Goodbye Party For Miss Pushpa T. S.

was written by Nissim Ezekiel, one of

India's foremost Indo-Anglian poets. • He was born in 1924 and was educated in
Mumbai and London. He produced several volumes of verse and plays and was an
art critic. • Nissim Ezekiel is acclaimed as the father of post-independence Indian-
English verse. • He is a trend-setter, who started modernity in Indian-English
poetry. • The poem is in the form of a speech made by one of Miss Pushpa's
friends.

“Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa T. S.” is a parody and satire on the usage of
English language by some Indians e.g. the habit of using present continuous tense
in place of simple present and rambling style of conversation • The poem,”
Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa” comes under his sixth volume of poems, namely
“Hymns in Darkness.”

Written in the form of dramatic monologue where the speech made by the narrator
reflects more about him than about others

Development of Thought  The occasion is the farewell party being hosted by a

group of friends to Miss Pushpa who is going abroad.  Use of grammatically
incorrect and inappropriate phrases and expressions mark the poem bringing out
the outrageous use of English by the native speakers e.g. “departing for foreign”,
“all knowing friends”, coming from very high family”.  The other aberrations are
incorrect use of tense such as in “I am not remembering”, “his wife was cooking
nicely”, “she was saying”, “that is showing”, “is never saying no”, “am always
appreciating”, “we are wishing her bon voyage” etc.  Attitude of the speaker is
reflected through his conscious effort at styling the language and the flattering tone
of the speech suggesting a hypocritical and sham personality.

Miss Pushpa, although depicted as a pleasing personality, is not without the

pretentious manners reflected through the speakers lines “Miss Pushpa is never
saying no/Whatever I or anybody is asking she is always saying yes”. o The
speaker’s digression to Miss Pushpa’s father, and hanging on it, the speaker’s
connection to Surat and then to his/her uncle’s very old friend and his wife there—
are typical of the unprepared, spontaneous speech, characteristic of many Indians
who lack propriety in such grave formal functions.
The tone of the poem is humorous although sarcastic is devoid of stingy bitterness.
Ezekiel through this poem speaks about Indian English with lucidity. The
peculiarities of the Babus’ angrezi are elucidated with wonderful craft and humor.

Conclusion  The speaker of this poem is not given a definite identity. We do not
know whether it is male of female speaker.

 Nissim Ezekiel by hiding the identity of the speaker renders the mistakes to
every Indian in general.

 Another notable feature is the fact that Miss Pushpa is always addressed as " Miss
Pushpa" and as "dear sister" but never by her name.  Interestingly Miss Pushpa is
described to be both internally and externally sweet, coming from a very "high
family". And the icing on the cake is that her father is a "renowned advocate".  A
perfect example of how family background and the profession of the father matters
in India.  Not to forget the initials in her name " Miss Pushpa T.S.". Another
Indian phenomenon. And what is hilarious is that all this is being mentioned at her
farewell party.  Nissim Ezekiel does successfully manage to not only capture our
attention but also to tickle our funny bone.

1. Digression : Digression of the host in the above poem to his (the tone of the
poem makes me assume that the person speaking must be a man) own
experiences in the city of Surat, rather than focussing on Miss Pushpa (it is
always said in a matter-of-fact way that could be quite insulting without us
realising it). This behaviour is done quite often, the only difference being
that Indians take the topic completely off course (from Surat to riots to why
violence is bad to politics to corruption, maybe) and then back to Miss
Pushpa.

The poem is written in the form of a farewell speech because Miss Pushpa "is

departing for foreign." Ezekiel tries to parody such speeches which are

usually rambling. Even the logical connectives between ideas are missing. In
the following lines, he expresses a typical Indian thought process in Indian

English.

Miss Pushpa is coming

from very high family.

Her father was renowned advocate

In Bulsar or Surat,

I am not remembering now which place.

Surat? Ah, yes,

Once only I stayed in Surat

With family members

Of my uncle's yery old friend --

His wife was cooking nicely . . .

That was long time agoJ2

In a characteristically undisciplined Indian way, the speaker wanders from his

main subject without bothering about it. And as a characteristic Indian craze,

he remembers much later that Miss Pushpa is going to a foreign country "to
improve

her prospecte" This is a good dig at those Indians who suffer from xenophilia.
(Karnani, 1976)

2. Dramitis Personae or Dramatic Monologue

The characters do not speak a word. They are like tableaux.
 3. Lampoon
4. Equivocation
5. Pun

Goodbye Party For Miss Pushpa T.S is an satirical poem by NISSIM EZEKIEL.
He decided to maintain the notion of breaking rules of traditional poems. It is
considered as mild attack on Indian English Speakers.

The author revealed the mismatch between Indian thoughts and

English cultutre. It was seen in throughout the poem.

The poem begins with present continuous tense instead of using

simple present tense. thus the mocking of Indian Speakers is begun.

It is in the form of dramatic monologue. Miss. Pushpa is depicted as a

pleasing personality. In the middle of the poem the author talked about her father
and his job seemed as irrelevant and consists of lot of diversions from ideas.

The tone of the poem is humorous through sarcastic is devoid. The

speaker called her as sister and showed that he was in respectable position in
office. From this poem we came to conclude that she was beautiful both internally
and externally.

The poem by Ezekiel is in free verse as there is no evident pattern of rhyme

scheme noted. Through the