Riot: A Novel Summary

Abstract: Tharoor is essentially a novelist with a difference in as much as he strives for novelty in his fiction. All his novels testify to his unique and distinct treatment of the subject-matter. A book of great moral, religious, social and political complexity, Riot : A Novel is a dossier of the tumultuous relationship between the East and the West represented through the characters of V. Lakshman and Priscilla Hart. On the surface Riot: A Novel appears to be a tragic story of a twenty four year old New York University doctoral candidate Priscilla Hart, visiting the small town of Zalilgarh as a volunteer with the population control organization HELP US, but a more profound insight into the novel brings out a bitter truth about a society

This novel is significant in so far as it brings together the white Europeans and the brown Indians on the same pedestal. Considering the post-colonial scenario depicted in the novel, the interaction between the Indians and the Europeans becomes all the more important. The diverse attitudes and viewpoints of those who were once colonized and of those who belong to the western world of the colonizers, though colonialism has ended a long time back, impart a new dimension and thematic strand to this novel. Thus seen, Riot comes out as a kind of documentary on the Indian cultural heritage and the onslaught of foreign cultures like the Islam and the Christianity on its identity. Indian socio-cultural values with all existing evils are seen from the eyes of the characters who hail from different cultures and societies. Their views and thoughts become really pertinent when seen in the context of the contemporary Indian

The difference between the east and the west comes to the fore when seen from the perspectives of V. Lakshman and Priscilla respectively. The way they both contemplate about their own lives and their surroundings foreground a world of difference between the cultures, customs and beliefs of the countries they come from. Not only do their views bring out the distinctions between their respective mental and emotional make-ups, but also make one understand how an Indian and a European differ with each other when it comes to tackling both spiritual and worldly problems. Indians’ attitude towards the Europeans has always been quite peculiar in as much as they have always regarded whites as outsiders and throughout the pages of history, this fact recurs time and again. The whites on the other hand came to the Indian subcontinent with the preconceived notions about the inferiority, and savagery of the Indians. So, right from the beginning it was evident that the two races were bound to be in a kind of love-hate relationship where hatred was more pronounced than love. V. Lakshman and Priscilla Hart are both modern and educated but what makes them different from each-other are their