Skills Annexe- Functional English for Success

UNIT-I

                                                        HUMOUR

A TEA PARTY

--Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

 

A Tea Party is an excerpt from the novel “The Householder”, written by a Parsi Indian Writer, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.

            A Tea Party is a simple and humorous story, images the life of a middle class couple during 1940s. Indu and Prem are newly wedded couple. Prem is a lecturer in Khanna’s Private College at New Delhi. Once a tea party was organized by Mr.Khanna, the Principal of Prem’s College for which Indu and Prem felt glad to attend, so that she can escape from the house for an afternoon, for which Indu spends a long time in dressing herself. She wore a lilac coloured georgette sari with big flowers & leaves stitched on it in imitation pearls & wore a red shoes with high platform soles and cut out toes though she was unaccustomed to walk with. She also put on a heavy gold necklace, long earrings, twelve gold bangles and a fresh chain of jasmines along with a little lipstick on her lips which gave her an opulent look.

Prem wore his best shirt and trousers. He gazes at Indu in admiration instructing her to speak very politely in such a way that people get a feel that she is educated, for which she was worried to think about.

By the time, this couple reached Mr.Khanna’s place, members of the staff and their wives all dressed up in their best, were already seated in a pre-arranged circle of chairs, who have held themselves stiff and looked very much aware both of the clothes they were wearing, which were all shining and new also of the opulent surroundings in which they found themselves, where the couple were invited in a hearty and cheery voice by Mr.Khanna, where everyone’s attention was drawn on the new arrivals. Mr.Khanna expresses his happiness saying that “It is very pleasant to have ladies with us” very agreeable “where all the ladies sat expressionless”.

Mr.Chaddha who wore a cream coloured silk shirt which seemed to have been washed quite a number of times, started entertaining the gathering to make them feel comfortable at the party saying, ”The society of ladies is said to have a very softening effect” and continues saying “As our heroes of old” withdrew for respite from their battles to have their wounds dressed and their brows soothed by the hands of their consorts.

The ambiance was very appealing with the provision of armchairs, the flowered cushions and curtains, the bright paper flowers in silver vases, the colored parchment lampshades with long tassels. Among all the attendants of the party, Mr.Khanna was only at ease in clothes more gorgeous than anyone else, with wide silk pyjama trousers with a sky blue shimmering shirt, over them patterned all over with wast sprays of liliac on red stems and Mrs.Khanna is the only woman among all who gave a proprietary pat to a cushion or straightened a silver framed photograph of Mr.Khanna at an academic function.

Mr. Khanna, the Principal opined that “it is good sometimes to break off in the midst of toil” and “Relaxation is necessary to the human mind as well as to the human body”. It is like a  cool shower bath we take on a hot day”. “Refreshed and revived” with such a kind of parties we then resume our everyday duties with new vigour.

Mr. Khanna motivates all the ladies at the party, who were reluctant to eat due to shyness saying that “Now our ladies must show a better appetite”, where these ladies have passed the dishes hastily and furtively as they wished neither to see nor to be seen.

Mr. Prem was astonished to see Indu still had her plate rather with more sweetmeats on it than correct, which she was eating with the same concentration and relish she had shown on that

day when she was eating them for the first time when he brought in an earthen pot, when everyone had eaten the correct amount sanctioned by good breeding.

Prem’s eyes stole round to Indu again. She had thrust her hand forward to take bites out of a sweetmeat which held between forefinger and thumb in a rather predatory manner. Indu busily licks her fingers and quickly takes two more sweetmeats when the servant comes to collect the plates, which made Prem feel very uneasy and looks around feeling shy to notice whether anyone has seen her.

            Indu had lost her surroundings and was continuously biting, chewing and licking her fingers in a trance of enjoyment, because pregnant women had strange and uncontrollable desires. When the servant had reached the place, where Indu was sitting, he noticed many more crumbs than anywhere else. Mrs. Khanna frowned noticing Indu when she was just pushing the remnant of a crumbly ladoo into her mouth.

The gathering has started appreciating the host in chorus with Mr. Chaddha not only for the delicious food they have generously provided but also for this pleasant social gathering, which are quite conducive to goodwill and good fellowship among the members of staff of Khanna’s Private College.

Concluding the party Mr. Chaddha modulates his voice to one of softness and affection “What more beautiful feeling can there be than that of a friendship”? for which the other lecturers appreciate but Prem has lost all his feelings with Indu and could not respond on time and felt to explain the situation to Mrs. Khanna that Indu had never been to a tea party before and did not know how to behave in society and her odd behaviour is not due to lack of breeding but to natural causes.

Though the party was over at seven o’clock, Prem did not want it to be over and felt that there still remained so much to do and wished desperately to make some contributions to the conversation, to distinguish himself and show everyone that he was an intelligent and deep thinking young man and wanted to call everyone back when they were already leaving. to say that the odd behaviour of Indu is not because she was not fed properly but she was suffering from hunger pangs. But he did not have the courage to call and felt that there is nothing important to convey.

I agree that the story of “A Tea Party” is totally humorous one, because of the incidents which were so sarcastic, that we could notice starting from Mr. Chaddha encouraging the ladies motivating them to show their appetite that parades through Indu’s continuous eating concluding with Prem’s thought of giving explanation about Indu to the attendants of the party, all the scenes have lead to the remarkable humour which is unforgettable.