THE ICE CANDY MAN Jahanzeb Jahan I.

D: 100784-006

Bapsi Sidhwa is Pakistan's leading writer. She has produced four

novels in English that reflect her personal experience of the Indian
subcontinent's Partition, abuse against women, immigration to the
US, and membership in the Parsi/Zoroastrian community. Born on
August 11, 1938 in Karachi, in what is now Pakistan, and
migrating shortly thereafter to Lahore, Bapsi Sidhwa witnessed
the bloody Partition of the Indian Subcontinent as a young child in
1947. Growing up with polio, she was educated at home until age
15, reading extensively. She then went on to receive a BA from
Kinnaird College for Women in Lahore. At nineteen, Sidhwa had
married and soon after gave birth to the first of her three children.
The responsibilities of a family led her to conceal her literary
prowess. She says, "Whenever there was a bridge game, I'd
sneak off and write. But now that I've been published, a whole
world has opened up for me." (Graeber) For many years, though,
she says, "I was told that Pakistan was too remote in time and
place for Americans or the British to identify with"(Hower 299).
During this time she was an active women's rights spokesperson,
representing Pakistan in the Asian Women's Congress of 1975.
After receiving countless rejections for her first and second
novels, The Bride and The Crow Eaters, she decided to publish
The Crow Eaters in Pakistan privately. Though the experience
was one she says, "I would not wish on anyone," it marks the
beginning of her literary fame (Sidhwa "Interview" 295). Since
then, she has received numerous awards and honorary
professorships for these first two works and her two most recent
novels, Cracking India and An American Brat. These include the
Pakistan National honors of the Patras Bokhri award for The Bride
in 1985 and the highest honor in the arts, the Sitari-I- Imtiaz in
1991. Her third novel, Cracking India was awarded the German
Literaturepreis and a nomination for Notable Book of the Year
from the American Library Association, and was mentioned as a
New York Times "Notable Book of the Year," all in 1991. A

Bunting Fellowship from Harvard and a National Endowment of

the Arts grant in 1986 and 1987 supported the completion of
Cracking India. Most recently she was awarded a $100,000 grant
as the recipient of the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Award in
1993. Her works have now been translated into Russian, French
and German. She is currently working on collections of short
stories and essays, while fulfilling her duties as Writer-inResidence and English professor at Mt. Holyoke College. She has
also taught college- level English courses at St. Thomas
University, Rice University, and The University of Texas, all in
Houston, as well as at the graduate level at Columbia University,
NY. What is most remarkable about Bapsi Sidhwa's perspective
on the Partition of the Indian Subcontinent is her religious
distance from its most immediate effects as a member of the
Parsi/Zoroastrian community. In Cracking India, she recounts the
traditional story of the Parsees arrival from Iran to India in the 8th
century C.E., in which an Indian prince sent Zoroastrian refugees
fleeing Islamic expansion a messenger with a glass of milk,
signifying that the Indian people were a united and homogenous
mixture that should not be tampered with. In response, the
Parsees dropped a lump of sugar in the milk, saying that they
would blend in easily and make the culture sweeter. It followed
that they were granted a home in India because Parsees neither
prosletyzed nor entered into politics. Thus, Bapsi Sidhwa's
heritage allowed her to witness the Partition from a safe distance,

since Parsees held a religiously and politically neutral position. In

an interview she says, "The struggle was between the Hindus and
the Muslims, and as a Parsee (member of a Zoroastrian sect), I
felt I could give a dispassionate account of this huge, momentous
struggle" (Gutman). Zoroastrianism's origins go back to 3000 BCE
among the Proto Indo-Iranians. These people inhabited the South
Russian Steppes, east of the Volga River. Recognizing the
cyclical nature of reality in day and night and the seasons, the
Proto Indo-Iranians looked to the sky, land, and water for divinity.

However, the discovery of bronze casting around 2000 BCE

caused many of these peaceful shepherds to abandon their flocks
and become warriors. Zarathustra was born into this society at
about 1500 BCE. After meditating for several years, he arrived at
conversation with one God, Ahura Mazda, "The Lord of Light."
Thus, Zoroastrianism is one of the earliest monotheistic religions.
Zarathustra took his dialogues with Ahura Mazda and composed
hymns from them called The Gathas. He sung of a God who was
all-knowing, beyond idolatry, and active in the present. Drawing
on his people's past, Zarathustra taught that Ahura Mazda's
power is revealed through the precise laws of the universe
(Asha). Furthermore, it is believed that Ahura Mazda gave
humans the divine gift of the mind ("Voho Manoh") to recognize
their God. The major tenets of Zoroastrianism surround death and
marriage. Dakhma-nashini is the only method accepted for
disposing of the dead's body. The corpse is placed in a stone
Dakhma, open to the sky and birds of prey. The body enters the
food chain just as any other dead animal or plant does, again
emphasizing the life cycle. Dakhma-nashini also ensures that the
water supply will not be contaminated. Marriage outside the
religion is forbidden as is conversion to preserve ethnic identity
and tradition. For the Zoroastrians/Parsees, ethnicity and religion
are the same. Bapsi Sidhwa addresses the strain put on the
Parsee community as the world becomes increasingly connected
in her most recent novel, An American Brat . Presently, the
Parsee community numbers about 1 million worldwide. They are
generally Anglicized and well educated. The Faravahar (pictured
above) is the sacred figure of Zoroastrianism. It symbolizes the
soul's journey through life and eventual union with Ahura Mazda
with the aid of the mind. The belief of soul's absolute importance
in existence is symbolized by the profile of the man placed in the
center of the Faravahar. The soul progresses through its life
journey on two outreaching wings. Each wing has five layers of
feathers which correlate with the five senses, the five Gathas of
Zarathustra, and the five Zoroastrian divisions of the day (Gehs).

The two curving legs extending from the male profile's hip
symbolize the two opposing paths of good and evil each soul
must navigate consciously. The feathered tail that dips between
these two legs represents the rudder of the soul. It has three
feather layers for Humata (Good Thoughts), Hukhta (Good
Works), and Hvarasta (Good Deeds). The circular ring that the
man holds within his hands calls Zoroastrians to remember the
cycles of death and birth, success and failure, rebirth, and
alternate realms of existence beyond this reality.

Cracking India In her third novel, Cracking India, Bapsi Sidhwa

delicately threads the story of an 8 year old girl named Lenny with
the din of violence ready to crash around her world as the
Partition moves from political planning into reality. The story is
told in the present tense as the events unfold before the young
girl's eyes, though moments of an older Lenny looking back are
apparent. Like Sidhwa, Lenny is stricken with polio, lives in
Lahore, and is a Parsi. She is clever and extremely observant
narrator, though many times her understanding is limited by her
young age. This naivet* is apparent when she ponders if the earth
will bleed when the adults "crack" India. The historical scene of
the Partition is integrated well into the novel through Lenny's
young eyes, though Sidhwa is criticized by some critics for
making Lenny's character too intelligent for her age. As Lenny
becomes more aware, she must confront a reality increasingly
reduced into categories and labels. The characters that surround
Lenny include "Slavesister," "Electric Aunt," "Old Husband,"
"Godmother," "Ayah," and "Ice-Candy-Man." Initially, the novel
took the name of this last character. However, publishers feared
that an American audience might mistake the unfamiliar name for
a drug pusher. In fact, the Ice-Candy-Man is a Muslim street
vendor drawn like many other men by the magnetic beauty of
Ayah, Lenny's nanny. Lenny observes the transition of the IceCandy-Man through the roles of ice cream vendor, bird seller,
cosmic connector to Allah via telephone, and pimp. This last role

shows the devious methods which some, particularly politicians,

will sink to in order to survive. Of the dirtiness of politics, Bapsi
Sidhwa says, "As a Parsee, I can see things objectively. I see all
the common people suffering while the politicians on either side
have the fun"("Writer-In-Residence"). In contrast, Sidhwa
presents us with the Godmother as a truer source of strength and
action, through knowledge instead of pride and rhetoric. Along
with political ineffectiveness, Sidhwa draws out the most
damaging effect of the Partition, the symbolic desecration women
on both sides of the conflict. Sidhwa recalls the chilling shrieks
and moans of recovered women at the time. She asked herself,
"Why do they cry like that? Because they are delivering unwanted
babies, I'm told, or reliving hideous memories. Thousands of
women were kidnapped." (Sidhwa "New Neighbors") Elsewhere,
she continues, "Victory is celebrated on a woman's body,
vengeance is taken on a woman's body. That's very much the
way things are, particularly in my part of the world" (Graeber).
Cracking India includes among all of this tragedy a brilliant sense
of humor as well. She explains, "Laughter does so many things
for us It has the quality of exposing wrongs and gets rid of anger
and excitement." ("Writer-In-Residence"). Cracking India calls to
recollection the pain of old, caked wounds so that they may finally
be healed. A cinematic adaptation is currently being filmed in
Delhi by Pakistani/Canadian director, Deepa Mehta. The film is to
be titled, Earth, the second installment of a trilogy that began with
her critically acclaimed film Fire, and will end in the future with
Water. The screenplay is written for a Pakistani audience. The
movie, too, will take the perspective

of Lenny, age 7, but will add a competing masseuse vying for the
love of Das (Ayah) with the Ice-Candy-Man. Review: "Bapsi
Sidhwa has turned her gaze upon the domestic comedy of a
Pakistani family in the 1940s and somehow managed to evoke
the great political upheavals of the age ... and I am particularly
touched by the way she has held the wicked world up to the

mirror of a young girl's mind and caught so much that is lyrical

and significant ... a mysterious and wonderful novel." Is said
beautifully by Richard Ryan in Washington Post "Bapsi Sidhwa's
Ice-Candy-Man is like foraging through a tableful of discounted
Swatch watches, and finding a gold Rolex......it illustrates the
power of good fiction: a historical tragedy comes alive, yielding
insight into both the past and the subcontinent's turbulent
present." Are the remarks of famous critic Deidre Donahue in
USA Today Throughout, the novel sustains the vitality of Lenny's
world with a series of wonderfully comic scenes. Highly
recommended for all libraries." J. Sudrann in Library Journal.
"Like all Sidhwa's work, the novel contains a rich undercurrent of
legend and folklore. It combines Sidhwa's affectionate admiration
for her own community with a compassion for the dispossessed.
Her own childhood memories give the novel further depth and
resonance." The Oxford Companion To Twentieth-Century
Literature in English " Sidhwa's triumph lies in creating characters
so rich in hilarious and accurate detail, so alive and active, that
long after one has closed the book, they continue to perform their
extraordinary and wonderful feats before our eyes." Anita Desai in
Dawn In light of current political, religious, and social tensions in
India and Pakistan, a more appropriate title for Bapsi Sidhwas
third novel, Cracking India (originally Ice Candy Man), could easily
have been, The more things change, the more they stay the
same. Ironically, its adaptation in the recently released film,
Earth, by Deepa Mehta, attests to its timeliness. Set in 1940s
India, during the time of independence and the partition, Cracking
India brings to life the deeply religious, national, social, and
economic tensions marking both historical and current Indo-Pak
political dynamics. Sidhwas genius lies in her juxtaposition of the
themes of innocence and experience in Cracking India. Revealed
through the nave observations of the young Parsi girl, Lenny,
startling images of violence, fear, and hatred intensify
considerably for readers. The co- mingling of innocence and
experience allow the reader to view this extremely confusing and

unstable chapter of Indian history through a simpler lens, a more

objective voice. The people in Lennys life are reduced to physical
or spiritual characteristics. The Ice Candy Man sells ice cream
and candy; Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs are defined primarily by
the hatred they espouse, making each of them equally disturbing
to the young narrators mind. Religion is reduced to a superficial
label, as characters easily switch from one to

the other. But dont let the simplicity of the novel fool you. Simple,
it is not. The simplicity of the narrators view serves to exaggerate
the extreme complexity of the times. The simplicity of the plot puts
a human face on the multitudes of suffering people who lived
through these times. Sidhwa has done a wonderful job of bringing
the confusion and immense impact of social and cultural change
upon the individual life of a small girl. In fact, her childhood
images are viewed through the lens of her climate-- i.e. her
relationships, her understanding of the world, and her selfawareness are dependent upon the events of her time. Hence, it
is obvious that she will be forever scarred by it. Sidhwas true skill
also lies in the layering of plots and sub-plots. Focused centrally
on Lenny, the novel boasts a series of sub-plots, each competing
throughout the novel for the center stage. Perhaps the most
entertaining and alluring sub-plot is that of the love story between
the Muslim Ice Candy Man and the beautiful Hindu Ayah. In
addition, many of the plots are left unresolved, leaving the reader
with a sense of loss or lack of closure mirroring the experience
many people during this time must have had. For all of its great
qualities, the novel contains certain problematic areas. At times, I
found the sexual imagery too graphic. At first, the images seemed
to protrude randomly and oddly throughout the novel. Perhaps
they were inserted at these strange points as a means of
revealing the dynamics of power, which interplay in the novel.
Regardless, the novel could have done just as well, perhaps even
better, without them. In addition, if you are looking to the novel for
an accurate historical account, this is not the novel for you. The

gist of this novel is not to be a monolith of correct factual

information---in fact the novel has been criticized for being
historically inaccurate in certain cases. It is possible that the
inaccuracies of the novel seemed appropriate to the author
because the story is narrated by a young girl who might recognize
the emotional impact of an event rather than its historical details.
The modern applicability of this novel is also important to make
note of. The lessons taught by this novel are universal and could
be applied to almost any current political situation around the
world, from the problems of Northern Ireland to those in Kosovo.
The title of the novel pointedly reveals the very worst and best
natures of the human race as we struggle with the intricacies of
life. The novel deals with a monumental and potent slice of Indian
history. Through Cracking India, Bapsi Sidhwa has indeed
brought to life the spiritual, emotional, and very real implications
of the partition of India. In so doing, she has cracked the riddle
of India and revealed to us the cultural difficulties that plagued
South Asia before, during, and after its split from the British and
the creation of Pakistan.

Major & Minor Themes MMajor Themes: Theme of Partition T

Theme of dislocation and disintegration T Theme of Communal
discord T Dilemma of the Parsi community DTheme of Feminism
women as victims & as saviours T Constancy of desire & its lack
of moral legitimacy CThe eternal conflict of moral good & evil in
the human psyche T Neutrality NMinor themes: Manipulation
MIntolerance I Impassivity I Duplicity of colonialism DChaos and
confusion Cracking India tells the story of the partition of India
through the eyes of young Lenny, a Parsee girl growing up in
Lahore. Lenny narrates the events of her family and native Lahore
over more than a ten year period, from before World War II to just
after Indian independence and the partition. The power of
Cracking India stems from Sidwhas creation of an idyllic picture
of Lennys childhood, and the relative inter-racial harmony of pre-

Independence Lahore. We then watch with horror as the people

around Lenny

divide along racial/religious lines and eventually slaughter one

another. Historical fiction such as Cracking India shows us history
in miniature, making it far more vivid than mere statistics about
the numbers slaughtered during the tragic events of 1947-48.
Although the story is set against the backdrop of India
independence, it is equally the story of Lennys maturation from a
four-year-old limping girl to a young woman of growing sexual
awareness. As a young girl she sits in the Queens garden with
her Ayah, her nanny, who is nubile and theobject of desire for a
large circle of young men of many races and creeds. Young
Lenny perceives their eyes burning for Ayah, their furtive attempts
to touch her with their hands, mouths, even their toes. Her
education about sexuality thus begins early, though Sidhwa
delights in showing us Lennys later sexual discoveries as well,
such as her growing aware of her Cousins body. Much of the
novel seems derived from Sidhwas autobiographical experience,
and this explains much of the narratives power. Lennys
perceptiveness makes her an effective narrator, though it takes
some time to get used to a four-year-old making the insights that
Lenny does. Lenny is already conscious of people treating her
differently because of her limp. Lenny senses peoples
motivations, and spots their most telling gestures. She describes
the mixed blessings of her own honesty, showing self-awareness
as well. But her honesty, her cursed tongue as she calls it, also
betrays her beloved Ayah, a Hindu, whom Lenny mistakenly
betrays to Ice-Candy Man. Much of the storys charm comes from
Lennys acute descriptions of her childhood. She experiences the
joys of visiting her family cooks native town, savoring stolen bits
of chicken giblets in the kitchen during her parents dinner parties,
and hiding under the table and making profound insights about
the guests personality based on the movements of their legs and
feet. But her greatest joy is her Ayah, a sublime being whose

attractions ensure that Lenny herself always has plenty of

company. This motley collection of Ayahs admirers, suggesting
the diversity of all India in miniature, consists of around 12 men
including at least one Sikh, a Muslim, a Hindu, and Parsee all with
different occupations. Their peaceful co-existence in their
competition for Ayahs affections suggests the larger inter-racial
amity in Lahore. While some of this inter-racial co-operation is
based on a common abhorrence of British rule, it is also based on
centuries of living together, as the characters themselves state
outright. So the ancient city of Lahore is torn asunder by Westernstyle nationalism and nation- state buildingone of many lasting
wounds from British rule. As Lenny observes: It is sudden. One
day everybody is themselvesand the next day they are Hindu,
Muslim,

Sikh, Christian. People shrink, dwindling into symbols. Ayah is no

longer just my all- encompassing Ayahshe is also a token. A
Hindu. (101). As much as the story of Cracking India owes to
its historical setting, its scope is local: Lahore. Historical events,
and personages such as Nehru, Gandhi, Jinnah are far away
(except for a comical meeting between Gandhi and Lenny and her
mother), and their effect on Lahore is delayed. For the first third of
the novel, the idyll of Lennys childhood is nearly untouched by
the gathering storm. The middle third depicts the outbreak of
violence and the destruction of pre-Pakistani Lahore, including
Ayahs circle. The novels climax is Ice-Candys betrayal of Ayah,
by extracting her hiding-place from the trusting Lenny. From
there, events proceed quickly, for we are as captivated by Ayah
as her circle of admirers. The last third of the novel showcases
the efforts of Lahores women to repair the damage done to the
community by the men. Lennys mother leads other women in
smuggling gasoline in order to raise money to send defamed
women back to their families. Lennys Godmother is revealed to
be a matriarch of considerable powers and influence. She is able
to locate the violated Ayah, and rescue her from Ice-Candy Mans

clutches, and send her back to her family in India. Lenny-asnarrator undergirds the novels feminine perspective. While some
male characters, such Masseur, Lennys father, and Cousin, are
treated sympathetically, many male characters are seen as
encircling predators of sex or violence. Lennys persepective is
formed while she sits next to Ayah in the middle of her circle of
admirers. Ice-Candy Mans betrayal is especially shocking,
because as a popsicle salesman he has a rapport with children
that leads to Lennys misguided trust in him at the crucial moment
of Ayahs fate. Perhaps mindful of her Western audience, Sidhwa
throws in some allusions to Western literature. The Ice-Candy
Man is allusion to Eugene ONeills The Iceman Cometh, which in
turn alluded to Gospels, wherein Jesus foretold that the
bridegroom [of the church, i.e., God] cometh. ONeills play
depicted a group of 13 drunks (deliberately 13 to suggest Christ
and his 12 apostles) revolving around the salesman Hickey, the
Iceman of life-killing cold truths, who shatters the personal
illusions, the pipe-dreams of the other 12 in the circle. Similarly,
Ayah, has a circle of twelve followers. The Ice-Candy Man, the
Judas figure, betrays his beloved Ayah, and shatters the amicable
illusion of Ayahs circle, revealing the cauldron of lust that had
always inspired it. Sidhwa succeeds by focusing on the personal
level of events. She offers no novel explanation for the violence
that engulfed the partition. We are shown only a handful of

fully-drawn characters. Lennys child-like eyes are ideal for

showing us the horrors of civil war. And yet it is surprising how
dispassionately Lenny reacts to the madness around her, even
years later as she is narrating the events. It is almost as if her
desire for objectivity as a narrator was stronger than her emotions
to the horrors of war. The beauty of the language shows the
narrator telling us the Lennys story is stronger than the child who
witnessed the atrocities. But without such narrative strength we
might not have this particular story at all.