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June 24, 2005
The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
The In-between World of Vikram Lall by M. G. Vassanji is the life-story of Vikram Lall from when he is a little boy in 1953 British colonized Kenya, to him as a young man in 1960 independent Kenya, and finally as an older man in 21st century Toronto Canada. In Toronto Lall tries to figure out how his life has become what it is—he is known as ‘one of Africa’s most corrupt men, a cheat of monstrous and reptilian cunning’-- and whether he has the strength to confront past ill deeds.
The novel follows the course of how little boy Vikram playing in the streets with his sister Deepa, a black servant and two British children can grow up to become corrupt. A few pages into the novel I was gripped equally by both the present story of Vikram in Toronto and his past story of childhood trauma suffered after Annie and Bill are murdered by the Mau Mau guerillas seeking independence. It seems Vikram spends his life trying to come to terms with when, if ever, murder is justified. Is it in the name of Independence? And should he really mourn so for his British friends when the British have massacred so many Kenyans (after all it wasn't as if Annie and Bill killed anyone themselves)? And what of the ‘little people’ like the servant Mwangi, repeatedly taken away by the police to be questioned and tortured, when he is under suspicion just because he is a poor man with no clout? One of the most poignant scenes in the novel is the Mau-Mau guerillas asking, after Independence is gained, where they fit in. Why they are not accorded the respect and honor due heroes?
The In-Between World of Vikram Lall explores other equally intriguing questions. Vikram is neither black nor white, where then does his browness fit in? And, if the brown folk are just as African, why then is Mrs. Lall so adverse to Deepa marrying a black man especially when, many years earlier, Juma Molabux’s marrying a Masai woman caused no one any sleepless nights? Indeed Deepa and Njorge’s love story is drawn particularly gorgeously chiseling out the politics of race, class and identity the novel is replete with.
One of the two English officers was coming by the houses with an askari, chatting up the Asian residents, peeping discreetly inside their homes….How are you, kem-ch, namaskar, salaam—you can never be too careful with the terrorists, this is for the safety of you and yours. Remember even the most trusted boy can turn against you with a panga…
The narrative weaves the history of the railroad into the lives of its characters as subtly as the weather and landscape of Toronto reflects Vikram’s thoughts.
Taking a long walk from the house, on a cross-country trail I have been directed to, I come upon the tracks of the Canadian railway system. It’s not long before a low rumble is heard, like distant thunder, and then after some delay there appears from the east the electric “Sir John A. Macdonald,” in the blue and gold colors of the sky, bound for Toronto. Smoothly gliding on its shiny rails, it goes past and disappears among winter’s grey gnarly woods, stark and beautiful, quiet as these bleak surrounds on this cold and clear day.
I walk back to the house only partly satiated, nostalgic for the feel of roaring steam.
The In-Between World of Vikram Lall is a beautiful read for its language, its emotion and its quest to render some sense or perhaps ‘no-sense’ to how politics and history twists and turns and stamps people along its merry way.
Posted by Soniah Kamal at June 24, 2005 12:54 PM
Comments
I enjoyed this book. I found it a bit slow to get into, but soon it became difficult to put down. I look forward to reading more by Vassanji.
Posted by: nomadica at June 24, 2005 02:45 PM
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