Summary of Karma
At a first class waiting room at the railway station Sir Mohan Lal is found standing before a mirror. He hates the mirror as he hates everything else of India. He admires his own appearance and every little thing he does to anglicize his charisma. He wears his suit from Savile Row the place where the cultured people get their customised clothes – the aroma of eau de cologne – his Balliol tie from the five years he had at Oxford University. Everything very well considered and in purpose to look and feel like an Englishman. He calls the bearer and orders a drink where after he sank into a chair to drink and ruminate in real English way.
Outside the waiting room, Lachmi, Sir Mohan’s wife is sitting on a small grey steel trunk fanning herself with a newspaper. Lachmi is a traditional native Indian woman. She is commonly dressed in her sari – she is her husband’s exact opposite.
The train arrives at the platform. Lachmi enters an almost empty compartment. She travels inter-class not first class like her husband. She hardly enjoys the company of her husband and speaks no English. Sir Mohan enters his reserved first class coupe, sat down and pretends to read The Times. His coupe is empty and he craved for English company. In that case, he can talk like a cultured Englishman in his upper class English though with a foreign accent.
Then two English soldiers appear looking for a suitable compartment. Sir Mohan’s face lit up and he decided to welcome them even though they were entitled to travel only second-class. The soldiers sees Sir Mohan as a common Indian man and tell him to get out of the coupe. When Sir Mohan protests in his upper class English it was too much for the soldiers, caught him by the arms and threw him out of the train.
The train passes the station leaving him standing at the platform. Lachmi, absolute unaware of her husband’s situation sent a gob of spit out of the train as it pasted the platform.