Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Chapter 12

Summary:

A troop of monkeys find their way into the guava orchard where Sampath and his family are located at. At first, they're confused about Sampath living in one of their trees. Sampath befriends the monkeys by mimicking their behavior and sounds. The apes are startled by the food that Sampath is offered. They eventually decide to live adjacent to him, enabling them to get bits and pieces of food, which is more than they could've ever imagined. In the presence of Sampath, the monkey's behavior has completely changed. From wild, arrogant beasts, they have now tranformed into tame, calm creatures. Not only does this surprise the devotees, it also astonishes Ms. Jyotsna and Pinky who were both poor victims of the once verocious monkeys. The monkeys soon start showing care towards Sampath and even start grooming him. 

The spy on the other hand is in so much distress from both Pinky, who had attacked him with her hair pin thinking he was following her, and by Sampath. The spy is mind boggled about Sampath and about what gives him the power to attract devotees. He bores his colleages at the BUFHM meeting by going into detail of every single flaw Sampath has.

Opinion:

At first, I thought that the monkeys were going to be tear the whole orchard up and create a huge mess. But, this was unexpected. I didn't think the apes that were once stealing ice cream from innocent villagers would ever turn into such nice animals. Well, at least to this point, they haven't caused any drama. Maybe mischievous acts await us.

[a monkey cleaning a man's head like how the monkeys were grooming Sampath]

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Chapter 11

Summary:

Kulfi searches the forest for exotic things to cook for her son. She is focused and devoted on preparing Sampath's meals with extraordinary brilliance, assuring he has a good meal. Sampath's father is worried about the hygiene of the bizarre food she is preparing for him.

Opinion:

I really appreciate Sampath's mother for showing interest in her son's life. She's never really done this before. The only reason Mr. Chawla is concerned is because he's afraid the food will stir commotion inside Sampath amd make him sick. And if he gets sick, he wouldn't be able to consult any pilgrims and that'll certainly affect the money Mr. Chawla's earning from it.

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Chapter 10

Summary:

Mr. Chawla completely transforms the watchman's shed to something much more comfortable. They now have electricity supplied from a near hospital and running water. Sampath is charmed by the visitors who ask him  questions on the nature of life. Amongst the visitors is a spy from the Atheist Society and Branch to Uncover Fraudulent Holy Men (BUFHM). Some of Sampath's answers make sense and some don't, but the pilgrims are satified and make the most out of what he says. They spy takes notes in a notebook, evaluating the ways Sampath uses to avoid questions by pretending to be otherworldly. The final proof to the crowd that he was a true hermit was the rejection of a bride he had made earlier. Later on, Miss Jyotsna sings a hymn and all Sampath can think of is how pretty she is. The spy begins to wonder how he can fool people. Then he remembers the mysterious smell in the orchard that day. He suspected that Sampath was high on drugs.

Opinion:

There were times when I also thought that Sampath was on drugs. Back in his boss' daughter's wedding, he had stripped himself and danced on the stage, resulting in him losing his job and embarrassing ,himself in front of everybody. And recently when he had gotten up the guava tree and refused to get out it, he was also behaving weird. And now he has gotten even more unusual, especially with his senseless, irrelevant replies like when the disguised spy asked him about his opinion on the nature of god, his reply was about a city inspector making journey to a river. It is clear that he is on ghanja. 

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Chapter 9

Summary:
Pinky is being deprived of her weekly trips to the bazaar by her family's decision to live in the orchard. Pinky feels left out. She is also being followed by creepy men in the streets. Mr. Chawla claims that she is just making up these stories to become the centre of attention, like she used to be. On a trip to town to buy Ammaji new dentures, Pinky and Ammaji are attacked by the vicious Cinema Monkey while eating ice cream after watching a movie. When Ammaji bites into the ice cream, her newly bought dentures stick to the cone and the cone drops. The monkey runs off with it. An ice cream boy frightens off the monkey and recovers the dentures. Having been rescued in front a cheering crowd by the Hungry Hop boy lights a flame in Pinky's romantic heart. She had thought the boy was just an ordinary ice cream seller before, but suddenly, he is a hero to her eyes. 

Opinion:
After the incident where the Hungry Hop Ice Cream boy saves the day, Pinky seems to have started developing a  deep affection for him. I have a strong feeling he is going to become a re-occurring character and  play a more significant role later on in the book, because of the slow relationship that he had started weaving with Pinky in this chapter. 

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Chapter 8

Summary:
Mr. Chawla becomes suddenly enlightened by the fact that Sampath might make the family rich. People no longer frown upon his son. Instead they arrive in growing numbers to consult him. The Chawla's move into the watchman's shed in the orchard to keep up with Sampath. Since he is seated up in a tree, the whole family make him feel comfortable with food, a cot, and an umbrella. Sampath gives witty replies to his devotees. When Miss Jyotsna and Mr. Gupta arrive, Sampath uses his great sense of humor with them. When he gets tired of the questions, Sampath goes to sleep in his tree. His simplicity and indirectness is counted as strong, great spiritual virtues. Kulfi is totally inspired by her son. Like her son, she also enjoys the freedom of the forest. Sampath gorows fat, nourished by the exotic food cooked specially for him by his mother. 

Opinion:
I think the people of Shahkot are trying to make the most out of his replies. To be honest, I like his responses. Even though it seems like it is irrelevant, it actually makes sense to me. 

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Chapter 7

9/9/13

The Chawla family is told that Sampath is in a guava tree and won't come down. The whole town starts creating new drama and gossip about this incident. The family tries to get Sampath come down the tree by calling the bazaar clinic's doctor, Dr. Banerjee. The doctor hoists himself into the tree with his sthethoscope and pronounces that Sampath is indeed crazy. Then the family tries a bunch of different remedies to get Sampath to come down but none of that work. Finally, they visit a holy man who says that arranging a marriage for Sampath will be the best cure.

The Chawlas can only find a scrawny looking girl for Sampath. The girl arrives with her family on the bus, which is full of pilgrims singing. The bride, her family, and the pilgrims arrive at the tree. While Sampath has romantic fantasies about beautiful women, he is horrified by the ugly girl, as the pilgrims lift her into the tree in her billowing sari. When she tries to touch Sampath's feet in devotion, he yells, and she falls out of the tree. He wants to shout to the people to leave him alone, but instead, he calls out to Mr. Singh, whose letters he has read in the post office. He asks if his jewelry is still hidden beneath the tulsi plant? Then he asks Mrs. Chopra about the lump in her throat. Sampath goes on revealing the secrets he has read in letters, and the people assume he has divine powers. Soon a newspaper article proclaims him to be a holy man in a tree.

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Chapter 6

27/9/13

Summary:

The following day, Sampath's family leaves to attend another wedding, leaving him behind to avoid any embarrassment he could cause at the party. As soon as the rest of the family leaves, Sampath runs off  away from his home, to catch a bus where he rides past the outskirts of his hazy town. When an old woman sits next to him on the bus and starts a small conversation with Sampath, he feels overwhelmed and jumps out of the bus. He races like a maniac into an old orchard, until he finds a tree that looks inviting. He climbs it and settles in. Soon, he realizes that he is surrounded by a  guava orchard, part of the university research reserve. Sampath feels completely himself and at the right place at last. He feels stripped off of stress and commotion, which is exactly what he was looking for. Sampath feels relaxed and at home and falls asleep in the branches of the tree.



Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Chapter 5

22/9/13

 

 

Summary:

 

A few months later, the entire post office was put on duty at Mr. DPS's house to help with his daughter's wedding. Marigolds and chillies were being hung on the doorway, trees were being draped with party lights, and tender goats were being fetched for the biryani. In the midst of all the chaos and madness, Sampath is assigned the job of filling glasses with sherbet. As always, Sampath gets bored with his tedious task and starts wandering around the house. He looks through doors and cupboards, and comes across a room full of finery. He could see fine peacock silk, and rosy satin and saris of every shade of color imaginable. He finds a box of jewelry and gets dazzled by the different pearls and stones and accessories it contained. He lights a candle and looks at himself at the mirror, feeling carried away. He goes out and dances up and down in front of the marriage tent. He jumps into the fountain and starts disrobing himself, as the audience shriek. His boss fires him on the spot. At home, his father is furious about the whole incidence, and wants him to find another job immediately. Sampath feels so trapped and manipulated in a life he hates. Looking at a guava his mom gives him, he longs and aches for freedom.

 

Opinion:

 

To be honest, Sampath seems like a really psychotic and unusual character. His behavior at the wedding party is something that no one would even think of doing, but for a person like Sampath, it doesn't seem too abnormal.

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Chapter 4

14/9/13

English: Literature

Sampath bicycles off to work in the morning traffic of Shahkot. Sampath drops Pinky off so she can get on the public bus. She removes her hair pin to have it as a weapon against men who might hassle her. The post office is a very gloomy building where Sampath crawls under the barbed wire fence to get in. He stops to hear the flirting between two workers in the postal office, Mr. Gupta and Miss Jyostsna, attracted by Jyostsna's red toe nails. She describes an incident that happened with the Cinema Monkey which ripped her clothes and ran off with her peanut cone. Then the two speak about the wedding of the boss' daughter, where they get interrupted by their boss. Later on, Sampath attempts to add up the wedding accounts, but all the bills look alike and his mind gets dizzy. Sampath soon starts zoning out instead of sorting of the letters which is what he's actually suppose to do. At the end of the day, Sampath is yelled at for not finishing his work. 

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Chapter 3

Reshmi

7/9/13

Summary:

Mr. Chawla starts his day out by doing morning exercises. He's forty years old and is the head clerk at the Reserve Bank of Shahkot. He yells at his family and overwhelms them with orders as he gets ready for the day. Pinky, bored from her father's newspaper readings about politics, asks him read the story about the Cinema Monkey who harrasses ladies, and steals their food outside the cinema. Later, Mr Chawla lectures Sampath on how to be a successful man. Sampath and his mother Kulfi, seem totally uninvolved while Mr. Chawla and Ammaji argue about Sampath's future. 

Opinion:

It is revealed in this chapter that Sampath is very ignorant and has very little to say. His life is exactly the opposite of what his father's ideal young man's life should be. Sampath seems to be lost in his own world, just like his mother.  

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Chapter 2

Reshmi

29/8/13

English: Literature

Summary:

Twenty years have passed. Sampath has grown into a scrawny and oversensitive young man, unable to sleep with the loud breathing of his family around him. Sharing the one ceiling fan with his father, mother, grandmother Ammaji and his sister, Pinky, he is suffocated by the lack of air that reaches him. He rushes to the roof of the house where it’s just as hot as it is inside. He walks back and forth all night, singing and wishing he had somewhere else to go. When dawn breaks and the town starts to come to life again, he sees his father come out with a yoga mat. His grandmother notices Sampath’s tiredness and worries about the amount of sleep he’s got.

Opinion:

I found this chapter a bit tedious and unexciting.

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Chapter 1

7/24/13

English-Literature

Summary: 

There is a massive heat wave in the small Punjab town of Shahkot, India. People from all over the country are making proposals to induce the monsoon. The situation gets worse and worse and finally gets to the point where famine relief camps have to be set up. Hope for monsoon has completely vanished. And in the midst of all the madness and heat, the newly-wed, twenty-one year old Kulfi Chawla is pregnant, growing incredibly large as the days go by. As the drought gets worse, she gets bigger and hungrier, but none of the relief planes coming with supplies reach them. Kulfi is extremely hungry and she’s literally selling everything in the house for food. She is so obsessed with food and delicacies that she starts to draw pictures of them on the walls, and when her drawings had taken over each and every blank space in the house, Sampath is born. It is also the day the monsoon rains finally shower upon Shahkot. At the same time, a Swedish relief plane drops a crate right in front of the Chawla house with all kinds of food in it. Everyone assured Kulfi that her son was destined for greatness and fortune and that led to naming him, Sampath, good fortune.

My Opinion:
The first chapter was packed with a lot vivid details that painted a clear picture in my mind. Although I didn't really like how the book started out, it got better towards the end of the chapter, like every other book that starts out boring but gradually becomes exciting as you read more and more.