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Language in India www.languageinindia.com ISSN 1930-2940 Vol. 14:8 August 2014

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Two Leaves and a Bud Is a Novel on Social Exploitation

M. V. Sulochana, M.A., M. Phil., Ph.D. Research Scholar

Abstract
In this paper, I present Two Leaves and a Bud as a novel on social exploitation, full of
violence and bitterness. It describes the hazardous life of Gangu, an indentured labourer, in an
Assam Tea Garden owned by a British man. The theme is bitterness, violence and exploitation
which makes our blood boil about the injustice done to the poor coolies. Anands writing is full
of disgust and hate. The angry young man in Anand is more evident than the artist. The gift of
Mulk Raj Anands imagination and his gentle and humane sympathy for his subject adds a new
dimension in sensitivity to contemporary literature.
Keywords: Exploitation, indentured, plantation, artist, underdog, humanist, villain,
rakshas, complement, pessimistic, cudgles, unsavory, clich, niche.

Language in India www.languageinindia.com ISSN 1930-2940 14:8 August 2014

M. V. Sulochana, M.A., M. Phil., Ph.D. Research Scholar
Two Leaves and a Bud Is a Novel on Social Exploitation

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Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004)

Courtesy:
http://archive.deccanherald.com/Deccanherald/dec182005/finearts14274720051216.asp

Introduction
Mulk Raj Anand is a pioneer in the field of Indo-English fiction. He has succeeded in
carving for himself a special niche and so he reverentially called one of The Big Three. All his
novels and short stories bear him out as a champion of the underdog and his writings reveal his
deep understanding of socioeconomic problems. No wonder, of all the Indian novelists in
English, Anand is, undoubtedly a writer with a strong commitment to expose the social evils of
inequality and exploitation. He takes the cudgels against the cruel forces and unsocial elements
which exploit the lives of the poor. Tenderness is the essence of Anands humanism. He is a
humanist.

Special Introduction to the Novel

Anands first five novels are The Untouchable (1935), Coolie(1936), Two Leaves
and A Bud (1937), The Village (1939) and Across the Black Waters(1940). The nineteenthirties were the seed time of modern independent India. The Gandhian Satyagraha movement,
the Organization of Marxist parties, the agonies of World War II in 1939, with the rise of
Nazism, all had a definite impact on Mulk Raj Anands mind.

Language in India www.languageinindia.com ISSN 1930-2940 14:8 August 2014

M. V. Sulochana, M.A., M. Phil., Ph.D. Research Scholar
Two Leaves and a Bud Is a Novel on Social Exploitation

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Like many Indo-Anglian writers, this political action took the form of writing novels.
With a social conscience, Anand wrote for the people and of the people because he is a humanist.
One such novel is Two Leaves and A Bud. It was published in London in 1937. Later it was
published in India by Hind Pocket Books (p) Ltd. It comprises 26 chapters.

Gangu, the Indentured Labourer

The novelists concern for the oppressed coolies of the Assam Tea Estates which were
managed by the British is reflected in this novel. It describes the hazardous life or Gangu, an
indentured labourer in an Assam Tea Garden owned by a British man. It was like dynamite as
soon as it was published, as it revealed the truth about how a British master exploits the native
bonded labourers. It is titled very beautifully and romantically, Two Leaves and A Bud from
the song of coolies picking tea leaves:
I will make a good sheaf
Plucking, plucking, plucking
Two leaves and a bud
Two leaves and a bud (p.1)
Bitterness, Violence and Exploitation
The refrain given above suggests the monotonous routine of the work and paradoxically
enough, relieves the workers temporality of its drabness. Apart from this romantic title and the
beautiful Assam hills against the backdrop of which the whole novel is woven, there is no more
romance, love or beauty in the novel. The theme includes bitterness; violence and exploitation
which make our blood boil about the injustices done to the poor coolies. Anands writing is full
of disgust and hate. The angry young man in Anand is more evident than the artist. Anand
describes this tale of plantation life, and their life in the thirties just as Charles Dickens has said
some unsavoury truths about the life of the poor in the Victorian period.
Plot Analysis
The novel starts with the clich of Indian Philosophy: Life is like a Journey (p.1).
Though life is a journey, the poor mans life is the unhappy journey. There are no delightful
resorts on the way and the destination of the journey is also not a heaven but a hell. Gangu, a
Language in India www.languageinindia.com ISSN 1930-2940 14:8 August 2014
M. V. Sulochana, M.A., M. Phil., Ph.D. Research Scholar
Two Leaves and a Bud Is a Novel on Social Exploitation
168

middle aged peasant of Hoshiarpur district falls into the hand of the moneylenders and loses his
land.
Gangu is lured by Buta, the Sardar of the Macpherson Tea estate to leave his home in
Hoshiarpur to come and work as a tea estate laborer in the far off jungles of Assam. He has a son
Buddhu and a daughter Leila besides his wife, Sajani. The promise of good wages and huge
savings and a free gift of a piece of fertile land are temptations which are too strong to resist for
Gangu. So he is forced to go there.
But soon after arriving at Robertson Tea Estate, Gangu starts realizing that he has been
cheated by the vile Sardar Buta. A coolie, Narain, from Bikaner discloses that once a coolie
comes there, he would neither be able to go back of his own free will not be allowed to escape.
The wages for working from morning till evening are three annas for Gangu, two annas for
Sajani and Leila each and half of the anna for Buddhu. In exchange for this, they are abused and
beaten and their wives and daughters are sexually exploited. The merchants charge exorbitant
prices and high interest on loans. Gangu finds that the total income of his whole family does not
suffice to buy even the food items.
The coolies lanes are so dirty that hookworms breed and thrive in abundance. The
danger of cholera always pervades there. But, for the capitalists, coolies are liars, thieves and
lazy. They are not even human beings, but sub-human.
John De La Harve, the plantation Doctor is concerned about the insanitary conditions
there and the epidemics. When the perilous cholera appears, Havre attacks Croft-Cooke, the
boss of the Tea plantation. Cooke gives word that he will do whatever he can do, but nothing is
done. He considers the coolies sub-human. Havre suggests mosquito nets and he is ridiculed by
Croft-Cooke. Soon malaria breaks out and Gangus wife Sajani dies of it. Gangu does not have
money to perform the last rites on her body and goes to borrow from Croft-Cooke, the Burra
Saheb.
On the promise of paying commission to the peon Hamir Singh and Babu Shashi
Bhushan, he is allowed to see the Saheb. But he is driven out as a disease carrier.
Mulk Raj Anand succeeds in projecting the corrupted system and the corruption
prevailing at all levels from top to bottom even in those days. Later Gangu goes to Buta for help
Language in India www.languageinindia.com ISSN 1930-2940 14:8 August 2014
M. V. Sulochana, M.A., M. Phil., Ph.D. Research Scholar
Two Leaves and a Bud Is a Novel on Social Exploitation

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and is advised, in turn, to seek a loan of twenty rupees from the Bania. Thus, the coolies have no
chance of receiving any help from their masters except the abuses and kicks. Gangu turns hardhearted. He is ready to face any humiliation. No other blow is more devasting than the one
inflicted by destiny, the death of his wife.
The Villain
The villain of the novel is Reggie Hunt, the Assistant Manager. The lechery and tyranny
of Hunt increase unchecked. He approaches Leila, Gangus daughter with lust as she plucks tea
leaves alone. He follows her to her house. She is chased by him. When Gangu comes to bar his
way, Reggie shoots him dead. A trial follows and Mr. Justice Mowberley and a jury consisting of
seven Europeans and two Indians find Reggie not guilty of the charges of murder and discharge
him.
The irony of fate is such that Gangu, who comes all the way to the tea plantation at
Assam to begin a new life, meets his abrupt death in the hands of the lecherous beast who
literally haunts him and shoots him dead.
The Plight of Women
Mulk Raj Anand also discusses the plight of women in Two Leaves and A Bud. Coolie
women have to leave their suckling babies in the grass, dust and road and cannot even offer their
breasts to their babies during working time. Those who are beautiful and young are either
hoodwinked or forcibly taken away as was done to Neogis wife. They are rewarded trinkets like
ear or nose rings and their husbands given land. Those who resent are wounded, beaten and fired
enmasse at gun-point. Reggie Hunt brutally enjoys Neogis wife and wounds her. He ruins the
family of Chameli and takes her along with him to his house. When he gets fed up with her, she
is thrown out. He openly lives with three coolie women; Narain, a coolie rightly comments that
nobodys mother or sister is safe in the tea plantation. Death is considered as the attainment of
release amidst the misery of workers.
The Rich in India
Another incarnation of evil is Bania, the traditional Indian figure of concentrated wealth
from whose clutches it is impossible to come out. The pigeon caught by Buddhu, Gangus son is
the symbol of the poor coolie. He cannot adjust himself in the cage and at the same time he
Language in India www.languageinindia.com ISSN 1930-2940 14:8 August 2014
M. V. Sulochana, M.A., M. Phil., Ph.D. Research Scholar
Two Leaves and a Bud Is a Novel on Social Exploitation

170

cannot escape from the bondage. Even the daughter of Croft-Cooke, Barbara, is aware of the
dust of the struggling underworld, its mire, its dirt and its squalor. But she cannot raise her voice
against the atrocities. She represents the section of people who are aware of the exploitation and
feel for the exploited. Dr. La Harve is humiliated showing sympathy with and advocating the
cause of coolies. He is dismissed from service and his beloved Barbara, the daughter of CroftCooke becomes cold towards him. His romance with Barbara comes abruptly to an end and he
leaves the scene for good. The white doctor becomes the mouthpiece of the writer, whose pity is
directed at the illiteracy and the ignorance, superstition and stupidity of the peasants or the rural
folk.
In Harves view, the condition of the coolies all over the world is identical. It makes no
difference whether their employers are foreigners or natives. It is the system that should be
changed. The novel ends on a pessimistic note, leaving the readers with a heavy heart, full of
helpless anger, against the white mans authority and the native mans greed.

The

characterization is angular and sharp - Reggie and Dr. La Harve are two extremes. There are
unforgettable scenes. One of them is Leilas lone struggle with the python that circled her in its
deadly clasp. Thus, the intellectual framework of the novel, triumphs over human interest.
Relevance of the Title
The title of the novel is loaded with significance. For Two Leaves and A Bud put together
is three. Life in this novel is seen from the third angle. The triumvirate of the king, the priest and
the man of wealth monopolize the stranglehold over human race. The kings authority is
sanctified by the priest. He, in turn, holds his sway over the ethereal soul of the masses. The
man of wealth spreads his tentacles over the material life of the people. The three connive, cooperate and complement one another in turn.
Critique
Mulk Raj Anand considered literature and art as the instruments of humanism. His
purpose of spreading humanism is fulfilled in his novels like Two Leaves and A Bud. He has
presented social evils in myriad manifestations and has unveiled many different layers of human
experience in this novel. The story contrasts the silent tragedy in the lives of the poor coolies
with tawdry self-complacency of the British tea plantation owners, as well as the greedy grasping
Language in India www.languageinindia.com ISSN 1930-2940 14:8 August 2014
M. V. Sulochana, M.A., M. Phil., Ph.D. Research Scholar
Two Leaves and a Bud Is a Novel on Social Exploitation

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of the Indian merchants and money lenders. Thus, Anand is a committed writer, concerned with
social evils. His novel Two Leaves and a Bud is a powerful novel in theme and exposition.
Mulk Raj Anand has been accused of caricaturing the white Sahibs by some of the new
brown Sahibs. The new generations or readers will never know that the Assam white planters
were often monstrous in their behaviour and along with the Indian merchants and Banias, the
money lending demons; they exuded terror which had to be experienced to be believed. At any
rate, the people in the gardens call them Rakshas.

Humanitarian compassion might have

distorted action and character. The one saving grace of the novel is the imaginative description
of the plantation scene.
Two Leaves and A Bud is no blood curdling melodrama or a spasmodic declaration of
revenge, but one of the most sensitive novels about the age of slavery through bonded labour in
India. It may be said to be essentially a dramatic novel and certainly it culminates in a tragic
clash of interests and destinies.
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References
1. Anand, Mulk Raj: Two Leaves and A Bud, Hind Pocket Books (p) Ltd, New Delhi, 1937
2. Sharma, C.K: Perspectives of Mulk Raj Anand (Ed), Vimal Prakashan Ghaziabad, 1978.
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M. V. Sulochana, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., (Research Scholar)

Research Scholar,
Department of English,
Language in India www.languageinindia.com ISSN 1930-2940 14:8 August 2014
M. V. Sulochana, M.A., M. Phil., Ph.D. Research Scholar
Two Leaves and a Bud Is a Novel on Social Exploitation

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Centre for Distance Education,

Acharya Nagarjuna University,
Guntur-522 210,
Andhra Pradesh,
India.
Address for Communication:
M. V. Sulochana
W/o. M. V. Sudhakara Murthy
4/117, Main Bazar
PORUMAMILLA-516193
Kadapa Dist,
Andhra Pradesh,
India.
mvsulochana19@gamil.com

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