Question- Write the summary of the story "Free Radio" by Salman Rushdie.

Answer - 

"The Free Radio" by Salman Rushdie, appeared in the east, west collection was published in 1994. The story is set in the context of the Indian Emergency (1975-1977). The narrator tells the story of Ramani who is young good-looking, and rides a rickshaw he inherited from his father. He is seduced by a thief's widow. The narrator disapproves of this relationship, "We all knew nothing good would happen to him while the thief's widow had her claws drug into his flesh, but the boy was an innocent, a real donkey's child, you can't teach such people."

The narrator has a vested interest in snatching Raman's out of the widow's clutches, because he used to know Ramani's parents.

The widow is described as attractive and vicious. She is ten years older than Ramani and has five children from her previous marriage. She is poor, as the thief didn't leave her any money.

The narrator tells the story of how Ramani and the thief's widow met. One day, Ramani rides his rickshaw into town. The thief's widow is in bania shop. The narrator insinuates that the thief's widow is a prostitute, "I won't say where the money came from, but people saw men at night near her ruty putty shack, even the bania himself they were telling me but I personally will not comment."

The thief's widow and her children catch Ramani's rickhaw. The narrator implies that the widow wants to prove that she can afford a ride in a riskshaw even though her children must be hungry. The narrator thinks that the widow decides then to seduce Ramani. After that, Ramani and the thief's widow are seen every where in public. The narrator is glad that Ramani's mother is dead, because otherwise 'her face would have fallen off from shame'.

Ramani gets into bad company. He start drinking illegal liquar in the back of the Irani's canteen. The narrator tries to persuade Ramani to stay away from his new friends but in vain.

Ramani's friends wear the armbands of the new youth movement. The narrator disapproves of them and hints at beatings up in which they might be involved. Ramani has no armband but his new acquaintances exert a strong influence on him.

The armband youths always say that Ramani is handsome and should be a film star. This flattery is designed to con Ramani qut of free drinks and money at cards. The widow only makes the situation worse by reinforcing Ramani's dreams about becoming a film star, the narrator once overhears the widow aflattering Ramani in public. From this day on, the narrator has a feeling of impending disaster.

The next time, the widow comes to the bania shop, the narrator decides to get involved for the sake of Ramani's dead parents. The narrator uses his social status to force the window to talk to him. The narrator tells the widow that she should stop seeing Ramani. The widow responds in the following way, 'Let me tell you, mister teacher sahib retired, that your Ramani has asked to marry me and I have said no, because I wish no more children, and he is a young man and should have his own. So tell that to the whole world and stop your cobry poison.'

From then on, the narrator takes less interest in Ramani's affairs, as he thinks that there is nothing more he can do. There are more interesting things happening in town; the local health afficer has parked a white caravan in the street. The vehicle, guarded by the armband youths, is used for sterilizing men.

At this time, Ramani starts dreaming about receiving a transistor radio as a gift from the Central Government in Delhi, Everyone is convinced that Ramani makes this up due to his predilection for fantasies. The boy believes in his dream and seems to be happier than at any other point in his life. Soon after, Ramani and the widow get married. The narrator accosts Ramani to ask him if he has been to the carvan. Ramani implies that he has because he is in love with the widow. The narrator says, "My idiot child, you have let that woman deprive you of your manhood!".

Ramani replies, "It does not stop love making or anything, excuse me, teacher sahib, for speaking of such a thing. It stops babies only and my woman did not want children any more, so now all is hundred percent OK. Also it is in national interest.'

Ramani adds that his free radio is sure to arrive shortly as a thank you gift from the government. The narrator doesn't tell Ramani that the radio. scheme was abandoned many years ago.

After that, the widow is seen rarely in town. Ramani, on the other hand, starts working more. Every time he rides through town, he puts his hand up his ear and mimics radio broadcasts. The community is almost fooled into thinking that Ramani has the real thing. Ramani continues to carry on invisible radio but he seems strained from his feat of imagination. The narrator, 'had divined that Ram had poured into the idea of the radio all his worries and regrets about what he had done, and that of the dream were to did he would be forced to face the full gravity of his crime against his own body, to understand that the thief's widow had turned him, before she married him, into a thief of a stupid and terrible kind, because she had made him rob himself.

The white carvan is back in town Ramani waits a few days hoping that government afficials will bring the radio to his place. On the third day, he rides to the carvan with the widow. Ramani comes into the carvan alone. after a while, there are sounds of disagreement. Ramani, visibly beaten is marched out of the carvan by his armband friends.

One day, Ramani sells his rickshaw and tells the narrator that he and his family are leaving for Bombay to fulfil his dreams of becoming a film star.

After a few months, the narrator receives a letter from Ramani. The teacher deduces it was dictated to a professional letter writer, as Ramani can't write. The narrator receives more letters filled with stories from Ramani's new life. According to the letters, the rickshaw rider's talent was discovered at once and now he lives the excellent life of a rich film star. The narrator says, "They were wonderful letters, brimming with confidence but whenever I read them, and sometimes I read them still, I remember the expression which came over his face in the days just before he learned the truth about his radio, and the huge mad energy he had poured into the act of conjuring reality, by an act of magnificent faith, out of the hot thin air between his cupped hand and his ear.

...Prev | Next...