Vermilion Boat Summary

There are a few more Indian English novels with campus setting that were written before the 1980s. But these novels did not come to lime light as the readers were not impressed by them. The Vermilion Boat(1953) by Sudhin N. Ghose is in three parts and recounts the college education of its hero. His college days are just a part of his growing up. The novelist concentrates more on his relationship with a Eurasian girl Roma than on his college life or campus events. The Flame of the Forest(1955) by the same writer too provides a campus setting and it contains “a fine satirical picture of the avaricious college professor, who prescribes his worthless anthology as a textbook for monetary gains” . The novel brings out the sycophantic nature of

Goaded by the History professor, Ragavachar, Chandran takes up the mantle of secretary of the association and invites Principal Brown to deliver the inaugural address. The loquacious nature of professors comes to the fore when professor Ragavachar in his introductory speech says “I will take only a few minute, perhaps only a few seconds to enlighten you on a few facts concerning our association…” “He then filled the hall with his voice for full forty minutes.”During this forty minutes, he has repeated the cliché that he would not stand between the lecturer and the audience. Further, the high brow attitude of the Principal and lack of respect for history were perceptible in his speech and derisive tone. Tracing his relation with history, Principal Brown spoke “When he entered Oxford, he shook off history of his person” He found the subject “as treacherous as a bog at night” With a fair amount of contempt, he dismissed the subject by saying “In all History, I remember only 1066”.His concluding advice is equally derisive. “Like Art, History must be studied for its own sake; and so, if you have an abiding interest in it, take it up after you leave the

The poet in ‘The Man-Eater of Malgudi’ composes a story of Krishna and Radha in monosyllabic verse. In the novel ‘The world of Nagaraj’, the protagonist is interested in writing about life of the great sage Narada. Rosie in The Guideis interested in dance. In The Painter of Signs, Raman is interested in art and calligraphy. Occasionally there are persons like Mohan (poet) in The Bachelor of Arts, who, under the influence of the waves of western art forms, try to experiment on