TOPI

I was not an avid reader but when I started exploring the reading material I used to look for the topic specifically for storybooks so that I could get a sense about what is a story all about. I applied the same strategy while selecting the text and I selected ‘TOPI’, the reason I opted for it was because of its appealing title and I thought that it would turn out to be fun loving and humorous because of its name but eventually it came out in a way which I could not think of. The story is set in a small town which is more or less in Bihar and our author is also from Bihar so that is why he was able to bring out the picture clearly because he might have experienced it or observed it. The story portrays a time when poverty, unemployment, corruption was very prominent which was affecting the lives of the people at that point of time.

The author Sanjay Sahay talks about a protagonist Ramai who lives in a small town which is in Bihar and the story moves around his struggles and problems which he is facing in his life. The loss of his job provides a building plot for the story and it adds up to the societal view on things, the behaviour of his wife and so on. The story takes a turn when he drives the jeep of the DSP who is a very powerful person and that journey remarks changes in his life.

The story talks about the struggles of a common man in daily life and it gives one a vision about how difficult is to survive in this life when there is no job. It is very poignant at one point that how one has to survive in society and how work is being done on the basis of bribe which eventually leads to corruption. It talks about if one has approach of another person like in the story Ramai’s mama knew the DSP who is an authoritative figure. I was able to relate it quite well to what happens in our lives in which corruption, bribe, approach is so common and work becomes difficult if it is not supported by any of these.

The plot of the story takes an interesting turn when Ramai wears the Topi of the DSP without realizing it, he wanted to protect him from cold until and unless he realizes that it was a symbol of power and authority. He realized it when he got salute from one of the traffic police who was at his duty. After the realization also he did not remove the Topi and at this point the story gives us a space to question that why he did not remove the Topi and so on. He started liking the phase of power at that particular point of time and he wanted to see what happens more with this symbol of power and authority. It might be possible that he kept on wearing the Topi because he was already very frustrated with the problems that he was undergoing and because of it he did not remove it. On the other hand it also depicts a common behaviour of a human being who has been deprived of lot many things in his life and when one gets a chance to be in power no one leaves it and every one look forward to experience it.

The text gives one space for exploration in which one could raise lot many questions about one’s life, about the entire notion of power, poverty and survival. It makes one sensitize of how people are surviving and how they get influenced from others who have some sort of power and authority. It talks about struggles of a common man which is quite connecting and nothing was alienating for me when I was reading the text. It also gives a sense of how people fall into a trap when they are helpless and for their family they end up doing things which they never want to do it.

I realized that how an interesting title can turn the tables entirely the other way round which one could not even think of. It was an enriching experience for me and it reminded me of a saying that ‘one should not judge a book by its cover’.