Abstract

While focusing on the postcolonial discourse, a comparative analysis of A Passage to India (1924) and Twilight in Delhi (1940) has been carried out. The former writing was composed by western author E.M. Forster while the latter was written by South Asian author Ahmed Ali. In both writings, the centre of focus is the effects left by colonizers on colonized land, specifically in terms of culture, norms, and values. In order to complete the study in a profound manner, a qualitative approach has been employed in which description, analysis, narrative devices and definitions are utilized as research tools to affirm the deductive approach of the study. The paper is analyzed through postcolonial perspectives with a focus on discourse and stylistics viewpoints of the texts. Political, cultural, communal, social, & religious conditions of the subcontinent are unfolded from the standpoints of informant and colonizers with the implication of dichotomous critique while looking at the miserable situation of the Asian colonized region. As one author belongs to the class of colonizers and the other has its roots in colonized land, the study has explored various similar as well as contrasting elements from the novels.

Key Words

Ahmed Ali, E.M. Forster, Postcolonial Discourse, Subcontinent, Orientalism, Stylistics, Language

Introduction

The term Postcolonialism refers to the study of the resemblance of those critical theories that portray the oppression of humans. In literature, postcolonialism is discussed as subject matter and with the perspective of a theoretical framework. As a matter of subject, it investigates and studies the literary work which has been carried out due to the response to the domination of culture. On the other hand, as a theoretical framework, it highlights the functioning and operations – socio- political, cultural, psychological, and religious – of the ideologies of colonialism and anti- colonialism (Tyson, 2006). Stylistics in terms of literature in the study of literary language or discourse with the orientation of language. As Widdowson (1975) stated: The utilization and application of stylistics in literary work affirms the validity, authentication and appropriation of work. It further polishes the work and develops the interest in literature.

This study focuses on the socio-political modification which was observed in the sub-continent after the period of colonization. When we apply the theories of postcolonialism and stylistics to the novels of Ahmed Ali and E.M. Forster, we observe multiple perspectives through which the cultures, norms and values are seen to be modified and amalgamated due to the rule of the British in the subcontinent. Ahmed Ali and E.M. Forster have set their novels in entirely different ways as Twilight in Delhi depict the overall city and the characters who were experiencing everything themselves. Ahmed Ali has not introduced any western character here. He solely works on the informants and natives of the subcontinent, but E.M. Forster has brought both natives and non- natives, Indians and Westerners, in his piece of work. He further set the novel in an artificial setting of Chandra pore. This region neither existed anywhere in the world in the past nor is the part of any country in the present. Although the setting of both novels does not match but the concern of writing is quite similar.

The reflection of colonizers on colonized culture is greatly discussed by various authors in different writings. While looking at informants of colonized regions, it is crystal clear that colonizers have left cultural hybridity among them. On the one hand, the young generation is profoundly impressed and much attracted towards English culture. On the other hand, senior citizens are conscious of socio-economic degeneration, historical downfall & moral decadence. Indian colonized lost their precious architecture, land, language, culture and norms; thus, the post-colonial novels depict that the old generation always tried to keep their generation away from English culture. Forster claimed that Muslims were sycophants and they paid lip service to British public officers. No matter, whether the natives were impressed by colonizers or not, the fact cannot be denied that colonizers harmed Indians in every manner. They were not merely military, economically, or socio-politically, but also ideologically harmed.

British even laid the hold on education for Indians. They established educational institutions with the sole agenda of wiping out the thought of freedom from the minds of Indian youth by inculcating the value of British presence in the sub-continent. Behind the tag of “Modern education”, colonizers were training native youth to obey White men and to accept their supremacy. They introduced modern transportation, goods and technologies like Railroad (the third largest network at that time), telephone, telegrams, dams, bridges etc. In return, they broke the backbone of the Indian economy wholly. Inflation was raised that natives were not able to feed their family properly.

We are of the notion that great Mughal emperors did nothing while ruling the subcontinent and spent their life in a luxurious manner while ordering, commanding, eating and wasting money. We further affirm that the British came to India and spread peace and prosperity. But the fact is not as it is perceived. British entered the sub-continent with the lame excuse of trade and later on, they attacked and held control of the government of sub-continent as they priory practiced with the states of Africa, South Asia etc. While digging deep about the Mughal emperor, it is witnessed that the Indian economy mainly relied on agriculture and trade. Agriculture flourished in the time of Mughal emperors and they never imposed heavy taxes on natives. World’s 25% trade originated from the sub-continent before the colonization but as White men entered, the downfall of that state began. These rulers removed the last culture by calling it a historical void and spread their culture throughout the sub-continent.

Listening to Postcolonial Voices in a Passage to India and Twilight in Delhi

The novel, A Passage to India, opens with an artificial setting of the dirty, creepy, sprawling, and an odious city of India/sub-continent of Chandra pore, with its filthy markets and mean houses, that are located in the region which is intertwined with an uninviting stretch of the

Ganges; it is looked down upon by both the Eurasians and White men, indicating to set right with the moral climate which labels the natives of subcontinent as inferior. The sketch supports to develop the established intent behind the piece of writing. On one hand the city is unpleasant, awful and ugly, on the other hand the Civil Station above is tidy, elegant, clean, organized and well planned which neither has any nothing to do nor it is providing anything with the city except the overarching sky. Focusing on the environment and surroundings, an uninteresting and unattractive countryside is found, except where the Marabar Hills seem to add a little excitement to the scenery, whereas the story of Twilight in Delhi unfolds in the real state of India which attracted the world’s power but now lies in the deep slumber. The city is indeed Delhi which is set in darkness and is suffering from the brutality of colonizers. The novel represents the situation and state of the sub-continent where the decay and death of Muslim norms, values, customs & culture are projected and it seems like it is just about to fade. The setting of both stories both novels is somehow similar in context to the demise of the great Mughal Empire. However, the former builds up the imaginary setting, whereas the latter utilizes the real setting to give voices to the narrative.

Twilight in Delhi by Ahmed Ali is the portrayal of a whole city and is not restricted to a few characters, instead it is comprised of the people of a city in which the culture of Delhi, the impacts left by colonizers and various other elements are profoundly depicted. The author has focused on elaborating on collective life despite an individual’s existence. Ahmed Ali has presented a living being, Mir Nihal, as the representation of Delhi city. In the beginning paragraphs, he described how Delhi has gone through different stages of birth, puberty, adolescence, senior age, and in the end, standing to be diminished. The novel ends with the description of the same patron that is followed by the life of Mir Nihal and at the end, he is lying paralyzed on the bed to embrace death.

The ongoing era doesn’t believe in a voice as factual and authentic until or unless it is articulated or conveyed (Bakhtin, 1994).

While considering the fact Ahmed Ali welcomes other authors in his writings that intensifies his own experiences which are thoroughly elaborated in Twilight in Delhi. Instead of making his own voice dominant, Ahmed Ali has integrated multiple voices and utilized his characters to give voice to the grand narratives of his time. So, the characters of his novel represent how ideologies are embedded in those grand narratives. In the chapter 1, the voice of the author is echoed through the young character of Asghar, who is full of pride. He is the young man who met the real life circumstances who wanted to be the blessed one was later on cursed and went through the tragedies which were quite unbearable for him thus nature offered coming of age experience to Asghar which assisted in the regeneration of thought process. Ahmed has managed to keep his presence alive as the story progresses. He projected his idea on love through Asghar who experienced the stage of being loved by others, he affirms

To be loved is sweet… To love is full of sorrows. (p. 18)

He stands in contradiction to another character Huzoor Ali who is foreshadowing the philosophy of love of Hafiz (old famous poet of Orients). With the presence of Huzoor Ali, who was once the lover of Asghar and in return, Asghar has wholly ignored him and his pure love, Ahmed Ali has supported the voice of Hafiz by including Love is created first in the heart of the beloved (p. 19).

Ahmed Ali has created ambiguity by presenting his personal perspective of life, which happens through the contrary to the grand narratives of his time. The reader is caught up in the confusion about whether to trust the authorial voice or the characters depicting the grand narratives. Like Ahmed Ali, Forster has managed to keep his voice alive throughout the text.

However, he is also interested in the individual perspectives of his characters. Forster’s characters Adela Quested, Mrs. Moore, Dr. Aziz, and Professor Narayan Godbole are having tea with Cyril Fielding.

Aziz says that the water which he and Mrs. Moore had observed at the mosque runs into the tank in front of Fielding's house? A sort of skilful arrangement of the Emperors. He was wrong about the water, which no Emperor, however skilful, can cause to gravitate uphill; a depression of some depth together with the whole of Chandrapore lay between the mosque and Fielding's house. Ronny [Heaslop] would have pulled him up, [Inspector] Turton would have wanted to pull him up, but restrained himself. Fielding did not even want to pull him up; he had dulled his craving for verbal truth and cared chiefly for truth of mood. As for Miss Quested, she accepted everything Aziz said as true verbally (pp. 71-72).

Forster jumps in to rescue the reader from going with the flow and shakes his readers to the conscious world of facts. While other Miss Quested accepted everything Aziz said. Foresters’ characters are not his puppets, and he rejects the idea of giving voice to his own thoughts through his characters rather he sets all his characters free and makes them quite independent to share their notions without any hindrance. Forster tries to uncover the attitudes of his characters towards life. Unlike Ahmed Ali, Foster has tried to reveal the objective nature of language and refrains from spreading ambiguity or queerness by revealing the objective facts through his authorial voice in the text.

This brings us back to the question of A Passage as a "polyphonic" novel, one having various points of view or viewpoints, as well as one divided into several levels – political, social observation, spiritual/philosophical contemplation, and plain drama. As a result, the point of view from which the event is observed influences one's reading of the text. The characters are observed and analyzed as providing multiple and diverse thoughts in regard of different theories. When Fielding openly communicates his emotions and feelings about the west for not being thoughtful, he is met with a question from Aziz that morality may decline if this is the case, and he affirms the question, leaving the readers and Aziz in a state of bewilderment and perplexity as to how they can justify their presence if they are not moral and ethical themselves.

On the contrary, Fielding seems to behold and observe the factors of religion and puts them into and apparent facts. When Fielding interrogates Aziz if any other man had seen his wife before Aziz to which replied if any man certainly behaves as my brother, he would be allowed to see my wife. On this statement of Aziz, Fielding wonders and utters When whole world behave as such there will be no purdah (p.114).

In this scene, Fosters has struggled to criticize the traditional constraints of sub-continent, specifically of Muslims living there as informants. It further spotlights on the cultural wisdom of the subcontinent as Muslims emphasized and expressed to strictly follow their religious orders like purdah but when it came to brotherly relations be it na-mahram for the woman they didn’t mind exploiting and putting the rules of Islam at the back. The negative criticism on cultural wisdom of colonized people is openly discussed by Forster.

Adela is an advanced, liberal and a well-educated free thinker who has her own viewpoint on life. Adela wants to communicate to Aziz since she believes in universal brotherhood and is away from conservative thoughts at this stage. After the cave experience, her mindset is found wholly modified and opposite and she understands that universal brotherhood is way beyond to believe in. She explores and digs herself deep where she recognizes that she has a wish to embark the journey of India to be aware of India and to understand it but she never wanted to fall in love with that region, she has a desire to to understand Indians but not to love them, which is impossible. Cave bares her emotionally empty existence. It was impossible for her to forget Caves as Caves revealed empty and dry emotional life. From here the switch in Adela’s life is seen as she started to see towards the life with the realistic approach after the accident of Marabar caves.

“Adela’s transformation after the trial is not simply one of disillusionment, but one of personal regeneration” (Christensen, 2006, p.175).

It was coming of age experience for Adela “Although her schoolmistress manner remained, she was no longer examining life, but being examined by it; she had become a real person.” (Forster, p. 245)

As Kristeva (1986) declared that text, every text is the assimilation or modification of someone else’s work, Ahmed Ali has clearly situated the writing of several foremost writers of India. In the beginning where author relates Delhi with only dust and dirt, the verses of Bahadur Shah rebounded the notion of the author by replying

Why do you ask my native place?

O dwellers of the East,

Making mock of me for the poor plight I am in?

Delhi, which was once the jewel of the world, Where dwelt only the loved ones of fate,

Which has now been ruined by the hand of Time,

I’m a resident of that storm-tossed place. (p. 4)

The thoughts of Hafiz, Sarmad, Shah and Dard are employed. When Asghar suffers the troubles of marrying Belqeece and continuously fails to bring happiness in his life, Ali represents it through the pain and ache of Dard’s words where the poet reflects himself as being more and more pessimistic that he no longer remained able to see a single ray of hope.

Ahmed Ali has employed the writing of Sarmad (foremost Persian poet) in the scene when Mir Nihal witnesses the death of his mistress, Babbanjan, Mir Nihal being distressed is depicting the state of Sarmad when he suffered alike through the background voice of Sarmad’s verses I’ve lost religion in quite a novel way, Throwing faith for drunken eyes away: And all my life in piety spent I’ve flung At the altar for that idol-worshipper’s joy. (p. 70) Forster stated in A Passage to India Love is of no value in a witness, as a barrister ought to know (p. 247) The stress in the mentioned line is put upon universal facts and as in reality at the end of the day it is facts, realities and objective information which matters and is trusted. In spite of its relations and connections, it also points towards the blind nature of judiciary because its decisions and settlements are solely dependent on the facts, proofs and objective information. E.M. Forster tried to define that the charm and beauty of a language actually falls in its truthfulness and veracity. When it does not fulfill all the maxims and fails to project reality or is unsuccessful in imparting its clear message then language becomes void and doesn’t play significant role and thus loses its purpose and the goal of utilization. Forster highly opposes the common and typical culture of herd mentality that ‘decides things on emotions’. Here the western author counters the irrationality and abstract feelings in a way that such kind of mentality is universal in nature, Forster tries to endeavor the hidden cultural wisdom. The inclusion of such scenes illustrating the dangers of the "herd Mentality” depicts Kierkegaard works on herd mentality.

“Truth always rests with the minority … because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion, while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion.” Ali highlighted the cultural wisdom found after the period of colonizers by women characters of Mehro and Begum Waheed. Mehro, the young girl of 13-14 years has started to become burden that her mother wanted to marry her. Another thing is weighing on my mind. (p. 8)

Begam Nihal (Mehru’s mother) uttered while discussing about the proposal came for Mehru. Moreover, the proposal of girls being judged by money is also depicted. When Mir Nihal tried to delay the proposal, her wife hurriedly said Then Mir Wahajuddin has property worth a lakh. (p. 9)

Neither Islam, what they followed as a religion, never set money as a sign of marrying a girl nor did real Muslims culture ever support this idea. Though the religion of Begaum Waheed openly permits her to marry after the death of her husband when she was only 19 years old. She was a single parent of two children but that was the cultural wisdom which unified in Muslim culture from Hinduism that a girl should not marry again. This modification filled the life of Begum Waheed with limitless troubles and endless pains.

Fielding asks whether Godbole thinks Aziz is capable of the crime as charged. Godbole answers that the question really asks whether a man is capable of either good or bad actions and that that is a "difficult" question for Hindus. Exasperated, Fielding demands to know if Godbole thinks Aziz performed the crime, failing to see how good and evil are equivalents in this matter. Godbole responds by noting that, for the Hindu, Nothing can be performed in isolation (p. 177) Here Forster tries to emphasize the cultural wisdom emphasizing the religious faith that God is omnipresent; he can see through things, He knows what we don’t know. The picture of women in Ahmed Ali’s novel shows their non-availability on social, political, & communal grounds. They are neither educated nor allowed to step out of their homes & for their every action, they need the consent of the Male. Women of Delhi are bearing double colonization as the patriarchal element is analyzed clearly in Ali’s work. Women are solely busy with domestic work. They are shown as eating, talking, & serving.

The time passed mostly between eating, talking, cooking, sewing, or doing nothing. (p. 29)

There was only a difference of one year between the two siblings, Mehru & Masroor.

Masroor being a boy is being facilitated by education but for girls.

The four walls stood all around, shutting the women in… (p. 147)

The life of women ended in 4 walls out of where they can’t even peep. They suffered dual slavery; one of colonizers and second of their own men. However, E.M. Forster’s novel has painted the liberal picture of women and Adela is reminiscent of this description as she is literate and independent towards her life. Forster has depicted the life of Adela as free of restrictions and boundaries.

Exile is also taken out by colonialism in a different manner as the stress is applied on informants at the great extent so that they feel lonely and homeless in their own homeland. There were exiled from the culture, norms, languages, values that they possessed as their own. Exile is one of the components of post colonialism. The native Indians were at times forced to give up their cultural norms and language and at other times the natives did it consciously. Bhabha comments, “white but not quite white" was the constant pressure over the native people to give up their way of living and adopt a new, superior culture. As Gauri Viswanathan (1989) has shown, it was the basis for the development of the education system in India following Macaulay’s notorious Minute on Indian Education. Exile continues to be an ambivalent state in Postcolonial studies, particularly in the work of Edward Said. While for him it is an almost necessary condition for true critical worldliness, ‘the achievements of any exile are permanently undermined by his or her sense of loss’ (1984:49). While it is ‘the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place’ (49). The arranged meeting with Mrs. Bhattacharya was never brought off, including the observation that the Bhattacharya’s probably had grown ashamed of their house (p. 69). Indians lived under the notion; that they were inferior to Englishmen despite living in their own homeland. This notion of detaching oneself from his/her own culture and inculcating false notions about their cultural norms forced them to look down upon each other. Aziz thought of his bungalow with horror. It was a detestable shanty near a low bazaar. There was practically only one room in it, and that was infested with small black flies. (p. 70)

He is ashamed of his house; just as he had incorrectly attributed the Bhattacharya’s disinclination for having English guests to shame, Aziz is caught in a web of his own design. He invites them to Marabar hills instead. The native Indians, in spite of belonging to the upper middle class, are shackled in chains of inferiority. When Aziz promises Adela and Mrs. Moore to invite them over, he doesn’t fulfill the maxims of speech and doesn’t carry the intention of fulfilling the promise. So, the conversation seems void when he thinks, ‘she has taken me at words’ but tries to manipulate the whole discourse of verbal communication by inviting them over to Marabar caves. His listeners, without even knowing they are misled, accept the invitation. It also highlights the fact that Adela and Mrs. Moore not being the part of Indian culture are not aware of the conventions of language. Adela couldn’t identify the implicit meaning at bridge party when Mrs. Bhattacharya made an excuse for not inviting them over but later on invites them over when gets directions from her husband nor Adela understands the conventional implicit tone of Aziz when he invites them over just to compete with Bhattacharya’s otherwise didn’t keep any intentions to do so. Here, a clash in conversation occurs and puts the characters in confusion.

Similarly, the core purpose of writing Twilight in Delhi was to pinpoint the decay of Muslims’ culture, norms, honor etc. In this way this novel greatly depicts the elements of exile, hybridity, mimicry which are always enfolded in the theory of postcolonialism. Muslims being at their own homeland were facing identity crisis. While living on their own homeland were encountering homelessness. They lost their culture, identity, customs, rulers, religion as Ali

Stated after the British rule the Muslims of India lost their homeland, their Mughal Empire, their language, culture and their city Delhi which was the capital. And the most devastating fact was that they lost their identity (p.43).

The main character, Mir Nihal, who is explicitly portrayed as very strict follower of culture & norms, he himself suffers with exile due to colonizers who brutally snatched their precious norms and values. Now and then he fished for pearls from the age-old sand of Memory; and as he remembered how love-fires had kindled, raged and died, he shed a few tears of self-pity and helplessness.

Ali has stated various times in the novel that British seized their city Delhi and entitled it New Delhi to remove its old value. The historical architectures were demolished so that natives were unable to identify their own land. British who entered the sub-continent as being beneficial turned into monsters and ruined the land of Muslims.

In A Passage to India, The Anglo Indians express quite disparaging remarks about native

Indians from Indian being incapable of responsibility to turning to their worst versions when angry. The Indians are looked down upon on the basis of their race. At any point when opposing class systems touched, the most superior of the Indians is declared to be no more equal with the least of their English rulers as Mrs. Turton emphasizes upon it that you are superior to everyone in India except for two or three Ranis who are on equality.

The wrong doings of colonizers left the natives in inferiority complex. Ali has placed Muslims as beggars which show that they were economically very weak. The place which was known as city of monarchs and kings in now full of beggars. Except 2-3 characters, no characters is shown as educated or literate. The profession of vendors, ice-cream seller is connected with the informants of Delhi. When two characters got seriously ill, a Hindu Doctor entered the scenes which undoubtedly picturizing the element of other for Orientals. As Edward Said supported Eurocentrism and declared the other culture as the influence of Euro centrism, Ahmed Ali has addressed the element of others that how Muslims were treated as “Others” or “Orientals” in colonized region.

There are sorrows and miseries which grip you in their claws, and there seems no escape from them. We struggle, but we cannot get out of the net which fate has cast about us (p. 24).

Colonized at their home are very pessimistic and caught in inferiority complex. They linked all the problems to the fate and didn’t try to face them. Informants appeared as illogical and irrational. Men are interested in pigeon and kites flying, prostitutes and day-dreaming. They see the destructions of their own city and country but never dared to take step ahead to save it. They are slaves of colonizers by brain and look at colonizers superior than them.

The Anglo-Indians contently mock the native Indians due to their failed efforts to get assimilated into the superior culture. The native Indians despite their status are attracted to Englishmen culture. Consequently, they give up their sophistication to assimilate in the Englishmen culture. The colonized subject actually came into being due to the element of Mimicry Almost the same, but not quite… (Bhabha 1994: 86).

The two aspects of mimicry were observed in colonizing land. Mockery and menace, that we can relate with similarity and a certain menace  Colonizing lands were the platforms where the imitation of norms, values, cultures, & customs were openly(86). Aziz is later on mocked by Ronny for not absorbing the Englishman culture and dress code completely as collar studs were missing from his dress code. Aziz dressed up elegantly from top to toe but the noticing point was, he did not remember his back collar studs. Later on when Adela expresses her wish on being able to speak language of Indian one of the Indian ladies expresses their desperate desire ‘perhaps we could speak yours a little’ expressing her wish to assimilate into superior culture by learning their language( p.80). Appearance is of prime value here, Aziz brushes himself up in western style so that traffic police cannot stop him. This is quite contrary to the mission for which Britain came to India. High visions of imparting morals in the subcontinent lays quite loose here. One who looks like an English man are not held accountable for ignoring the rules of the system. This scene is ironical as colonizers wanted to educate the colonized, the colonized were considered savage and uneducated. Therefore it was Whiteman burden to educate “The other”.

In Twilight in Delhi, Asghar, the young character, is fully impressed by colonizers and followed their culture despite of his father’s criticism and anger. Asghar beautifully presented the element of mimicry with the mixture of mockery and menace. He, in the beginning, wears the shirt under the sherwani and left the buttons of sherwani open to make the shirt visible to others.

The upper buttons of his sherwani are open and show the collar of the English shirt that he is wearing under it. (p. 10) in the same way her wife Bilqeece is mocked by ladies and called “Frangan” as she wore English shoes on the wedding ceremony of Mehru.

She looks like a good-as-dead Farangan (p. 98) Mimicry as menace is deployed through the given passageYou are again wearing those dirty English boots! I don’t like them. I will have no aping of the Farangis in my house. Throw them away! Here Mir Nihal is shouting at his son Asghar for wearing boots and utilizing a word Frangi for colonizers which was a taboo and had negative connotation in sub-continent.Hybridity is also shown by Mir Nihal and Asghar as these two characters opposed one another. Mir Nihal represented hatred towards English culture and is serious with the old culture. On the contrary,

Asghar does not care about his father and openly followed English culture. He wore English dress and boots, learnt English, wanted to study in Ali Garh and even after his wedding he bought new English Furniture.

When Polonius inquired about his reading, Hamlet replied, "Words, Words, Words." Any novel's beauty is found in its language. It is a genuinely revolutionary act to construct a material representation of words. Writing enhances language and memory properties such as storage capacity, preservation, and accuracy, and as a result, it promotes a wide range of changes in human life.

In the novel A Passage to India, E. M. Forster uses Urdu and Hindi phrases, idioms, and proverbs in his novel A Passage to India to communicate colonial and anticolonial meanings. For the expression of narrative, description, and characterization, the use of such phrases, idioms, and proverbs is highly significant, depending on the situation. In its textual and contextual senses, a considerable number of Urdu and Hindi words are used. The text's frequent use of Urdu and Hindi terminology was thought to be extremely reasonable. Certain words, for instance Bazaar, Maidan, Bungalow, Mohurrum, Tazia, Sari, Purdah, Tonga, Saddhus, Pukka, Parvati, Phoja, Neem, Tonga-walah, Veranda, Kawa Dol, Krishna, Punkha, Sahib, Huzoor, Nawab Bahadur, are of vital consideration.

Moharram is the first month in Islamic calendar. It is the month of mourning for Muslims; it keeps an important place for Muslims as it is considered as Islamic commemoration but, it has transformed as a tradition and sign of culture.According to Ghani Khan When a law is bred into the very fibre of a race it becomes a custom and persists long‘ (Ghani, 2001, p. 20).

Moharram comes with a lot of administrative duties. As Turton affirmed that the extra work & preparation bring extra fatigue for the administration. Moharram being a religious notion is mixed in politics as well as the administration has to take over the responsibilities of the congregation. When Aziz receives a letter from Major Callendar inviting him to his bungalow, Hamidullah instructs him to brush his teeth after chewing the pan. As a protest, Aziz says he won't clean his teeth and would go since chewing pan is an Indian custom. This is an anticolonial reaction in which Aziz tries to preserve his identity.

Moreover, Ahmed Ali did not only focus on syntax rather he has consciously evolved various strategies and methods that created ease while comprehending the differences of language. The aspect of glossing is frequently utilized by Ali to make the text clear and away from ambiguity. Urdu words like Mohalla, Qawwals, Ghassals, Sherwani, Low kotha, and Maktab have obvious meanings in footnotes. The phrase “The great battle of Mahabharat” and “The waters of Jamuna” exemplify pre glossing in which the word battle and waters are referencing to the meaning of upcoming words. Likewise mosque and tree are making it easier to comprehend the former word in Jama mosque, & Henna Tree.

In the same way, code switching is also explained through discourse. The mentioned verses are obvious example of codeswitching in the novel. Dhum! Qalandar, God, will give, Dhum! Qalandar, God alone; Milk and sugar, God will give, Dhum! Qalandar, thighs, Laccchi thy soft… (p. 14) by writing “Bol gai My Lord kukroo-koon”, Ahmed Ali repeated the aspect of code switching in his piece of writing.

Ahmed Ali consciously left various words of Urdu and Hindi untranslated in the text. The fascination and enchantment of traditional nouns, for instance: food, relationships, vehicles etc. is lost if the nouns are translated into any other language. The approach of letting words independent in their language secures the concerned culture. Ahmed Ali left Qutub Minar, Musalmans, Farangis, & Bakr’id are seen undefined and untranslated so that the reader could get the meaning through the context. He has given the native taste to the syntax and grammar to demonstrate in the writing of native (and probably for natives). Ahmed Ali neither let Urdu not English to prove the text as its heritage. For instance, the verb used Salaamed is actually has its root Urdu noun Salam which is converted into past form and thus used as a verb in the text. Moreover, the term Fatto is the composition of English noun Fat and Motto of native word.

Conclusion

The comparison of two foremost novels A Passage to India and Twilight in Delhi portrayed the picture of reflection on colonized land and its impacts on its culture. The setting of both novels is wholly different but the plot of both writings is going with flow. In order to finalize the comparative study of both novels, the texts were analyzed through the perspectives of orientalism, hybridity, mimicry, cultural wisdom, double colonization, white men supremacy, intertextuality, polyphony, &appropriation of language, various postcolonial elements are somehow similar with one another. The findings asserted the similarities and contrasts in regard of postcolonial discourse in the literary works of E.M. Forster & Ahmed Ali.

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