Final solution

Hello reader:) This is the response blog task given by my teacher on The Final Solution. I am answering four questions. 

Mahesh Dattani was born in Bangalore to Gujarati parents. He went to Baldwin Boys High School and then went on to join St. Joseph's College, Bangalore. 

Dattani is a graduate in History, Economics and Political Science. He completed his post-graduate in Marketing and Advertising Management because he wanted to become a copywriter. He worked with the Bangalore Little Theatre, where his first role was in Utpal Dutt's Surya Shikhar.

After reading Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? early in his life, he became interested in writing. He was also influenced by Gujarati playwright Madhu Rye's Kumarni Agashi and developed an interest in play writing.

1.)What is the significance of the subtitle "The Final Solutions"?

The title of Final solution is significant as no Solution for this problem community and religion divided in India or any country this problem has no solution. 

2.)Do you think Mahesh Dattani’s “The Final Solutions” makes any significant changes in society?

Mahesh Dattani writes about the society and surroundings in which he lives. His creativity is faithful and authentic expression of the first hand experience and knowledge of socio-cultural environment. He holds a mirror to make reality visible to the audience. The play Final Solutions critically intervenes the post-independence era which has a communally vitiated socio-political scenario. The main character, Dakhsa also known as Hardika in the play fuses past and present. The theme of communal tension is given historical depth through flashbacks featuring Hardika at the age of fifteen in 1948 and her experience in the aftermath of the partition returns to her memory at different points of the play. The play explores the theme of communalismThe play took Dattani over a year to research and Dattani consulted books such as Freedom at Midnight (1975) by Larry Collins and Dominque Lapiers and Lankesh Patrike, a Kannada weekly magazine. He also conducted a number of interviews with survivors of communal riots in Gujarat and Karnataka. One of the riots that Dattani researched that particularly caught his attention was the 1985 Rath Yatra riot in Ahmedabad. This would have had become his inspiration for the riot that brings Javed and Bobby to the Gandhi family in Final Solutions. The political climate of the Ramjanmabhoomi movement of the Hindu Right during which the play was written and produced adds a layer of significance to the play. During the early nineties the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) was supporting the demolition of Babri Masjid with religious processions known as Rath Yatras. The context of these Rath Yatras contributes to the play because they are the communal riots which form the background of the play. And in the play it is brought out by the disruption of a Rath Yatra while passing through a Muslim neighbourhood.Communalism like casteism involves stereotyping and prejudice which results into animosity, anger and hatred because of their cultural and religious variance. The past incidents and events like the partition in 1947, Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 and Godhra incident in 2002 have created a huge gap between the Hindus and Muslims. The being in majority or minority also determines the thought process. There is always a consciousness about the religious difference among the people and they use terms „we‟ and „they‟ for themselves and for other community respectively. The same can be understood if we carefully speculate the action throughout the play Final Solutions. Dattani puts masks on the Mob/Chorus to make frequent change of identity to look natural. When the characters articulate inner feelings the chorus whisper or shout along. The plays opens when there has been curfew in the city because of the disturbance in the Rath Yatra resulting in communal violence. The play starts itself with a curfew in the city because of the communal conflicts. The central character Hardika had sorrowful past which had made herself averse to the religious sect of Muslims. Zarine‟s father came to her father in law in search of job but his entreaty was not accepted. This created a tension between those two families and it continued through Hardika. And same experiences might have been of number of families which multiplied the tension between each other resulting into split and hatred between the two sects. This can be observed from the 

lines:

“Hardika : How could he let these people into my house? They killed his grandfather. They will hate us for protecting them. Asking for help makes them feel they are lower than us. I know! They don‟t want equality. They want to be superior.”(Act I, page 24)

We find ample problems and the playwright has not given any solution. Instead, he has let the audience decide. Hence, the final solutions are, in reality, no solutions to these communal problems. We people need to know what makes us hate others.

3) Is Ramnik a liberal thinker? If yes then why? If not then why?

“By definition,” Maurice Cranston says, “a liberal is a man who believes in liberty".

Ramnik 

In Final Solutions by Mahesh Dattani, Ramanik is a secular minded person who believes in communal harmony among different communities. In past his father and grandfather had burnt the shop of a muslim family and began their own business on that place.Ramanik tries to separate for the blunders done by his forefather. When Babban and Javed enter his house, he tries to protect them from Hindu Mob. He is abused by the people of his community for giving shelter to Muslims. Even stones are thrown at his house. However he does not let them do any harm to Babban and Javed.Javed remains quite harsh to Ramnik and even scolds him for what his community is doing. However, Ramanik remains calm and quiet and even offers him job in his shop. The sense of guilt does not vanish away from his mind and ultimately in the end he hates his shop and drops the idea of visiting it again.Ramnik was liberal but according to my thinking he was liberal no doubt but he was doing wrong in the past for this regret he was act like liberal at the end he realised but his liberalism was not reliable. 

4)Does education make any difference? Comment with the reference to the women characters.

“You educate a man; you educate a man. You 

educate a woman; you educate a generation.”

 - Brigham Young

The status of women in a complex society like India is not uniform. Socio-economic growth of any nation lies in women empowerment along with manpower. Education brings a reduction in inequalities and functions as a means of improving their status within the family. Women education in India plays a very important role in the overall development of the country. It not only helps in the development of half of the human resources, but in improving the quality of life at home and outside. Educated women not only tend to promote education of their girl child, but also can provide better guidance to all their children. Moreover educated women can also help in the reduction of infant mortality rate and growth of the population.In Final Solutions, Dattani represents the female characters like Hardika, Smita and Aruna. They make realization that women are not a shadow of male. Today woman is making her spaces. She has a better understanding of realization on identity both inside and outside the family. A woman of liberal ideology views the situation as an individual and constructs the image of life beyond the specified ideology of religious and community-based prejudices. She wants to take decision for herself and is confident on it; she is ready to protest against those agencies that are responsible for her sublimation.Education for women also makes a sense of learning what is right and wrong. Smita in the play Final Solutions is aware of knowing the difference between what is right and what is wrong. She knows how to please others, when to apologise and how to respect elders. One can gain such manners through proper education. Smita is secular in her view on religion and its purpose, whereas, Aruna is a zealous follower of Hinduism. In spite of their ideological differences, both Aruna and Smita wrap up their prejudices and end the conflict on a reconciliatory note: Smita:( apologizes to her mother) “I am sorry. I mean it.” Aruna: “All right. Do what you think is best.” 7

. (F.S Act III p.59)

Education makes difference with character of smita and Aruna.