"The Village By The Sea" passage-ANITA DESAI

"They pushed and shoved because they were in turn being pushed and shoved by the Bombay crowds that thronged the docks - people in a hurry to get something done, so many people in such a hurry as the villagers had never seen before. It was only out of the corner of his eye that he saw, briefly, before being pushed on, the great looming sides of steamship berthed at the docks, cranes lifting and lowering huge bales, men bare-bodied and sweating carrying huge packing cases, boxes and baskets on their heads and shoulders, grunting as they hurried, women like the fisherwomen at home with their saris tucked up between their legs as they ran with baskets of shining, slithering fish from the boats to the market, straw and mud and fish scales making the ground dangerously slippery."

This passage from the novel "The Village By The Sea" by Anita Desai describes what the villagers of Thul enter into when they venture to Bombay to protest against the factory overtaking their town.

We see how they are overwhelmed with the fast-paced action that surrounds them. With so many people crowding the wharf, the villagers are "pushed and shoved" around and seem to be out of place simply due to their inexperience in these situations. Having never been to Bombay and only ever been a part of the small, relaxed village life, Hari is absolutely amazed and shocked by the size of everything. Desai tells of what he notices, and that being over sized boxes and machines operating everywhere and people rushing around to get so many jobs done. Everything he sees, even if only out of the corner of his eye, is described as "huge" or "great and looming" because this is what struck him most at that moment. Of-course it would, because of the life Hari is used to leading. Small, simple and uneducated.

As well as evoking a crowded, rushed, larger than life scene, the writer also adds the danger factor by saying the ground is a slippery mix of "straw, mud and fish scales." This encourages the idea that the city life is much more dangerous and unpredictable than the simple life in a small coastal village such as Thul. Hari notices the similarities between his insignificant village and Bombay, but notes that these similarities are set apart by the fact that everything is speed up and enlarged in this overcrowded city.