles. Gangu, an upper-caste peasant is forced to work as a coolie as he loses his land in his village. The constant shadow of the unscrupulous moneylender always looms over his head, both in his village and at the tea-gardens in Assam. This book is his fight with his circumstances.

“The position of the plantation coolies in India is, in many respects, similar to that of the cotton plantation slaves of the Southern States of North America, of whom Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. If there be any difference, I think that actual inquiry would prove that the present economic condition of the Indian coolies is worse than was that of the Negro slaves in America.” – Mulk Raj in “Two Leaves and A Bud”

This might be a well-judged fact. There seem to be very few rebellions in the tea plantations in pre-independence days. In the book, the whole air force platoon was called in on the pretext of a small skirmish. The coolies were so sternly and ruthlessly bundled in the plantation that they couldn’t escape their condition. Even today all the plantation workers in Assam are descendants of those old laborers who were brought in from all over the country.

Mulk Raj is a passionate writer. His prose is lucid and he points out the facts almost blatantly. However, at times in between the story, he goes on into a diatribe of his own, which makes the pace of the story a bit shaky. Although his diatribe is full of meaning and based on facts, but sometimes it feels a bit interrupting.

However, to understand the plight of rural India from the point-of-view of both the Indian and the Englishman’s eyes, there is no better writer than Mulk Raj Anand. I would recommend this book to all lovers of historical fiction and all people who want to read more about the pre-independence Indian story.

[Tahsina Syeda · Rating 4 out of 5]

শোষণ কতটা বহুমাত্রিক হতে পারে, সেটা তলিয়ে না দেখলে বোঝা কঠিন। একসময় যারা মানুষ ছিল, তারা এখন শুধুই কুলি। তাদেরকে মানুষের কাছাকাছি কিছু ভাবতে গেলে যে হর্তাকর্তাদের একটু বিব্রত হতে হতে পারে! বড় বড় প্রতিশ্রুতি দিয়ে তাদের আসামের গহীন জঙ্গলে চা সাম্রাজ্যে কর্মী হিসেবে নিয়ে আসা হয়েছিল। এখানে পৌঁছার পর, খুব দ্রুতই তারা বুঝে যায় কত দিক থেকে তাদের শেকল পরানো হয়েছে। উদয়াস্ত প্রহরীর চাবুকের সামনে দুটি পাতা ও একটি কুঁড়ি তুলে তুলে কুলিরা মাসে কয়েকটি মাত্র পয়সা পায়। তা দিয়ে মৌলিক চাহিদাটুকুও মেটে না। আশেপাশে ত্রিসীমানায় চালডাল, বেঁচে থাকার অতিপ্রয়োজনীয় পণ্য বিক্রির যে দোকানগুলো আছে, সেগুলো রক্তচোষা; খাওয়াপরার জন্যই কুলিরা পাহাড়সমান ঋণে তলিয়ে যায়। যে শ্বেতাঙ্গ সাহেব মেমসাহেবরা এই কুলিদের রক্ত-ঘামের ফসলে আয়েশ করে সভ্যতার করছে, তারা কি ঘেন্না করে এই কালো নোংরা ছেঁড়া কাপড় পরা অপরিষ্কার মানুষগুলোকে! অবশ্য এদেরকে যে মানবেতর বেতন দেয়া হয় সেটা থেকে পরিচ্ছন্ন কাপড়, সাবান, পানি, গৃহসজ্জা যে সম্ভব নয় সেটা তাদের ঠুলি ভেদ করে ঢোকে না।

মুলকরাজ আনন্দর এই উপন্যাসে নিষ্পেষিত কুলিদের প্রতিনিধি চরিত্র হিসেবে আছে গঙ্গু। রাজপুত এই কৃষক ভিটেমাটি হারিয়ে পত্নী সজনী, দুই সন্তান লীলা ও বুদ্ধুকে নিয়ে এই জঙ্গলে আসতে বাধ্য হয়েছে। বুটা সর্দার তাকে জমি পাইয়ে দেয়ার আশ্বাস দিয়ে নিয়ে এসেছে। কিন্তু খুব তাড়াতাড়িই গঙ্গু বুঝতে পারে, এমন এক জেলখানায় এসে ঢুকেছে, যেখানে গরাদ না থাকলেও পালানোর উপায় নেই।

সহানুভূতিশীল চরিত্র হিসেবে আছে, চা বাগানের ডাক্তার, জন দ্য লা হাভর। শোষকদের বেতনভুক হলেও তার মধ্যে কাজ করে বিপ্লবী মানবতাবাদী চেতনা। বঞ্চনায় জর্জরিত, সাহস হারানো, মেরুদণ্ড বেঁকে যাওয়া কুলিদের দিয়ে আসলেই রুখে দাঁড়ানো সম্ভব কিনা তা সে জানে না। দ্য লা হাভর এই চা এস্টেটের সাহেব-মেমদের অন্তসারশূণ্যতাকে ঘৃণা করে। কিন্তু এরই মধ্যে বড়সাহেব ক্রফটকুকের কন্যা বারবারার প্রতি ভালোবাসা তার জন্য দ্বন্দ্ব হিসেবে হাজির হয়।

শোষক শ্রেণীর প্রতিভূ চরিত্র হচ্ছে, বড় সাহেব ক্রফটকুক, মিসেস ক্রফটকুক, ছোটসাহেব রেজি হান্ট, এবং আরো কিছু লোক। ইংরেজ জাতির প্রশ্নের অতীত শ্রেষ্ঠত্বের ধারণা এদের মজ্জাগত। এদের মধ্যে রেজি হান্ট স্বভাবতই উচ্ছৃঙ্খল, নির্মম, ও নারীলোভী। তার কুৎসিত লালসার শিকার হয় অসংখ্য কুলিকামিন।

দালাল শ্রেণীর প্রতিনিধিত্ব করছে, বুটা সর্দার, বাবু শশিভূষণ, অন্যান্য সর্দার ও প্রহরীরা। নিজের স্বদেশীদের ঘাড়ে পা রেখে আখের গুছিয়ে ফুলেফেঁপে উঠছে এই লোকগুলো।

যে চিত্র মুলকরাজ আনন্দ প্রায় একশো বছর আগে এঁকে গেছেন, সেটা আজকেও কতটা পরিবর্তন হয়েছে তা চিন্তার বিষয়।

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two leaves and a bud by Mulk Raj Anand-English novel- Two leaves and a bud is a heart rendering saga of the laborer, barbarically exploited in the tea plantation and finally killed by the British officer. A coolie, named Ganju and his family were forced to leave their house and premises in Hoshiarpur district of Amritsar. Buta, an agent of tea planters, appeared in front of them as a savior and promised them money, land and security in the distant Macpherson Tea estate in Assam. Author portrays the miserable condition of coolies in the tea plantation and how are they trapped by the planters. Every corner of the garden, the two leaves and the bud of the tea trees, the shade shrubs are the silent witnesses of this oppression and agony of the poor Punjabi laborer who stands as the insignia of the oppressed class. The story told about a poor Punjabi labor. He is brutally exploited in a tea plantation and killed by a British official, who tries to rape his daughter. This novel tries to dramatize the cruelties inherent in the caste system and the suffering induced by poverty as well. This is mainly about the plight of the laborers in a tea plantation in Assam. Here the hero, Gangu, is a person who is a pessimist about his fate, and has to undergo daily insults at the hands of his plantation masters and others. The tea gardens in Assam become a symbol of his slavery. Even the kind British doctor could do little to alleviate his sufferings. The master, Reggie Hunt being an arrogant bully and sadist tries to rape his daughter and the story is about Gangu's fatal attempt to protect his daughter from being raped by his master. 'Two Leaves and a Bud' narrates the tale of a farmer who faces exploitation and death at the hands of a British official. Being a staunch Marxist, Anand never failed in drawing a realistic picture of the poor in India. He always draws the attention regarding the dual problem of a deep-rooted caste system and a dominating colonial empire. This was aptly captured in his writing. With an apt title therefore the novel Two Leaves and a Bud stands as a breathing document of the sufferings of the tea laborers. Written in 1937, 'Two Leaves and a Bud' is Mulk Raj Anand's memorable piece of work. In Two Leaves and a Bud which was published on 1937, Anand continued his exploration of the Indian society. It is a classic novel depicting true picture of British India. It is a good read for readers of all age groups.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

If ‘Untouchable’ shows a lyrical excellence in exploring the power of caste cruelty on the adolescent mind of Bakha, and and if ‘Coolie’ assumes an epic status by tracing Munoo's momentous wanderings across vast spaces of Northern and Western India, then ‘Two Leaves and a Bud’ may be said to be fundamentally a dramatic novel that deals with a disastrous clash of interests and destinies between Indian coolics and British managers of a tea estate in Assam during the 1930s.

The title of this tome is derived from the song sung by the coolies while plucking tea leaves on the Macpherson Tea Estate:

I will make a good sheaf
Plucking, plucking, plucking
Two leaves and a bud
Two leaves and a bud…

The song suggests the systematic plucking of tea leaves by the happy conlies in an Arcadian landscape. There is a lilt in it, a swing.

Gangu, the coolie-hero, likes it when his wife, Sajani, picks it up and sings it with his daughter, Leila. But it splits his heart when he hears the coolies singing it after his wife's death. Gangu's 14-year-old daughter, Leila, sings it while picking tea leaves under the supervision of the brutish Sardar Neogi.

But the tedium and the flatness of the job has drowned in habit that Elysian picture which the first sight of women plucking had engraved on her.

The sun above chars her body like a fire and she sweats profusely as she bends over the stalks with the basket on her back.

In fact, the happy title of the novel paradoxically throws into relief the unhappy lot of the Indian coolies from whose song it has been derived. For the Indian coolics like Narayan and Gangu are not satisfied inhabitants of a lost Arcadia but convicts of an indissoluble jail into which they are first trapped by false promises of high wages and cheerful prospects and then forced to work hard for a trifle under the supervision of the hard-headed and hard-hearted British managers like Croft-Cooke and Reggie Hunt.

They are made to live in dusky and stained rooms in the unhealthy surroundings of the coolie lines where the epidemics of cholera and malaria break out quite frequently. They are subjugated and flogged not only by the British managers but also by the Indian clerks, mistris, sardars and chawkidars, but they are not given any plots or loans unless they allow their wives and daughters to become the mistresses of the lustful British managers.

To cap it all, they are kept well-guarded and not allowed to return to their homes even after the termination of the time of their contract. Consequently, they become resigned to their sad lot in life.

The old coolie Narain tells the recently recruited Gangu that he was brought to the tea estate as a coolie by an agent from the famine-stricken state of Bikaner on a contract for three years but was not allowed to go back at the end of that period of time, that he has been working hard on the tea estate since his recruitment but has not been given any plot of land in terms of the contract, that the assistant manager, Reggie Hunt, not only beats up the coolies hardheartedly but also abuses their wives and daughters without any reservations, and that the coolies are compelled to submit to suffering of every sort like offenders condemned to a stake as there is no way out for them.

The newcomer Gangu prepares himself to face anguishes of all sorts as an indentured coolie on the tea estate, but his lot turns out to be much more horrible than he apprehends. For he has to sweat his guts out by working for half a rupee a day under the supervision of the brutish Reggie Hunt.

His wife dies of malaria soon after his arrival in Assam. He and his fellow-coolies are brutalized by Reggie Hunt for intervening in the quarrel between his two mistresses, Chambeli and Neogi's wife. Their peaceful demonstration against his cruelty is suppressed by Croft-Cooke with the help of the armed forces, and he is wantonly shot dead by Reggie Hunt for coming in his way while he is trying to rape his fourteen-year-old daughter, Leila.

The Marxist British doctor, John de la Havre, is very deeply conscious of the brutal exploitation and tries to improve their lot not only by making plans for supplying clean drinking water and sanitary fittings to their huts but also by prompting them to resist. But Croft-Cooke discourages him from doing so by saying that the Indian coolies are bestial creatures fit only to be used as creatures of burden.

He also says that the Indian coolies are better off as bonded slaves on the tea estate than they are as farmhands in their villages. He in conclusion says that all the British managers of the tea estates must keep the Indian coolies at an arm's length as they may be incited by the nationalists to overthrow a beneficent and progressive British Government.

The other British managers of the tea estates in Assam are as self-centered and arrogant as Croft-Cooke is, but John de la Havre is different from them. He wants them to treat the Indian coolies as human beings like themselves, but it pains him to see them living a life of luxury at the expense of the Indian coolies.

He says wryly: "The contents of a cup of tea are the hunger, the sweat and the despair of a million Indians. He asks himself angrily : "But why didn't it occur to anyone-the simple, obvious thing that people don't need to read Marx to realize here? The black coolies clear the forests, plant the fields, toil and garner the harvest, while all the money-grabbing, slave-driving, soulless managers and directors draw their salaries and dividends and build up monopolies."

But he is dismissed from service by Croft-Cooke for inciting the Indian coolies to rise in revolt against the cruelty of Reggie Hunt, though he has been in love with Croft-Cooke's daughter, Barbara.

He leaves the tea estate a disappointed man and the exploitation of the Indian coolies continues unabated after his departure.

This novel has a unified and well-developed structure. It opens with Gangu's arrival at the tea-estate, with the thought "Life is like a journey" in his mind; at the end, Gangu's journey is finally over.

In between we are privy to an exciting narrative, rich in incident and dramatic values.

In spite of its wealth of character and episode, the novel maintains its unity, as every detail is woven round the central theme of Gangu's exploitation.

Another exceptional feature is the permutation of poetry and irony which runs through the whole novel. In this novel too, like Anand’s earlier novel, the artist is ultimately seen to have been overborne by the reformer.

[Ipsita · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is great.