Broad questiokns and answ
1)CHARACTER OF MOHAN LAL
The story Karma written by Khuhwant Singh was originally published in his short storybook “The COLLECTED STORIES “in the year 1989. The central character of the story is sir Mohan Lal who fancied English culture but, at last, realizes his real identity.
Sir Mohan Lal was a middle-aged Oxford-educated man who worked in the British Raj. He felt ashamed of being an Indian and never tried to talk in his mother tongue “HINDUSTHANI”.Rather he felt proud of talking in English which earned him a higher position in the upper class of the society. He was very careful and efficient in his appearance. His suit with carnation, the aroma of Eau de cologne, Malcolm powder, and scented soap made him different from others. He underestimated his wife and her relatives for their illiteracy and lower class mentality. To attract English people, he wears Balliol Tie and even sips scotch. During traveling, he used to fill crossword puzzles of the English newspaper to show others his command over the English language. But at the end of the story, he was pathetically humiliated by two English soldiers whom he wanted to welcome warmly in his compartment.
Character of LACHMI.
In ” Karma” Lachmi was the wife of proud and arrogant indian representative sir Mohan Lal. She was a typical middle-class lady of Northern India she was strong, short and middle-aged. Lachmi belonged to the uneducated section of Indian society. she did not speak English and was not acquainted with the culture and social order of the day. Even she did make out the anglicized Hindustani spoken by her arrogant and pride husband, so she obeyed his orders passively. She wore a dirty saree and had the habit of chewing betel leaves. She was fond of gossip. Even she did not bother speaking to a passing railway coolie and the waiter. In the story, she was found eating cramped chapattis with mango pickle and washing hands in the public tap, while her husband did not leave the first-class waiting room to enjoy the scotch. As she did not understand the manner of the upper class, she traveled in the zenana compartment at the time of traveling in the train. All these features clearly indicate that Lachmi represents the typical middle-class illiterate housewife during the British rule in India.
3)Lachmi -Mohan relationship
In the story “ Karma” by Khuswant Singh, sir Mohan Lal is a proud Indian who likes British ways and their manner. On the other hand, his wife Lachmi is a typical Indian woman of northern India. she is merely a housewife.
