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Transgression of Ice Candy Man in the Cracking India

The novel Cracking India (1988), Bapsi Sidhwa, is a story of partition of India. Here

the author shows a little girl Lenny who is a Parsee girl and from her eyes the partition of

India is shown. Through the narration readers are viewed the power of Cracking India’s and

the environment of Lahore. It is also the story of a eight years girl, Lenny’s maturation of

young women of growing sexual awareness. Among male characters, Ice candy man (Dil

Navaaz) name given by Lenny, shows his transgression behaviour. Julius Anthony claim

that: transgress was to “describe disobedience of the law” and again he said “ the denying of

doctrinal truths; rule breaking, including the violence of principles, giving serious offense and

erasing or disordering of physical or conceptual boundries”. (227) Ice candy man a Muslim-

Urdu skillful and amusing person, a Muslim street vendor, and like many other men, he is

also drawn by the magnetic beauty of Ayah (Shanta), Lenny’s nanny. But his betrayal, is a

type of confusing because at first he is a Ice candy salesman or a vendor, then bird seller,

cosmic connection to Allah via telephone, poet and a pimp. From good he falls to bad. From

this we can analyze the role which is devious methods mostly have some particularly a type

of politician. Through Ice-Candy Man Sidhwa tries to project an objective view of event and

aims of providing an understanding of the concern for common man’s life and women’s

suppression. It is also the story of love and lost, chaos and confusion, moral good and evil of

the human psyche.

The main character Ayah named Shanta is brown color, admirers of different religious

faith. She was Hindu who worked in the Parsee house as caretaker of Lenny. She has many

fans means everybody was attracted by the magnetic beauty. Among them Ice candy man is

also one of them. He is so crazy about her. And here is, Ayah’s traumatic transformation

through the hands of Ice Candy man.

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While the novel begins Ice candy man shows by selling icecream but later he seems in

different role. A mass of Muslim from India into Pakistan and of Sikhs and Hindus from

Pakistan into Indian territory took place. Four million of people in the month of September

1947 massacred by partitions ice candy man congregate around them and where “things love

to crawl beneath Ayah’s sari. Ladybirds, glow- worms, Ice-candy-man’s toes (28). And he

gives a candy bribes for Lenny who was watching his activities. He shows romantic mood but

challenges the values of the love.

In the winter, month of December, Saturday afternoon just before Christmas (36) one

of bitterly cold day he himself transforms into a birdman (35) parades the paths “behind

Lahore Gymkhana lawns and outside the Punjab club, sells sparrows and parrots to

“tenderhearted English women” by threatening to kill the birds (35) and “clears a packed” of

money (36). It also has symbolic activities that while he was in job of seller, “foreshadowing

the poetic impulse of his future, wiping tears and pointing at a giddily spinning and chirping

sparrow, Ice- candy-man says: “Look! Little sparrow singing, ‘See? See? I free!’ to mad-

with-grief wife!” (36) it shows to be deeply touched when English memsahibs buy his birds

to make free from the cage.

Ayah, Lenny and Adi cheers and clap by watching this activities. And “he treats us to

a meal at Ayah’s favorite wayside restaurant in Mozang Chungi” (36). Ayah eats in a jolly

mood while rebuffing ice candy man’s advances, but finds it difficult to her to get rid of ice

candy man after the meal. Because he shows his misbehave towards her.

The given named in the novel ice-candy-man described as a Muslim Urdu speaking

“raconteur” and gossip (37) a street vendor who shows quite confusing behaviour.

Ice-candy-man talks. News and gossip flow off his glib tongue like a torrent. He reads

Urdu newspapers and the Urdu Digest (37). In historical context World War II news related

by ice candy man reads newspaper in Urdu and English. And ice candy man is a person who
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have more knowledge about history. He reported that Subas Chandra Bose, “a Hindu patriot

who has defected to the Japanese side in Burma, says Japanese will help us liberate India

from the Angrez (38).

Ayah a beautiful woman, who is a Hindu who like Dil Navaz but love Hasan and ice-

candy-man asks her “why she always wears Hindu sari and never wears traditional dress, like

shalwal-kamij” (38). In the answer Ayah, speaks that she would be paid less money if she

dressed as a traditional Punjabi than Hindu.

He always called Ayah a Shanta bibi. He loves her very much but she loves

Massuer. Most of the time he tried to flirt with Ayah. Sometimes she looks as nothing

happened but sometimes she got angry. Sometimes he made emotional blackmail for to

fulfilling his wish. At one day he hangs Adi in the air, and tried to drop him, and Adi yells to

save him and after ice-candy-man’s blackmail Ayah agrees to go to cinema with him. This is

how ice-candy-man expresses his desire love.

He is the hero of Lenny. First he shows his romantic nature. He seems to be prayer

of love. He like to the profession his behaviour and nature transform to pimp. He wants to be

best infront of Ayah. So while Maaseur said that he had invented “an oil that will grow hair

on the Bald heads” (98) than he shows a bottle to Ayah, and in jealous Ice-candy-man also

claims that “ he has developed a first-class fertility pill”. And it is for women (97). But

everybody laughs at him and his friend butcher calls him joker. And Masseur becomes

embarrassed. This is how he is imposing himself as a intelligent so impress Shanta.

Again he converted himself a noisy and lunatic holyman. He presents himself as a

connector of Allah’s telephone. He:

“holding the ends of the copper wire in one hand, the holyman stretches the

other skywards. Pointing his long index finger, murmuring the mystic number

7, 8, 6, he twirls an invisible dial” (107).

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From this part he shows his transgression behaviour. He is just human, transforms

himself to bold man and Allah man, jealous lover. Because, before this he is a sweet,

romantic, poet but now different guise. In the name of god Allah he was cheating the

innocent people for the sake of two silver coins. He presents himself in such a way that

nobody recognized him.

Sidhwa portrayed ice candy man a mysterious person because while reading first we

can’t imagine the actual intention of him. He first sells icecream which is symbol of sweet

but it is the contradiction to his behaviour, a ruthless, bitter. In the one part of the novel he

shows a kind of non divergent quality. Like, when Lenny and Shanti in the house of Ice

candy man at the same time there happens riots outside and they go on the roof to see but

seeing the violence Shanti and Lenny got frightened. When Masseur and butcher came and

objects of bringing them to upstairs and Ice candy man says Iaconically: “we are with her.

She’s safe” and adds: “ I only wanted her to see the fires.” (145) I am surprised how a person

can enjoy by seeing the violence with bomb blast but here ice candy man got enjoyed. In next

he says “You’ll see a tamasha!” (146). For him it was a entertainment. He also used bad

language like bastards, fucking bastards, motherfuckers. Here he is rebelling against the

norms of the society.

In the Shankar’s veranda while all gathered he came and shows gold coin and give it

to Shanta and insist her to take but she rejects. It seems quite confusing because for money he

lingers here and there and disguises himself according to the assignment. Then how can he

achieve gold coin with that. He might looted that gold from the hindu’s house. And when

Shanti asked for Sher Singh, he said, “he was killed in the scuffle”(166) casually. From this

portion he got change. He seems to be harsh, crude, lost his lithe, cat like movements. He

confess that he also wants to take revenge. He suggested his friend to be Muslim to save the
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life. He has no guilt of killing person. He defense himself by justifying that whatever he has

done for the sake of Muslim religion.

In Lahore there happens big violation everybody migrated to their own place.

Some were killed brutally some were raped some houses looted some were destroyed by

arsenals. Everything missi. Hari force to changed his religion to survive but masseur was

killed. And a group of Muslim came to take Ayah (Shanti) everybody tells lie but when Ice

candy man asks Lenny about Shanti she tell truth that she was hiding on the roof or godowns

because of two reasons one is- she never speaks lie and also that ice candy man a hero of her

as well as thinking that: “ Ice candy man’s versatile face transformed into a savior’s in our

hour of need.” (193) and another is- in that frightening environment she was assured that he

will save them after all he is good man in the eyes of her so tells the truth. When he knew the

truth from Lenny his face “undergoes a subtle change” (194). He took Shanti with and

disappeared.

Later when he came back, wearing lamb’s wool Jinnah cap, with long oily curve hair

with Jasmine attar. Which draws into the orbit of his poetic vision. “His narrow hawkish face,

as if recast is different mold, has softened into a sensual oval” (257) he seems different body

language, thinner, softer, droopier. Not only his voice changed but speech delivery was

flawless, formal, like as intelligent, educated, and cultured person. He became a poet this

time. And Godmother asked about Shanti, he became voiceless but forced him then later on

he claimed that he married her in May. But she was taken from Lahore in May. For three

months he played the drums when she danced, counted money while drunks, peddlers, sahibs

and cutthroats used her like a sewer” (262). This means that she put in brothel for three

month after that he married her.

From this concept Sidhwa shows the masculinist oppressive nature of the man. In this

text Ice candy man rise from good, romantic lover to jealous lover to pimp. Initially he
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presents as prayer of Shanti who loves another person. In this text Ayah or Shanti is a woman

who symbolizes the nation but ice candy man is a person who cracked the nation. He is the

character of brutal man. What he says he did just opposite. By convincing Lenny he will help

but did not do that. He is the representative of how volatile the populace was during that time

of partition.

At the same time from this book Sidhwa help us to look and examining the nature of

human cost. It also helps to acknowledged the gender and sexual politics. Ice candy man is an

opportunistic politician, accruing power and glory through his repeated incarcerations and

marches in the name of people. He is obsessed with bowel movements. He is very shrewd,

and even bad political player. From the once unified group of friends Dil Navaz has different

mentality. Dil Navaz, Masseur Hasan, Zoo keeper, Hari, Sher Shing and Shanta are their

united friends group but when the partition happened all these people got sacrifice in the

name of nationalism, religion, partition. All mistrust eacherother. And when a train came

with dead body of family and relatives and among them Dil Navaz’s sister body, he got

traumatic psyche. He became beast after onwards. He turns into serious character. And

Shanta is unable to see his transition into a cold, heartless man who is now filled with full of

hatred and revenge. He is a character of having both qualities as construction and

deconstruction.

He is a betrayal in the relationship because he love Shanta but he puts her in brothel

for three months. He used her. He wants to win Shanta from Hasan but he got unsuccessful so

he took revenge by taking or kidnapping Shanta from the Parsi house. If he really loves her

than he might bring Shanta with him when he returned back to Godmother but he didn’t.

In summing up, Dil Navaz, Lenny’s Ice Candy man is a good man for the first time

while he is selling ice cream but later on he shows his negative as a pimp. He tries to become

romantic infront of others like Hasan, Shanta, Imam din but when his sister were killed than
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sudden his behaviour changed. He participated on the riot in name of freedom t the country

and religion. He made the life of Shanta, horrible, pathetic whom he argued to loved. He was

the hero of Lenny but at last she got frightened by seeing the face of her hero. Now he is

became pure a pimp, whose dress, hair style, language tells easily. From first none can tell

that he is a person who is lovable, caring, intelligent would transform into shrewd, irrational,

gruesome person. Neither only he changed himself but also the life of Shanta too. Shanta,

Ayah is a symbol of nation and Ice Candy man is a person of speed violence lover and want

to control the women’s tongue. And obviously he is a tragic person.

He is a demoralizing person. At last he shows his mentality ill, crime and erasing the

conceptual boundries.
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Works Cited

Anthony, Julius. Transgression: The Offences of Art. Chicago: The University of Chicago

Press, 2002.

Sidhwa, Bapsi. Cracking India. Milkweed Editions. 1991.