Upamanyu Chatterjee's The Last Burden

ABSTRACT

India is a museum of languages and literatures and Indian Writing is an experience of its people, their culture, tradition, and the way they lead their life. The distinct quality of this Literature rests on multi – lingual, multi – cultural and multi – racial. The intercourse of Indian Literature with other Indian languages and dialects enriches the true essence of the treasure of fiction immensely and as the same, western cultures, Literatures, traditions, and aesthetics are also placing their position to withstand the role of fiction. Upamanyu Chatterjee is a great voice in Indian Postcolonial Literature. His novels always try to dig the truth of society in this way or the other. His second novel, “The Last Burden” (1993) recreates life in an Indian middle class family

Throughout the novel, Shyamanand’s behavior remains deplorable whereas Urmila, as a wife and as a mother is cared for by her sons to a certain extent. They manage to construct and share a house built on their ‘Own clod of earth’ (87). As soon as they leave the Government flat and shift into their own house in a colony near the sea, their elder son moves out to a job. And soon gets into matrimony. Shyamanand always had differences with Urmila which escalated to such an extent that a minor topic could also take a mammoth proportion. There were many instances when Shyamanand could barely be civil to his wife. He was rude, passed snide and caustic comments at his wife. Throughout the novel, The Last Burden, Urmila tries to shield her sons from their father as mother’s natural tendency. Whether it was to take Jamun to the ophthalmologist to get his eyesight checked and then trudge to get his glasses or wait for Burfi and then later on for Jamun to return in early or late hours from their university, all the time wondering about the company they moved in. Urmila’s concern for the welfare and well-being of her sons incensed not only the sons but their father