Snapshots Rangas Marriage - Revision Notes
CBSE Class 11 English Core
Revision Notes
CHAPTER – 3
RANGA’S MARRIAGE
Ranga’s Marriage, by Masti Venkatesh Iyengar, is a story about a boy who returns to his village after receiving education in English medium from Bangalore. The boy is the son of an accountant of the village named Hoshali in Mysore. The boy when returns, the whole village floods over him to see if there is any change in his personality. However, to their dismay, he still has the same eyes and mouth and everything else. He did the traditional namaskar and all dispersed.
The story is a first person narrative and a major part of the story is in flash back. The speaker directly addresses the reader.The narrator is a neighbour of the protagonist. He introduces the story with a difference by first giving a detailed description of their village Hoshali. He praises the mangoes from his village. He asks the reader if he/she has ever heard of the village. He replies to the question himself, for the village was not located in any of the maps for the English babus and the ones in our country forgot to put it there. Then he introduces Ranga, the protagonist, in a time ten years ago. Ranga had gone to Bangalore for studies and returned home after six months. It was the time when English was a language not popular and a few people used it. All used to converse in Kannada.
All the villagers arrived at Ranga’s place and began scrutinising him. To their dismay, he was still the same old Ranga and they left disappointed. However, the narrator stayed back and shared a few jokes with the boy and then left.Later in the afternoon, Ranga arrived at the narrator’s home with a few oranges. The narrator judged the boy and felt it appropriate to marry such a well educated and humble boy. However, Ranga had no plans to settle as a married man. He put his views on marriage in front of the narrator that he wanted to get married to a girl who is mature enough and someone Rangappa could admire.
Ranga left after the discussion and the narrator decided then that he would get the boy married. Determined, he began considering Rama Rao’s niece Ratna as a suitable bride for Ranga. She was from a big town and knew how to play veena and harmonium. He came up with a plan. He asked Rama Rao’s wife to send Ratna to his place to fetch some buttermilk. So she came on Friday wearing a grand saree. He requested Ratna to sing and sent for Ranga. Ranga reached the narrator’s place and stopped outside the room as he did not want to disrupt the singing but was curious to see her face so peeped in. Ratna noticed the stranger and stopped abruptly. Ranga came in and the girl left.
Curiously he inquired about the girl and narrator cleverly played at his words. He told Ranga that the girl was married off a year ago and noticed the disappointment flaring Ranga’s face. He was infatuated with the girl. The narrator was happy as his plan was working.As his next step, the next day the narrator took Ranga to an astrologer who he had already been tutored what to say. It was the meeting with the astrologer when the narrator’s name is disclosed. Shyama. The astrologer pretended to read the horoscope and predicted that the boy was in love with a girl who had a name of something found in the ocean. Shyama said it could be Ratna, Rama Rao’s niece. Ranga’s smile was not hidden from Shyama. But the girl was married!
The narrator took the boy to Rama Rao’s home and asked him to wait outside. When he came outside he confirmed that the girl was not married, that there had been some confusion. After all, the narrator had to come up with something. Even Ranga then admitted that he had been attracted to the girl. Later a conversation between the astrologer and the narrator is described how the astrologer says that though the narrator had given him clues, he could have found it all out by himself through astrology.
The story moves forward ten years, or to say, returns to the present. Rangappa came one day to the narrator, inviting him at his son Shyama’s third birthday. Obviously, Ratna and Ranga had been married. And now they have a three years old son whom Ranga named after the narrator.Thus the narrator tactfully arranges to develop love between Ranga and Ratna which results successfully in their marriage.
Through a well-knitted love-story the narrator not only amuses the readers but also gives them glimpes of that time when English was supposed to be a 'priceless commodity' and a love marriage was a far-off thing.People had some misconceptions about English language that if a person received Eng. education he lost his caste but Ranga proves that Eng.language does not have any adverse effect on the religious and cultural practices of the people.
The narrator also highlights the time when old values and customs still dominated our social scene.But today the time has changed.The twenty first century is not the age of arranged marriages.Certainly the Indian society has moved a long way from the way the marriage is arranged in the story.The narrator impresses us with his presence of mind.He is pragmatic and cares for results only.He facilitates the marriage of Ranga and Ratna with the help of an astrologer and ,thus,earns their respect.The couple names their child Shyama as a mark of respect for him.The story ends up giving a message to the readers to be pragmatic in life.
