Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai

The same pressure is applied to Hungry Hop boy who is already smitten by Pinky but his family would have none of it. Pressure to get married pushes Sampath’s father to marry Kufli, Sampath’s mother. Rather, he loves his space and reclusion.

Sampath as a young man could not handle the pressure of being the man that society through his father will expect all men to be. The societal pressure to simply be what you are not takes a toll on Sampath Pinky his sister, and the Hungry Hop Boy. The Chief Medical officer also drinks his onion juice to cure his ulcer and all of them go on an ego trip when all their ideas to curtail the monkey menace is not accepted by the new DC. He even does not show responsibility in training his soldiers. The Brigadier thinks that catching the bird he watches is more important than the job of curtailing the menace of the monkeys. The matter of mediocrity even in handling of these matters is depicted in the way the Chief Medical Officer, the Brigadier and Vermaji who should be at the helm of affairs in nipping the Sampath and his monkey charade in the bud are all caught up in other ‘irrelevancies’. This is seen in many religions and spiritual spaces where people parade themselves as wise and take advantage of many seeking to understand their calamities and find solutions to them. Sampath is a mediocre who uses mediocrity to bring people under his spell therefore increasing money inflow for his dad who sought to make it a huge enterprise. India as a nation and the larger human world is brought under scrutiny through Kiran Desai’s book, Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard. The writer is undeniably a beautiful storyteller. However, the story is not as simple as you might want to believe because its power lies in its ability to use a simple story to narrate complex problems.

One might look at this story and feel that it addresses little or nothing because the writer was simplistic in her storytelling. Ammaji, Sampath’s grandmother is the one who tried to keep the peace between Sampath and his father and convinced her son to marry Kulfi, Sampath’s mother. His mother is loosely described as a nut case whose problem seemed to have trickled down to her from previous generations in her family. Sampath has a father who always wanted a son with a good head on his shoulders with a good job but Sampath had not met any of his expectations. The plot is not full of twists and bends but just about a boy’s desire to be left alone. The whole story is basically built on this summary. Their love for alcohol turns them into tyrants in the community. While the story moves on, some wild monkeys join Sampath on the tree and these monkeys crave alcohol. A young boy, Sampath Chawla gets fed up of his life with his family, moves to a guava tree and suddenly becomes a ‘wise one’ that gives ‘wise’ counsel to people who believe him to be some kind of priest. Well, every book is different you might interject but here is the synopsis.

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai