756-761 Dr. JHARNA MALAVIYA

Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL)
A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.5.Issue 3. 2017

Impact Factor 6.8992 (ICI) http://www.rjelal.com; (July-Sept)
Email:[email protected] ISSN:2395-2636 (P); 2321-3108(O)
RESEARCH ARTICLE
BOYS WILL BE BOYS: A MOVING TALE OF A FAMILY AND A NATION
Dr. JHARNA MALAVIYA

Department of English and Modern European Languages, University of Allahabad
Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Sara Suleri’s memoir, Boys will be Boys, is a classic of postcolonial literature; a book,
vital for understanding the postcolonial world of India and Pakistan and their complex
shared past. Suleri brings to life the lost world of Pakistan and examines the complex
network of power and cultural discourses that has shaped the present. In the memoir,
Suleri’s family becomes a microcosm of the nation and her love-hate relationship with
her father, the love-hate relationship with Pakistan. Boys will be Boys is a touching
saga of the death of an era, a family, and a nation, and the birth of a new world ruled
by fundamentalist forces. Suleri does not accept historical narratives at face value. She
doubts history and Boys Will be Boys is an attempt to revisit and rewrite history, to
narrate untold or silenced stories of the past, and to understand how feudal cultural
hangovers, half-baked democratic bourgeois values, and the discourses of cultural
imperialism shape the society. A professor at Yale University today, Sara Suleri was
born and brought up in Pakistan. Her mother was a Welsh journalist and father a
renowned journalist who migrated from India to Lahore after the partition of India.
Her tales are full of nostalgia, a deep sense of loss, and an open dislike for grand
narratives that have always cheated people. Boys will be Boys is a must-read.
Keywords: Sara Suleri Goodyear, Boys will be Boys, Postcolonialism, Pakistan, memoir,
cross-cultural dialogue,
Introduction A Comic Elegy

Many writers have tried to study the Unlike Meatless Days (Suleri’s first
postcolonial world, but much remains to be said and memoir that she had dedicated to her mother),
documented. It is necessary to study how cultural Boys will be Boys is in a lighter vein. Its author
discourses function in a society and how they alter said in an interview, “I was much younger when I
and redefine the vital concepts of nation, state, wrote Meatless Days and I think my language was
patriotism and family. A threadbare study of more lubricated than it is now. Boys will be Boys
everyday life is needed to shed light on the hidden was far more difficult to write because it is an
network of power and cultural discourses. As a elegy; I wanted it to be a comic elegy, if that is
postcolonial writer, Sara Suleri takes up the possible, and to intimate that I loved my father.”
challenge and weaves a moving tale of a family and (Shamsie)
a nation. It is necessary to define her achievements Boys will be Boys is a daughter’s nostalgic
and her contribution to the postcolonial theory and tribute to her father, who died before he could
fiction. begin his dream project – his autobiography. He
756 Dr. JHARNA MALAVIYA

often joked that he would name it “Boys will be always upright in politics, “but not quite so
Boys”. She explains, “. . . he would frequently upright with his children” (17); he used to read
announce that he was going to write his secretively his daughters’ personal letters and
autobiography and call it Boys Will be Boys, and diaries. This man of many contradictions, whose
then would burst into a roar of laughter . . . at patriotic sentiments for Pakistan were the pivot of
some crucial Muslim League conference in Delhi, his life, had started a new married life in Pakistan
Jinnah got up and announced, ‘All right, boys. And with a Welsh woman who was ironically, “an
now get to work for Pakistan!’ I was touched by ethnic reminder . . . of a race that should have
that tale: how appropriate it felt, for whose boy been gone” (12)!
were you, Pip, other than that of the man you Boys will be Boys takes us through the
would call – time after repeated time – ‘my vast tracts of Suleri’s life in Pakistan – she recalls
leader!’” (Boys will be Boys 18) the old city of Lahore and the beautiful river Ravi,
The delightful book traces Suleri’s she talks about India-Pakistan war, the bazaars of
childhood in Pakistan. Boys will be Boys brings to Pakistan and their “unique talent for plagiarism”
life her childhood memories, half-forgotten (13). She revisits the “Lahrance Garrden” (the
stories of her family, and the historical and name given to the beautiful Lawrence Garden by
political events of Pakistan. The result is an illiterate people) of taxi drivers and rickshaw
astonishing melange of history-writing and pullers, and the elegant constructions of the
household chitchat. Boys will be Boys does what colonial days. She fondly remembers the broad
historical records and documents cannot – it roads lined with stately trees and public gardens,
captures very vividly the mood of a tumultuous the larger-than-life statue of Queen Victoria
era. The book offers a rare picture of the (which later disappeared), and the beautiful
kaleidoscope of Pakistan – we come across the mahogany piano at her home (that belonged to
famous Urdu poet, Iqbal and listen to the her great grandfather). She recalls the typical
speeches of generals and rulers of Pakistan, we Lahore mornings and twilights fragrant with Motia
celebrate Eid and Muharram with Suleri, and visit and Rath ki Rani and the lawn of their house
universities and colleges, we walk on the beautiful where “Pip”, her father, used to sit on his wicker
roads of Lahore and stroll on the narrow streets chair in the evening. Suleri, it seems, has
as we taste the spicy street food. Suleri admires forgotten nothing.
Urdu – a language she has left far behind. This The book gives us an intimate account of
deep fascination with Urdu finds expression in the the socio-cultural fabric of the postcolonial world
form of beautiful Urdu poems, couplets and lines, of Pakistan – its Gulbarg market flooding with
picked up from poets like Ghalib, Faiz, Akbar salwar kameez (the dress worn by women in
Allahabadi, Momin, Mir, and Hali, which embellish Pakistan), Rahat Bakery, and the culinary changes
each chapter with their refined elegance. Suleri’s made by the English rulers in the subcontinent.
Pakistan emerges swathed in the fragrance of She takes us to the open-air theatres of Lahore
captivating Urdu ghazals. In an interview Suleri and the popular music and quawwali festivals that
had said, “In Boys will be Boys, I attempted to were unthinkable without the melodious voices of
honour my love for Urdu in the chapter headings" Begam Akhtar and “Malika-e-Tarannum” Nur
(Shamsie). Jehan. An ancient pre-colonial world and a
A “hodgepodge” picture of Pakistan modern “westernised” post-colonial world – both
The book begins with a “hodgepodge” share the same room in south Asian countries like
(Boys will be Boys 6) picture of Pakistan – Sara Pakistan. The strange interbreeding of these
Suleri introduces her father as a man who was mutually antagonistic worlds has given birth to a
“always exuberant” (13) about his editorials and new cultural world, that wants to hold on to its
his articles, even when he did them every day. past on the one hand as an assurance of its
The book is addressed to Sara’s father who was

distinct national identity and on the other hand to writers have dealt with the colonialism. The book is
adopt and accept western lifestyle and mindset. valuable for its penetrating analysis of the
Yearning for a last word with her departed father, intermingling of diverse cultures in modern India.
Suleri finds memoir writing a relieving experience. Suleri show great and abiding interest in studying
The memoir becomes a means of communicating the stories of the colonisation of India. Boys will be
with him – she talks to him freely, argues with Boys does exactly what The Rhetoric of English India
him, questions him, and confesses many secrets does at theoretical level – both challenge the
too in this moving elegy. She recalls forgotten standard chronology of imperial history.
family codes, jokes, anecdotes, and incidents, she Suleri pushes hard her imagination to
expresses her long-standing grievances, and she conceptualise her father for some time “as a
raises objections to things that she had found friend instead of as a father” (Boys will be Boys
preposterous in the past. All this is addressed to a 61) to understand the life of this complicated
father who, “toward his children . . . maintained a man. But these efforts are doomed to fail. Thus,
more ambivalent rigidity” (61). she revisits his past, his obscure childhood, she
Suleri allows her thoughts and emotions collects jumbled pieces of his past life, and by
the freedom to follow their own course. As a putting them together, she tries to reconstruct his
result, the events narrated in the book are in no life. She recalls that he was a typical father who
chronological order. Suleri apologises, very would never hesitate in thrusting his wishes
humbly, for the lack of coherence in her assertively upon his family, without any moral
“unchronological” narration. Suleri says that Boys qualms. Suleri recalls humorously how her father
will be Boys is a “hodgepodge” biography of a had fixed her marriage with the son of an old
systematic father. She writes to her father: friend, without bothering to inform her. He
“Listen, Pip. This is not a complaint, it is a history, wanted to consolidate seventy years of their
you were so hither and thither, so much back and friendship. Suleri remembers sourly that he had
forth, that it is hard for me to be chronological, in given him his word too, because he found it
any case, my instincts have never led me to absolutely unnecessary to ask his own daughter,
chronology (39). Sara Suleri often takes long who had remained “blissfully unaware of this
strides over the measureless expanse of the past; proposition”, her wishes and choice (65). She
at times she moves abruptly backward and chuckles at the apparent innocence of the whole
forward too. She cuddles her cherished childhood contract, “‘On my part, brother, you can have her.
memories closer and holding them tenderly in her But now you must ask the girl.’ You see, Pip was a
arms, she caresses them fondly. She tells the politician, for his statement did not seem to
readers, “He was a most affectionate man, quick infringe upon the rights at all, except that by Paki
both to love and admire, yet I do not recall a standards of interpretation it would register as a
single of his friendships that was not somehow resounding consent, with the formality of asking
trammelled by history.” (60) the little girl herself a frivolous ritual of finality.”
Suleri’s engagement with postcolonial (65)
cultures and cross-cultural interaction is Sara Suleri sees a striking similarity
understandable. In the highly acclaimed book, The between the patriarchal discourses and state
Rhetoric of English India, she explores the discourses. She mocks self-assumed prerogatives
theoretical aspects of the postcolonial experiences of the male and the authoritative male
of colonial India. Thus, beginning with Edmund psychology. She says, “The law of nature in
Burke and Warrren Hastings and the 19th-century Pakistan cried out that the bond between the two
women diarists like Fanny Parks and Harriet Tytler, men should, most happily, be cemented in the
Suleri moves on to study Rudyard Kipling and E. M. wedlock of their offspring. It was not the brick
Forster and finally V.S. Naipaul and Salman Rushdie and mortar that I desired as my fate, so I had to
to examine the textual strategies by which these

work hard to break out the edifice they were her own bittersweet experiences of the English-
constructing for me.” (64) speaking world where she is, to her own
Boys will be Boys is a memento of Suleri’s embarrassment, often complimented for looking
love for a father, whose children had to adopt a so “exotic”. She observes, “The phrase does not
manner that combined “amusement with register as the compliment it is intended to be,
admiration” (71) and whose absence made the because it seems to place my personage outside
family go on a carnival. Suleri says, “three weeks the ambit of a world for which I have increasing
without Pip’s strict disciplinary habits constituted affection.” (Boys will be Boys 70)
for us a glorious holiday” (66). On his return, the Soul refreshing monsoon rains, winters
doors of the Gulmarg 5 (their house) “closed and with deep blue skies, languorous afternoon hours
locked again” (65). spent cracking peanuts, cashews and pistachios in
A life Lived in Translation the sunlight garden, and summers with treats of
The memories of Suleri’s mother emerge “lassi” (57) and desi mangoes – Suleri leaves out
slowly from the dimly lit storehouse of faded nothing that has played even a trivial part in her
remembrances that flit through the daughter’s development. She describes the “dug-duggi man”
mind in a mad jumble. Wiping the dust of time (78) who used to come with trained monkeys that
from these palely luminous jewels, she observes, would comically mimic “laat sahib”, the British
“In a way, my mother lived most of her life in ruling class and she devotes many pages to her
translation” (69). Checking the mighty rush of favourite season, the season of spring, which used
memories for a little time, the author pauses to to be the ideal time for enjoying “falsas”,
explain the difficult situation of women who live “jamans” (99) and berries. She fondly remembers
their lives in cross-cultural translation. “Cultures her father with his “fits of patriotism” (120), his
are certainly translated things: moving from one passion for “chiselling” (82) his sentences with his
to another requires a discursive equilibrium hard Parker and Mont-Blanc pens (classic mementos of
to acquire, hard to retain” (69), observes Suleri. colonial era), and his love of cigars. She
Her analysis is thought provoking indeed: “She remembers, "In my mind’s cataracted eye I can
(Sara’s mother) never spoke Welsh, which her still see the blur of him writing, sitting in his old
parents did; her French was merely academic; armchair, pen in hand, gatha on knee, amidst a
Urdu was one of those illusions that cast its bevy of brightly coloured telephones.” (77)
shadow over her, but never long enough for her However, Suleri is never carried away by
to possess it. As for Punjabi, it always struck us as emotions when it comes to serious analysis. She
a singularly male language: we even cringed does not hesitate to break down the entire
slightly when Ifat taught herself to speak that red- emotional halo, which is deliberately built around
blooded tongue with such gusto. The rest of us the concept of motherland. She makes a candid
women remained monogamous, linguistically remark: “Pakistan: that is land of the pure, or the
speaking, since monogamy is our wont in other pure land itself; taken from either perspective is a
matters too. It makes a simplicity out of an great misnomer” (102). She does not forget to
existence already too prone to lascivious activities add that Pakistan has virtually become a land of
with complexity. And one of those complexities is kidnappers in the last ten years. It has lost its
surely the act of translation, which slips in and out clear blue winter sky in “the traffic, the sewers,
of the most seemingly simple sentences, seizing the pollution” (103). Her contempt for the way
them into new postures of articulation.” (69) things are going becomes unmistakable when she
A whole chapter in Boys will be Boys is declares that she does not wish to linger too long
devoted to the dilemma of living in two different on “the governments or the constitutions that
languages. She recalls the lines of Shakespeare’s unfurl periodically as though they were annual
Midsummer Night’s Dream, “Bless thee, Bottom, plants” (103). She cannot forget for a single
bless thee! Thou art translated” (73) and discloses second or cover under beautiful descriptions, “the

blood upon which the nation was inexorably gate, forgetting and remembering beauty, in
built” (105). The famous poet, Faiz, echoes in her pockets of merciful respite. (54)
ears reminding her of, “those who were killed in These lines remind the reader of another
the darkened streets” (107). These sad tales are saga of our postcolonial world; this saga has been
emotionally exhausting and very painful, she narrated by A. K. Mehrotra in the introduction to
admits, “I am too tired to construct a proper The Last Bungalow. The Last Bungalow is a book
chronology of what constitutes the history of that studies the tremendous impact of British
Pakistan” (106). She cannot forget the ruthless colonisation on the socio-cultural fabric of India.
war of 1971 and “its colossal failures, its The book moves from the colonial era and its
unutterable consumption of lives” (108), and the peculiar psyche to the postcolonial era and traces
“unrecountable slaughter that accompanied the the emergence of a “hybrid” culture. The Last
partition of India” (106). Suleri’s heart seems full Bungalow is the story of a magnificently planned
of deep agony and pain. city of spacious bungalows and wide, peaceful
Memories of her elder sister, Ifat, the roads bordered by stately trees. Like Boys will be
embodiment of beauty and innocence, and Boys, The Last Bungalow examines the birth of a
ironically the most “Pakistani” of all her brothers modern “hybrid” generation and studies the
and sisters, make Sara sad and bitter. She was protracted tussle of these different worlds. The
murdered in broad daylight on a street in Lahore. Last Bunglow, like Boys will be Boys tells “a
Ifat’s murder made Suleri realise how cheap life terrible human story” of a city that had once been
had become in Pakistan. The grief-stricken sister a citadel of knowledge, education, and socio-
remembers how Ifat used to sing the national cultural movements in the northern provinces of
anthem in erect attention, “long live, you purest colonial India. “It is a story of dust to dust . . .”
land!” The sarcasm in Sara Suleri’s tone is biting, (The Last Bunglow 31) Mehrotra concludes.
“Of course it would live on without her; Pakistan In the fading light, with not a breath
can do without any number of us, pure or impure” among the leaves, Suleri concludes Boys will be
(111). Pakistan is no place for innocence and Boys. She sounds calm and humble in the
beauty; the politics of hatred and heinous crimes moistness of loss and pain. She says, “I do not
tramples them everyday under foot. mean to be critical of Pip, after all, I was never
A Story of Dust to Dust born a colonised person and do not know the
Suleri’s tale is a continuation of the tragic elation that he felt when he hoisted up the
tale of the postcolonial India, a tale that has Pakistani flag in London.” (Boys Will be Boys 120)
repeated itself in diverse forms and in diverse Fiction and theory come together in Sara
locations. Suleri’s Lahore has been a victim of Suleri’s world. Suleri has beautifully painted an
almost the same cultural discourses as the era and its sad demise. To conclude, Boys will be
postcolonial India. Boys will always be remembered as a touching
She adds, “. . . nothing in the city lives up and unforgettable elegy for a father and a nation.
to the promise of such a welcome, so that The memoir tries to bring to light the hidden
somehow one is always expecting to find Lahore patriarchal discourses that govern the
without quite locating it. I used to find it perverse postcolonial world. It tries to shed light on the
myself, that aura of anticipation, until it occurred position of women in Pakistan. Boys will be Boys
to me that the town has built itself upon the entreats readers to participate in the story that
structural disappointment at the heart of pomp tries to unravel grand narratives and to turn all
and circumstances and since then I have loved to sacrosanct customs, beliefs, values, ideas and
be disappointed by its streets. They wind ideals inside out. Boys will be Boys is a beautiful
absentmindedly between centuries, slapping an and commendable attempt to understand how
edifice of crude modernity against a medieval cultural discourses operate in our postcolonial
world today.

Works Cited
Mehrotra, Arvind Krishna. Introduction. The Last
Bungalow. Ed. Mehrotra. New Delhi:
Penguin, 2007.
Shamsie, Muneeza. “I am very Allergic about
being called ‘Exotic.’” Interview. 12 Feb.
2010
<http://www.newsline.com.pk/NewsMar
2004/book2mar2004.htm.>
Suleri, Sara. Boys Will be Boys: a Daughter’s Elegy.
Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003.
Shakespeare, William. Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Shakespeare Complete Works. Ed. Peter
Alexander. London: The English Language
Book Society and Collins, 1964.

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Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL)

A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.5.Issue 3. 2017

BOYS WILL BE BOYS: A MOVING TALE OF A FAMILY AND A NATION

Dr. JHARNA MALAVIYA

Introduction A Comic Elegy

756 Dr. JHARNA MALAVIYA

757 Dr. JHARNA MALAVIYA

758 Dr. JHARNA MALAVIYA

759 Dr. JHARNA MALAVIYA

760 Dr. JHARNA MALAVIYA

761 Dr. JHARNA MALAVIYA

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