A portrait of the Third World
Nabila Obayed spots the real in fiction
Like the third world estate, the Third World is nothing, and wants to be something. Alfred Sauvy A phantasmagorical novel, Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie beautifully encrypts the scenario of Third World countries. With a cartoonish attitude the novel discovers different facts' trail behind Third World countries. Putting India as an example of it the author refers to major deficient traits like political bias, population and pollution problems in the novel. Using the method of magic realism, the novel successfully portrays the real situation in a Third World country like India, placing the real and the 'Fantastick' in the same stream of thought. Besides India, the novel can also be an example of deficiencies concerning the social and political system of Bangladesh. As part of the Third World, Bangladesh also faces issues that have a resemblance to what Rushdie puts across in Haroun and the Sea of Stories. "In those days it was almost election time, and the grand panjandrums of various political parties all came to Rashid, smiling their fat-cat smiles, to beg him to tell his stories at their rallies and nobody else's" (Rushdie, 20). The political bias of different political parties is clearly explained by the author in this novel. In Third World countries political parties' pessimistic attitude is noted by all citizens. For example, the two opposing parties of Bangladesh always remain busy in antagonizing each other. News in recent times provides proof of it. "The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday sued former prime minister Khaleda Zia and three others for abusing power to set up a charitable trust named after late president Ziaur Rahman." "BNP termed the case "baseless and politically motivated" and said it is part of the government's conspiracy to eliminate the opposition." (Khaleda sued, 2011). This is a very common picture of Bangladesh as well as other Third World countries. These parties sometimes make someone the hat on the head and sometimes the footwear. Similarly, in the novel, when Rashid Khalifa speaks nothing but 'Ark, Ark, Ark' in front of 'a thick forest of human beings', "two men with mustachios and loud yellow check pants shouted at Rashid and accused him of having taken a bribe from their rivals, and suggested that they might cut off his tongue and other items also." (Rushdie, 26-27). This is how political bias has remained one of the major drawbacks in Third World. "In the sad city, people mostly had big families; but the poor children got sick and starved, where the rich kids overate and quarreled over their parents' money." (Rushdie, 18). This statement provides a view of a big population which is mainly divided into two classes, poor and rich. The author astutely brings out each and every class division existing in society and created by so-called Democracy behind the face of Capitalism: The Khalifas lived in the downstairs part of a small concrete house… It wasn't a grand house, nothing like the skyscrapers where the super-rich folks lived; then again, it was nothing like the dwellings of the poor, either. The poor lived in tumbledown shacks made of old cardboard boxes and plastic sheeting, and these shacks were glued together by despair. And then there were the super-poor, who had no homes at all. They slept on pavements and in the doorways of shops, and had to pay rent to local gangsters for doing even that. (Rushdie, 18) The above excerpt provides a hint of four remaining classes of society, Upper Class, Middle Class, Lower Class and Super-lower Class who have no home at all. This is a very common picture in a Third World country. For example, the "super-poor" class holding street children is one of the prominent groups in Bangladesh. Wahida Banu, executive director of Aparajeyo-Bangladesh, tells The Daily Star in an interview, "There are about 6.5 lakh street children in Bangladesh, according to estimates carried out in 2005" . . . "more and more children are living on the streets and vulnerable due to poverty, natural disasters, a split in the family, and greedy relatives who bring them to the city and to sell them off." (Rahman, 2011). In the same article, reference is made to a street child Shafiqul Islam Khan, who says, "When I boarded the train, I did not know my destination. I was taken directly to Dhaka at the Kamalapur Railway Station, where I stayed for about three years. I . . . used to wash utensils around the station to make a living" (Rahman, 2011). So these sources describe the situation of the poor and super-poor class in Bangladesh, placing the country firmly in the Third World. However the growing population issue often rings the bell on educated people in such these countries since "This child business is not such an easy thing." (Rushdie, 19). "The air was cool and clean, because the rain washed away most of the black smoke billowing out of the sadness factories." (Rushdie, 21). Pollution is another major problem for Bangladesh. The novel on its very first page brings up the story of pollution where "Black smoke poured out of the chimneys of the sadness factories and hung over the city like bad news." (Rushdie, 15). Industrial wastes act as a major reason behind pollution. "A World Bank study said four major rivers near Dhaka -- the Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Turag and Balu -- receive 1.5 million cubic metres of waste water every day from 7,000 industrial units in surrounding areas and another 0.5 million cubic meters from other sources." (Majumder, 2009). Ainun Nishat, a leading environmental expert, notes, "Much of the Buriganga is now gone, having fallen to ever insatiable land grabbers and industries dumping untreated effluents into the river" (Majumder, 2009). The threatening effects of pollution are thus making people's life difficult day by day. The novel brings forth Third World issues in the guise of a simple children's story which also provides an ironic look into social drawbacks like political bias, population and pollution problems. It is important to remember that "a number of Third World countries were former colonies, and with the end of imperialism, many of these countries, especially the smaller ones, were faced with the challenges of nation- and institution-building on their own for the first time" (Third World, 2011).
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