The Village by the Sea

infobox Book |
name = The Village By The Sea
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Anita Desai
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = India, United States
language = English
series =
genre = Nonfiction
publisher = Heinemann
release_date = 1982
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 144 pp (first edition, hardback)
isbn = ISBN 0-434-93436-4 (first edition, hardback)
preceded_by =
followed_by =
price = Rs 250/-

"The Village By The Sea" (1982) is a novel set in a small fishing village in India by Indian American writer Anita Desai. It is about the poverty, hardships and sadness of rural citizens of India.

ummary

"The Village by the Sea" is set in a small village called Thul, which is 14 kilometres from Bombay.Lila, the eldest child among four siblings, is thirteen years old, yet she already has the maturity of an adult. Her brother Hari, twelve, is the only person with whom she can share her troubles. Their mother is ill and needs constant care and nursing. She is aneamic due to malnourishment and she grows weaker and weaker with each passing day. Their father, who has been out of work for months, is in a permanent drunken stupor, from which he arises occasionally to shout at his family.

Women pray to a rock for the safety of the fishermen. With two younger sisters to take care of as well as their mother, life for Lila and Hari is not easy. Their father is not very useful as he is often away at the local toddy shop, getting drunk. There is a constant need for money as the family is almost always in debt. Then one day, Hari decides he has had just about enough and leaves for Bombay– the Bombay where dreams come true and ambition yields. Lila is left alone to manage her sisters Bela and Kamal, as well as her mother, and somehow keep the family strings together. Help comes from an unexpected source, the rich DeSilva's.Meanwhile, Hari is new in the great city of Bombay, and all alone. A kind restaurant proprietor, Jagu, takes pity on him and welcomes him to work in his restaurant, Sri Krishna Eating House. There, Hari builds a strong friendship with Mr. Panwallah, the lovable watch repairer whose shop is just beside Jagu’s. Through his experience with Mr. Panwallah and Jagu and the chain of events that take place in Bombay, Hari realises that he should return to his village with savings and help his family overcome their hardships.

Meanwhile, Lila, Bela and Kamal are forced to admit their sick mother in town hospital through the help of the DeSilvas. Their father turns over a new leaf, and accompanies their mother throughout her 7 month treatment without drinking and without having any debts. While Hari returns, he returns as a child who is adapted to the changing environment like the birds that are symbolized.

Anita Desai has explicitly described in her very own style of writing ,how Hari in the dilapidated conditions of the Sri Krishna Eating House finds warmth and affection through Mr Panwallah-owner and watch mender of the Ding-Dong watch shop .Mr Panwallah instills confidence in Hari and comforts him when he is terribly home sick.He even gives Hari a vivid and inspiring future and teaches him watch mending .This shows that even in one of the most busiest , rickety and ramshackled cities such as Bombay there is still hope ,love and affection.

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Themes

The themes in 'The Village by the Sea' are:
*Harsh living conditions in India
*Adaptations to changing environments
*Poverty, hardships and sadness of rural Indians
*hari as a central character of this and teaches how to fight hardships as there are good times and bad times in a person's lifethe builing up of factories in the village Thul and how it has an impact on the villagers

TV Series

The novel was the basis for the 1991 television series of the same name starring Saeed Jaffrey.It failed unfortunately. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0495673/]

External links

* [http://dimdima.com/bookbuzz/show_books.asp?q_bid=49&q_title=The%20Village%20by%20the%20Sea Summary]