Financial and Psychosocial Entrapment in Aravind Adiga’s Selection Day

Saty Dev Prajapati satydevskd@gmail.com

Banaras Hindu University, India

This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International.

Aravind Adiga, the winner of Booker Prize for his debut novel The White Tiger, is continuously highlighting social issues by new novels in the phase of his writings. His fourth novel Selection Day is famous for the cricket game as a primal theme of ever writing in novel genre. The plot of the novel revolves around Mohan Kumar a chutney seller who has big dream to design his both son Radha and Manju as the world first and second batsman, his ambition is very strong, he belongs to a poor family living in villages but to flame ambition and he married with a Hockey player for better generation. His wife left him by his tormenting behavior leaving her both sons with Mohan Kumar. Mohan decided to guide his sons in Mumbai the hub city for cricket match. Due to financially weak Radha and Manju were not able to get admission in a reputed school from where they could play as a platform. They have to roam from one school to other stadiums for target but everywhere they needed money and reference and he had nothing, both sons are distrusted on Kumar because he is not in condition to understand the dream project of his sons. Therefore, father is financially tormented and sons are psychologically terrified for their future. Anyhow after a log wasp of resistance both brothers got admission in Ali Weinberg International school in cricket quota where well reputed Tommy sir started guiding them as a coach still they need money for house rent and other requirements so Kumar started new business of selling herb juice in a stadium but failed. Therefore, he decided to borrow money from Anand Mehta now the game of entrapment started in the life of Kumars. Financial and psychological trauma is always going on in the minds of both brothers that they had to pay seventy-five thousand to Anand Mehta who has given them money for cricket play. They always feel entrapped due to their father’s conviction regarding high ambition and self-possessed ideology regarding his respect and desire.

Adiga’s concept of darkness is aptly demonstrated in his all the novels. This concept is closely related with the alienation segment of the society where people have no rays of education and sense of good understanding. They are socially and psychologically deprived of elites therefore Tommy Sir considers Radha and Manju Kumar as backwards so they will have to train more than the average students. Sport has different meaning for both brothers Radha and Manju Kumar according to their ideology, Radha thinks game as his passion but it was overtly exposed by his father and the real interest was neither in studies nor in cricket just only wish fulfilling as modern age teenagers usually do whereas Manju plays for financial needs and his real passion was hidden in forensic science therefore he prepared and got admission in Ruia college without the permission of his father. Only to fulfill the ambition of his father Manju played cricket.

At the age of 14 Manju Kumar felt that the rules which are made by his father for cricket game and routine for daily activities some cautions like prohibition for Shaving, pornography and car driving are like prison for both brothers. He says, “Three dangers on the path to glory- pre-mature shaving, pornography, and car driving”. He adds one more- “The Mohammedan Javed, a left- hander” (63). The new feature of Indian English Fiction is emergence of adolescent protagonists, they are learning by doing at the same time mostly affected by psychologically paternal and social norms. The economic competition of the middle class has compelled parents to force their successors to work hard in every field for success only in the means of either reputation or money. Mohan Kumar is also hungry for his grand success in the field of cricket game by his both sons therefore he works very hard for training and many types of handmade herbs. Adolescent is not a teenage but a state of mind where decision and conditions are persisted at one point of time, it is righty as Julia Kristeva defines an “open psychic structure” “a period of dramatic restructuring of the self” connected with a “tremendous loosening of the superego” (Kristeva 1990:8).

Mohan Kumar is restless psychologically hence he wants to make his sons next Sachin Tendulkar in the city of Mumbai and to follow the same route as Tendulkar grew up in poor family and by cricket climbed on the top of richness and reputed luxurious life. Adiga presents the city as the place of competition, lust, greed and corruption prevalent particularly in the field of cricket game. Cricket as a heterogonous entity captures financial, psychosocial, political and multicultural aspects, in this novel Cricket is not only a play but a business as well. Selection Day explores the prevalent corruption, capitalism, over ambition, repression, suppression success as well as their values and side effects on the canvas of human psyche. When cricket started in India it was a game of glory and jest, youths were enjoying this new game but the emergence of IPL has provided the space for capitalism and particularly emphasis on money in modernistic fashionable India.

According to Erik Erikson personality development is adhered to eight psychological stages; trust or mistrust, shame or anatomy, guilt or initiative, inferiority or industry, isolation or intimacy, role confusion or identity, stagnation or generatively, despair or ego. During every stage an adolescent-experiences a particular type of psychosocial crisis, these may be either positive or negative these stages are imbedded with the mood of individual and conflict with social norms. Mohan is continuously in obsession of psychological dilemma that his sons and their playing cricket game is only source to come out from pandemonium of darkness and slum of poverty. He treats them as future investment of his business therefore creates masculine atmosphere daily strict routine and self assessment of the yesterday and tomorrow planning. He worshipped God Subramanyam offering his share of his earning making plan for his sons in front of him and instructs to follow worshipping routine for them also. Radha’s love for Sofia provides relief to him from the brutality of his father at the same time Manjunath is missing his mother so gets relief by the company of schoolmate Javed, this stuck him homosexuality and relief from money making business of his father.

Financial entrapment is like slow poison easily swallowed by middle class family offered by bourgeois. Business entrepreneur Anant Mehta provides him money as sponsorship. Money maker capitalist Mehta has created a deal with Kumar that he would take back one third of his both sons’ income when they will get selected. This fact is an augmentation of greed in prevalent capitalist market. Adiga’s anti global and capitalist point of view is particularly denoting many obsessions in cricket degrades national glory at the same time and attacks on national smooth culture. By capitalism corruption enters gravely and starts black fold game with glory and ethics of the people.

Adiga attacks here in this novel on the centripetal thinking of modern parents who impose their unfulfilled desires and ambition to accomplish children or future generation without knowing or thinking about real interests and talent as well as real capabilities of the youngsters. The result of such kind of thinking is before us in a number of degree and diploma holders of engineering roaming unemployed although they might have capability of other area of study but they are failed because of their parent’s impositions. These parents cage their children unknowingly psychologically control their urges, needs, desires and friendship and companions. Therefore, these children are alienated from the mainstream of society so they are living in anger anxiety and sadness. In such condition healthy condition among students is impossible to think because they are moving fast in order to impose and become the best by hooks or crooks.

By the help of proverbs Mohan Kumar teaches the rules of life ‘on its way into town, the kings white horse turned into donkey’ meant thereby is that if both will do, they would enjoy the life otherwise all the three have to beg outside Dahisar for livelihood. If they win, they will be welcomed like, ‘Big thief walks free, small thief gets caught’.

Due to psychosocial temperament and repetition of Sophia about Manju that she will protect him as gay friend. Such conversations very deeply impact on the psyche of Manju. His interest towards forensic science from cricket was harder at the same time his decision to either play or leave the game was challenge. ‘My biology experiment. I want full marks in class this time.’ Two months ago, his model fighter jet plane, a project for physics class, left on the dining table, had mysteriously vanished after he had put four days of work up by now” Adiga (21).

Oedipus complex is also a major segment in the novel, according to Freud, child considers his father as rival because of sexual obsession with his mother, in this novel the child Manju Kumar is always thinking about his mother and considers his father as his enemy. In the youth Oedipus Complex becomes more conflict hence the development of unconsciousness he envies and becomes jealous against his father therefore the youth want to get freedom from his father and live with mother. Freud explained his concept of ‘super ego’ by the example of Oedipal Complex during his self analysis. In the novel the unconscious thinking of Manju is being presented,

Manju remembered coming home screaming Amma! Amma! Only to find their hut empty because his mother was outside, in the strange light, walking in circles by herself. Thinking by herself. Planning something by herself. Perhaps planning to leave him and his brother and run away. (29)

Psychology controls the brain and society maintains the activity of a human life. In this paper the projection of psychosocial entrapment has been presented in equal manner in order to visualize the real problems of the adolescent as well as parents. The story of Kumar family is in obsession of every Indian middle-class family in which the parents want their children according to their own ideology and the children are obviously moving forward as own accord. The novel presents the solution of the issue that too much financial load and psychological rule-based control of the parents is not essential for the bright future of a child; Mohan Kumar thinks that Radha will prove better but it becomes opposite Manju play world level under 19 team. Later on, Manju decides his future according to his own interest and joins Rouia college for his study Science.