Ice Candy Man

Cracking India is a novel first published in Sidhwa Bapsi in 1988 in England

under the title Ice Candy Man. That title derives from a character who goes by
that nickname despite not being a major character in terms of appearance. Like
Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather , however, Ice Candy Man’s presence
hovers over the events of the novel and thus makes sense as the title of the
novel. Cracking India, on the other hand, is a title that refers to the novel’s
status as the first from a female Pakistani describing the effects of the partition
of the country. The book was published in America in 1991.
Cracking India earned Bapsi Germany’s prestigious literary award, the
LiBeraturepreis. In America, the New York Times named the novel one of its
Notable Books of the Year. All was not positive for Bapsi, however, as her
novel became the target of reactionary outrage in a school district in Florida
when a few parents protested the book’s listing on a requiring reading
assignment and urged the school board to ban it on charges it contained
pornographic scenes.
In 1991 the novel was adapted into a film under English­language title Earth.
The film became India’s entrant into consideration by the Oscar nominating
jury, though it failed to become one of the five films ultimately nominated for
Best Foreign Language Film.

Char acter s

Lenny
The novel’s narrator is an adult woman named Lenny who looks back upon her
childhood in the late 1940’s during the partitioning of India which created the
nation of Pakistan. Lenny is born into a wealthy, Parsi, family in Lahore and
lives the sheltered life of a pampered young girl. Being physically challenged,
she cannot attend school. She spends most of her time in the company of adults.
She listens to their conversations, observes their behavior, and makes her
interpretations. With the Ayah as a constant companion, Lenny moves beyond
the confines of her affluent society and forays into the world of cooks,
gardeners, masseurs, and ice­cream sellers. This childhood innocence is
corrupted by bearing witness to the violent aftermath of the partition.

Ayah
Beautiful Hindu nursemaid to Lenny who is known not by her name, Shanta,
but rather the Urdu word for her position. Lenny’s mother is less than maternal
and so Ayah comes to provide her the affection that she craves. Many men also
crave this affection between Ayah also happens to be quite beautiful, but most
suitors are treated with contempt. The brutality of the Partition destroys the
myth of her peaceful life to expose an evil cauldron of lust. Eventually, she
discovers her potential for self­reliance.

Ice Candy Man

One of those who are particularly engaged by the attributes of Ayah. When the
novel was first published in England, the title was not Cracking India, but Ice
Candy Man. The character derives his name from selling flavored ice and as a
symbol of the patriarchal lack of empathy that many view as responsible for the
explosion of violence leading to and stemming from the partition, Ice Candy
Man is a pervasive component of the story despite being essentially a minor
character. Dil Nawaz or the "Ice Candy Man," as Lenny calls him, is an
intelligent and glib raconteur.The Ayah flirts with him but chooses to
reciprocate the love of the masseur. The spurned suitor is overcome with an
obsession to possess the Ayah. The holocaust that follows the Partition fills him
with a vengeance and transforms him into a beast.

Godmother
The matriarch of Lenny’s family, Roda, is characterized by her strength and
wisdom. In addition, the Godmother acts as something of a counterpoint to Ice
Candy Man in that not only is steadfastly apart from the patriarchy, but she is
also understanding and empathetic to the suffering of all around her. She refuses
to be a silent spectator to circumstances. She dares to challenge the pervasive
presence of sexual violence in society.

Cousin
The universality of the story is lent further credence by yet another unnamed
character. Lenny’s relative only slightly older, having gone through puberty
already. As such, he is her conduit to the more personal side of the theme of loss
innocence as he attempts to answer her questions regarding sexuality and
maturity. The relationship between Cousin and Lenny also serves as a domestic
counterpoint to the broader political and social upheaval to which Lenny bears
witness.

Electr ic­Aunt
As her nickname implies, she is Lenny’s aunt by virtue of being Cousin’s
mother. Electric­Aunt plays a vital role in the novel in terms of revealing how
sudden social upheaval often serves to reveal the true nature of those many
either underestimate or overestimate. In the case of Electric­Aunt, it is the
former. Not unlike Scarlett O’Hara, Electric­Aunt is introduced as a women
who appears rather empty­headed and unlikely to be destined for heroism, but
the effects of the partitioning allow her to reveal untapped strength and
intelligence.
Mr s. Sethi

Mrs. Sethi is Lenny's mother. She runs the household efficiently and manages
an entourage of servants. A woman of the privileged, economic class, she keeps
herself busy with her social commitments. Behind the sophisticated persona
exists a woman who nurses the pain of adultery and an abusive marriage.

Papoo
Papoo is the daughter of Muccho, a sweeper woman. She lives in the servants'
quarters behind the Sethi bungalow. Despite her mother's ill­treatment, she
possesses admirable courage and resilience. Her family slays her defiant spirit
and marries her off to a much older man with a roving eye. Papoo's coercion
into marriage reveals a social mindset that legitimizes sexual slavery and
subservience.

The Slave Sister

She is Roda's younger sister. She lives the life of a bonded slave in the house.
She has no free will and is frequently humiliated. The portrayal of her character
reveals that exploitation and manipulation can exist in a relationship between
two females too. Although Roda is a feminist, she is not free from the danger of
following the principles of patriarchy.

Plot

Bapsi Sidhwa's novel Ice­Candy Man deals with the partition of India and its
aftermaths. This is the first novel by a woman novelist from Pakistan in which
she describes about the fate of people in Lahore. The novel opens with the verse
of Iqbal from his poem 'Complaint to God', with this, the child­narrator Lenny is
introduced. She is lame and helpless. She finds that her movement
between Warris Road and Jail Road is limited. She sees the Salvation Army
wall with ventilation slits which makes her feel sad and lonely. The narration is
in the first person. Lenny lives on Warris Road. The novelist describes about the
localities in Lahore through the Child­narrator. Lenny observes: "I feel such
sadness for the dumb creature I imagine lurking behind the wall." Lenny is
introvert and she is engrossed in her private world.

One day, Lenny is in her pram, immersed in dreams as usual. Her Ayah attends
to her. Suddenly an Englishman interrupts them and he asks Ayah to put Lenny
down from her pram. But Ayah explains to him about Lenny's infirmity. Lenny
is a keen observer. She has seen how people are fascinated with the Hindu
Ayah's gorgeous body. She notices how even beggars, holymen, old people and
the youngmen adore her for her feminine grace.
Colonel Bharucha is Lenny's doctor. He is a surgeon. Lenny is brought to the
hospital for her limp in one leg. In the first, attempt, plaster on Lenny's leg
is removed but still she limps. Soon a new plaster is cast over her leg. Lenny
cries out of pain but her mother takes care of her.
Dr. Bharucha's surgery pains Lenny as she has become bed­ridden. The news of
Lenny's operation spreads in small Parsi community of Lahore and she has
visitors but she cries for Godmother. Lenny lying on the bed observes keenly
the reaction of visitors and her parents. After one month, Lenny is allowed to be
taken in a stroller outside her house. Her eighteen year old Ayah Shanta takes
her to a zoo.
Lenny's Ayah Shanta has a number of admirers. Ice­Candy­Man is among her
admirers. Another companion of Lenny is her electric­aunt, a widow. She also
picks up a brother. His name is Adi and Lenny calls him Sissy. He goes to
school and Lenny studies at home. When winter comes, Ice­Candy­Man turns
into a birdman and in the streets ofLahore, he is seen with birds. Rich ladies
give him money for these poor birds to be freed. Ice­Candy­Man is a chatter­
box and he can talk on any topic.
One day, the Parsi community assembles in the community hall in the Parsi
temple. Two priests prepare for the worship of fire. Lenny observes everything
with curiosity. Then the meeting of the Parsi community begins on their stand
on Swaraj. Col. Bharucha holds the mike and apprises all ­about the latest
political developments. After discussions and questions, all agree to observe the
middle path—to observe and see. They will not be with the Indian nationalists
to oppose the Raj. They fail to come out of their dilemma.
The Ayah takes care of the helpless child Lenny like a sister. Lenny's mother
too loves her.
A portion of Lenny's house is lent to the Shankars who are newly married.
Shankar's wife Gita is seen welcoming him in the evening. The children observe
this couple with curiosity. Gita is a good cook and a good story­teller. She is
popular with children. The reader is now introduced to Hari, the gardner, Imam
Din, the cook of Lenny's house. Here one finds focus on the character of Imam
din. He is sixty five years old. He is "tall, big­bellied, barrel­chested and
robust." Imam Din likes to play with children in his spare time. One day Imam
Din takes Lenny to his village on his bicycle. Lenny observes every thing keen
on her way to the village. There she meets children Ranna and his sisters
Khatija and Parveen. This is the village Pir Pindo where Hindus, Sikhs and
Muslims live peacefully. Villagers have assembled beneath a
huge sheesham tree to discuss about the situation in other cities
like Bihar and Bengal. They feel disturbed over the news of Hindu­Muslim
riots. The villagers blame the British government for 'inaction in the wake of
communal riots. The Chaudhry of Pir Pindo assures them about the safety of
everyone in the village if riots break out. Later Lenny and Imam Din return
to Lahore.
Ayah has now two more admirers—a chinaman and the Pathan. They are
fascinated by her feminine grace. They visit Lenny's house daily to talk to her.
Lenny doesnot go to school. She goes to Mrs. Pen for her studies. Her house is
next to Lenny's Godmother's house on Jail Road—opposite to Electric­aunt's
house. Ayah accompanies Lenny to Mrs. Pen's house. After tuition, Lenny goes
to her Godmother's house for sometime. One day Mahatma Gandhi
visits Lahore. Lenny goes to see Gandhijee with her mother. She is surprised to
see him because she has always taken him to be a mythic figure only. Gandhi
jee blesses them all and advises them to follow the enema­therapy. Lenny fails
to understand as to why people call him a saint. To her, he appears to be 'half
clown and half­demon'.
Now it is April and Lahore is getting warmer day by day. Ice­Candy­Man finds
his business prospering. By now it has become clear that India is going to be
broken. Muslim league wants Pakistan to Muslims. Imam Din, the cook at
Lenny's house is worried over the news of communal riots and plans a visit to
his village Pir Pindo. Lenny insists to join him on his trip to the village. She still
cherishes the memory of her earlier visit to Pir Pindo. On Baisakhi, they visit
the Dera Tek Singh near the village. Dost Mohammad joins them. They enjoy
the mela and the feast. Now people apprehend trouble. One day the relatives of
Imam Din arrive in Lahore to stay with him. They are accommodated in
Servant's quarters. Military trucks arrive in Pir Pindo to evacuate Muslims to
safer places but the Muslim peasants are confused. They can't leave their home,
property and harvest all of a sudden. Mr. Roger's mutilated body is found in the
gutters. He was the Inspector General of Police. This news sends shivers among
the people of Lahore. Children including Lenny find it a strange incident. Ayah
loves Masseur's songs and Ice­Candy­Man loves Ayah for her blooming youth.
Ice­Candy­Man is disturbed over the developments in the nearby areas. People
start moving to safer places. Riots begin and this leads to confusion among
people.
Communal riots spread from towns to small villages like Pir Pindo. Muslims
and Sikhs become enemies thirsting for each other's blood. In Lahore, people
begin to move to safer places. Hindus and Sikhs leave their houses behind and
reach Amritsar. People hear announcements on All India Radio about the
division of districts into India and Pakistan. The Parsee community
in Pakistan is safe but still worried about its future. Muslim mobs attack Hindu
houses. A mob stops outside Lenny's house and enquire about its Hindu
servants. They ask about the Hindu Ayah Shanta but the cook Imam Din tells
them about her fake departure. Ice­Candy­Man comes forward and asks Lenny
about Ayah. Out of innocence, Lenny discloses about her hiding. The angry
Muslims drag her out of Lenny's house. This shocks Lenny and she repents for
her truthfulness. A truth can also ruin one's life, Lenny discovers. Ice­Candy­
Man takes her to Hira Mandi, the bazars of prostitutes. Ice­Candy­Man's mother
was also a prostitute and Ice­Candy­Man becomes a pimp. He is fond of reciting
Urdu poetry.
In Pir Pindo village, Sikh crowds attack the Muslim community. Imam Din's
family is in trouble but nothing can be done. There is confusion. Muslims in Pir
Pindo village get killed and their women gang­raped. Children are butchered
mercilessly. Ranna, the playmate of Lenny in Pir Pindo is also wounded and
buried under the heap of dead bodies. After some time, he safely moves to other
place. His journey of hide and seek has been dealt with in detail by Bapsi
Sidhwa. Sidhwa narrates Ranna's ordeal of escape in full fifteen pages. A little
boy wounded and shocked, running for life finds suddenly himself alone in the
world. Earlier, it had been decided that the women and girls of Pir Pindo would
gather at Chaudhry's house and pour the kerosene oil around the house to burn
themselves. It was also decided to hide some boys and men in a safer place but
nothing worked. Muslims are killed, women molested and children butchered.
Only Ranna escapes and finds shelter in a camp in Lahore. When he
reached Lahore, he observed, "It is funny. As long as I had to look out for
myself, I was all right. As soon as I felt safe, I fainted." Before reaching the
camp, Ranna had a tough time: "There were too many ugly and abandoned
children like him scavenging in the looted houses and the rubble of burnt­out
buildings. His rags clinging to his wounds, straw sticking in his scalped skull,
Ranna wandered through the lanes stealing chapatties and grain from houses
strewn with dead bodies, rifling the corpses for anything he could use ... No one
minded the semi­naked spectre as he looked in doors with his knowing, wide­
set peasant eyes." Later, Ranna was herded into a refugee camp at Badami
Baug. Then "chance united him with his Noni chachi and Iqbal chacha."
After the abduction of Ayah by the Muslim mob, Lenny remains sad and
dejected. She is shocked over the betrayal by Ice­Candy­Man. She finds him to
be a changed man. The day he saw the mutilated bodies of his Muslim brethern,
he became a different person. His beloved Ayah becomes a Hindu for him.
"They drag Ayah out. They drag her by her arms stretched taut, and her bare
feet that want to move backwards—are forced forward instead." This sight
proves to be traumatic for poor Lenny and she repents for telling the truth to
Ice­Candy­Man. She is guilt­driven: "For three days I stand in front of the
bathroom mirror staring at my tongue. I hold the vile, truth—infected thing
between my fingers and try to wrench it out: but slippery and slick as a fish it
slips from my fingers and mocks me with its sharp rapier tip darting as
poisonous as a snake. I punish it with rigorous scourings from my prickling
toothbrush until it is sore and bleeding." This act of Lenny shows her sense of
guilt. There has been Papoo's marriage but Lenny feels lonely without Ayah. By
now Lenny has become mature both in body and mind.
Lenny's Godmother is an influential lady. She loves Lenny, she has established
a network of espionage in Lahore. She has information from each corner
of Lahore. One day, Lenny's cousin comes with a news that he has seen the
Ayah in a taxi dressed like a film actress. After a few days, Lenny too sees
Ayah in a car. Now she tells everyone about it and the search for Ayah begins.
One Monday, Lenny visits her Godmothers house to tell her about the Ayah.
She is told about the Ayah's husband's visit to Godmother's house in the
evening. Lenny finds it difficult to wait for the evening. At six o'clock, the
bridegroom of Ayah arrives. He is none but Ice­Candy­Man, now dressed in
flowing white muslin. He recites a verse from Urdu poetry and greets everyone.
He informs that she is married to him and has been accepted in the family of
dancers. Godmother scolds him for illtreating Ayah and let her be raped. But he
confesses: I am a man! Only dogs are faithful! If you want faith, let her marry a
dog." But Godmother reacts wildly by saying: "You have permitted your wife to
be disgraced! Destroyed her modesty! Lived off her womanhood! And you talk
of princes and poets! You're the son of pigs and pimps!" Ice­Candy­Man weeps
and cries but asserts that now he will make her happy by all means. Lenny has
been listening to all this. She is angry with Ice­Candy­Man to such an extent
that: ‘There is a suffocating explosion within my eyes and head. A blinding
blast of pity and disillusion and a savage rage. My sight is disoriented. I see Ice­
Candy­Man float away in a bubble and dwindle to a grey speck in the aftermath
of the blast.’
Ice­Candy­Man stands there with Jinnah—cap in his hand and "his ravaged
face, caked with mud, has turned into a tragedian's mask. Repentence, grief and
shock are compressed
into the mould of his features." Then, Godmother plans a visit to see Ayah, now
Mumtaz after her marriage. Lenny insists of going with her to Hira Mandi. They
reach Hira Mandi in a tonga. They are led in a well­decorated room with the
fragrance of sprinkled flowers. Ice­Candy­Man brings his Mumtaz, the Ayah
dressed as a bride before them. Lenny is shocked to see sadness in Ayah's eyes.
Lenny observes: "Where have the radiance and the animation gone? Can the
soul be extracted from its living body? Her vacant eyes are bigger than ever:
wide­opened with what they have seen and felt... She,buries her head in me and
buries me in all her finery; and in the dark and musky attar of her perfume."
Leaving Ayah with Godmother rand Lenny, Ice­Caiidy­Man goes to fetch tea.
Now Ayah pleads that she will not live, here anymore and she must go.
Godmother asks her to think over it again but Ayah (Mumtaz) insists of going
back to her relatives inAmritsar. The visitors return after assuring Ayah that she
will be rescued.
Lenny's cousin asks her about a Kotha and her impression of it. Lenny
understands by Kotha to be a place of dancing girls. By now Lenny also
understands that "the potent creative force generated within the Kotha that has
metamorphosed Ice­Candy­ Man not only into a Mogul Courtier, but into a
Mandi poet. No wonder he founds poetry as if he popped out of his mother's
womb spouting rhyming sentences."
After her visit to Hira Mandi, Godmother contacts the government machinery.
One day a police party comes to Hira Mandi and takes Ayah away from.Ice­
Candy­Man. She is put at the Recovered Women's Camp on Warris Road which
is well­guarded. Ice­Candy­Man visits the camp to see his beloved but is beaten
up badly by the Sikh sentry. Now Ice­Candy­Man has become a dejected,
wandering lover searching for his lost love. He has acquired a new aspect: "that
of a moonstruck fakir who has renounced the world for his beloved." Ice­
Candy­Man places flowers for Ayah over the wall of the camp every morning
and his "voice rises in sweet and clear song to shower Ayah with poems." This
routine of offering of flowers and singing of love songs continues for many
days.
One day, Lenny learns that Ayah has been shifted to Amritsar with her family
there. Ice­Candy­Man has also followed her across the Wagah border
into India to pursue his love. The novel ends on this sad and tragic note. The
novel contains a number of poignant scenes alongwith scenes of murder and
violence. "The novel is a masterful work of history as it relates political events
through the eyes of a child." Ice­Candy­Manhas also been called as a
multifaceted jewel of a novel. The novel deals with "the bloody partition
of India through the eyes of a girl Lenny growing up in a Parsee family,
surviving through female bonding and rebellion."