Animal's People (2007)

Animal's People is a novel by Indra Sinha. It was shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize and is the Winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best Book From Europe & South Asia. Sinha's narrator is a 19-year-old orphan of Khaufpur, born a few days before the 1984 Bhopal disaster, whose spine has become so twisted that he must walk on all fours. Ever since he can remember, he has gone on all fours. Known to everyone simply as Animal, he rejects sympathy, spouts profanity and obsesses about sex. He lives with a crazy old French nun called Ma Franci, and his dog Jara. Also, he falls in love with a local musician's daughter, Nisha.

The story was recorded in Hindi on a series of tapes by Animal (the main protagonist) himself and it has been translated to English as well.

The author uses Animal's odd mixture of Hindi, French and Indianised English such as "kampani" (company), "jarnalis" (journalist) and "jamisponding" (spying, like James Bond).

Title

The title Animal’s People offers interesting insight into the novel, as it gives us a view of the way the people of Khaufpur identified themselves. The chorus of the children copying Elli, after stating she does not understand Animal's People, shows this unification of the people of Khaufpur. "We can hear the chorus of small voices gradually falling behind, ‘Hey Animal’s People!’" Unification of people usually takes place during a disaster, which occurs during and after the crisis in Khaufpur. The title of the novel is used to help identify this unification of people and also to foreshadow the difficulty Elli will face when trying to open the clinic. Elli will have to try to break down the tough barriers which exist in Khaufpur, to help the people move past what they fear the most, change. The comfort they seek is always being able to blame the kampani for what happened to them, and assuming every outsider is there because the kampani sent them. The relation to the title is that Animal is a prime example of the hatred, with his foul mouth and negative attitude towards everything.

The title "Animal’s People" also refers to the difference in behaviors and attitudes between the citizens of Kaufpur and the American doctor, Elli. This becomes apparent on page 183 when Elli is frustrated about everyone's attitude toward her clinic, and yells "HEY ANIMAL’S PEOPLE! I DON’T [...] UNDERSTAND YOU!" She came to Kaufpur with only a mere idea of how the people had suffered. She knew that people were ill and her duty would be to nourish them back to health, but that was the extent of her connection to them. Due to her more fortunate circumstances, she could never fully grasp the trauma and the aftermath of the gas leak or the chronic poverty which plagued the city. Furthermore, she was oblivious to the reasons why the citizens were so untrustworthy toward outsiders. Without experiencing it for herself, Elli the doctress was an outcast among the rest of the city of Kaufpur—Animal's People.

Major characters

Animal

Animal is the protagonist of this story. He is a victim of a chemical factory explosion caused by Kampani and is depicted as a boy with a twisted spine that roams around Khaufpur on both of his hands and feet like a dog. He constantly denies his humanity and claims that he is an animal. After this factory incident, Animal is put in an orphanage and taken care of by Ma Franci. He has no recollection of his parents. Animal openly displays his hatred toward humans yet there is a side of him that yearns to be a human being. Therefore, when an American doctor comes to Khaufpur, he regains his lost hope of being able to stand on his own two feet and dreams for that day to come. Although Animal initially loathes his inability to walk on two feet, in the end, he realizes that being a four-foot is better off for him. By being a four-foot, Animal avoids being one of the millions of upright humans and instead becomes the one and only Animal.

Somraj

Pandit Somraj Tryambak Punekar is Nisha's father and a music teacher. He is described as tall, with a long and pointy nose, and long fingers. He also has a stoic nature, being called solemn and private by Animal. The most important fact about Somraj is that he used to be a famous singer, known throughout India, who was referred to as the Voice of Khaufpur. However the night of the accident he lost his wife and baby son, in addition to his lungs being damaged by the chemicals. He no longer sings, and if he tries he has coughing fits.

Ma Françi

Ma Françi is a nun from France who worked in the orphanage where Animal grew up. She acts as Animal's mother figure and can be described as kind, although mildly senile. Her affliction from the accident is her loss of understanding Hindi and English. She believes that everyone else is speaking gibberish and is unable to understand that they are using another language, not just making random sounds. She also sees prophetic angels as a result of her madness. However, she still does her duties of going from house to house, helping the sick and injured as best she can.

Zafar

Zafar is Nisha's boyfriend. He is described as a man in his late thirties, tall, good-looking, thin with a jutting beard, curly black hair and glasses which makes him appear wise. Zafar is an outsider who is so appalled by the Kampani actions that he moves to Khaufpur to advocate on their behalf. He sacrifices everything in his life, including his studies as a scholar for the poor and sick. He is a saint and hero to the citizens of Khaufpur.

Farouq

Farouq is Animal's friend and nemesis. Farouq's family came to Khaufpur from Yar-yilaqis. His intelligence is that of a criminal in a gang, like his two brothers, or a mechanic. He is Muslim, a movie expert, and Zafar's number two man.

Nisha

Daughter of Somraj, girlfriend of Zafar, friend of Animal. Nisha sees Animal in the gutter and introduces him to Zafar. She is the object of his affection, yet sees him as a friend only.

Elli