Jus ‘notha Rudeboy, InnitCulture, Identity and Hybridity in

Malkani's Londonstani

Department of Liberal ArtsBeaconhouse National University

Bachelors of Arts in English Literature

Mahum Qureshi

Session BA 2008-2013

Supervisor: Rafiya Hasan

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DECLARATION

I, Mahum Qureshi, student of BA (Hons.) English Literature, 2008-2013, hereby declare that the matter printed in the thesis titled “Jus ‘notha Rudeboy, Innit: Culture, Identity and Hybridity in Malkani’s Londonstani” is my own work and has not been printed, published and submitted as research work, thesis orpublication in any form in any University or Research Institute in Pakistan or elsewhere.

Date: 26 September 2013 Mahum Qureshi

___________________

Signature of Deponent

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CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINERS

Certified that the quantum and quality of the research work contained in this thesis titled “Jus ‘notha Rudeboy, Innit: Culture, Identity and Hybridity in Malkani’s Londonstani” is adequate for the degree of Bachelors of Arts in English Literature.

INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

Signature: ---------------- Signature:

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Name: Rafiya Hasan Name: Aqsa Ijaz

Date: --------------------- Date:

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HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

Signature: ----------------

Name: Rafiya Hasan

Date: ---------------------

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To my Nana, Abdul Shakur-ul-Salam

I wish you were still alive to see me graduate

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AcknowledgementsFirstly, without the relentless support and guidance of my

advisor, mentor and department head, Rafiya Hasan, not only would

I have been unable to finish this thesis on time but also my

entire undergraduate degree. My deepest gratitude!

I owe much thanks to Shehzad Amjad for his exhilarating

courses and constant advice, and for introducing me to the

concept of minor literature. I would like to thank Khadija Malik

for introducing me to the novel Londonstani in her exciting

course. My thanks to Hajra Ilahi and Ammar Jan whose courses

helped lay the foundation for my understanding of key concepts in

post-colonialism. Also, without the contributions of all of my

teachers throughout, I would never have reached this point in

life. I hold you all in high esteem.

I appreciate my fiancé, Jawad Raza, for his valuable

brainstorming sessions, guide to resources and constant nagging

to do my work. Your patience is beyond compare!

My thanks to my sisters, Nabia and Natasha, for letting me

order them about, dictating quotes, bringing me snacks and in

general bearing with my crankiness. I owe you for all these

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weeks! I appreciate my mother and both my grandmothers for being

the inspiring, well-educated, independent women that they are. I

value my father and brother’s belief in my ability to do

anything. My sister, Mehreen, thanks for being so special. I pat

the back of my cousin, Myrah, for voluntarily undertaking the

pain-staking task of proof-reading the entire document, adding

feedback and for being my best friend. A special thanks to my

entire platoon of cousins, aunts and uncles for bearing with my

endless rants on the thesis process. Without their life-long

advocacy for education, neither my thesis nor my undergraduate

degree would have been possible.

Lastly, I am grateful to Dr. Sajid Rahim for enabling me to

come this far and making me believe everything is possible.

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Table of ContentsAcknowledgements...............................................4Abstract.......................................................6Chapter One: Introduction......................................7Methodology..................................................10Outline......................................................10

Chapter Two: Culture and Race.................................12Language.....................................................14Ethnic and Racial Dis/Integration............................18Religious Hybridity..........................................24Food and Cricket.............................................28Hyper-masculinity and Sexism.................................31

Chapter Three: Hyphenated Identities..........................35Jas – The Desi...............................................36Jason – The Gora.............................................36Jas’s Foil...................................................41Jas – Londonstani............................................44

Conclusion – Londonstani as Minor Literature.....................48Works Cited...................................................52

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Abstract

Hybridity, as a cultural phenomenon expounded by Homi Bhaba,

goes beyond a simple fusion of identities and redefines modes of

power in a constantly changing environment. Gautam Malkani’s

novel, Londonstani, focuses on this aspect through an emphasis on

language and the complex character of the narrator, Jas. This

paper attempts to determine to what extent Bhaba’s cultural

theory of hybridity is applicable to this novel and its

characters. It addresses the many facets of Bhaba’s theory and

through its application to the novel, hopes to demonstrate the

fluid nature of identity formation. The paper also questions the

novel’s place in the domain of minor literature as defined by

Deleuze and Guattari as an important contributor to hybrid

culture. The paper proceeds to build a strong theoretical

framework, followed by a systematic textual analysis of the

novel. Through this method, it is established that Londonstani and

its narrator exemplify hybridity in Bhaba’s context and the text

qualifies as minor literature. In doing so, the thesis

establishes the space for further analysis of post-colonial

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literatures and minor literature as relevant sites for the study

of hybridity.

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Chapter One: Introduction“In inventing his novel the novelist discovers an aspect of “human nature” till then unknown, concealed.” (Kundera 7-8)

The term ‘hybridity’ was introduced by post-colonial

theorist, Homi Bhaba, in his seminal essay “Signs Taken for

Wonders Questions of Ambivalence and Authority Under a Tree

Outside Delhi, May 1817”:

“Hybridity is the sign of the productivity of colonial power, itsshifting forces and fixities; it is the name for the strategicreversal of the process of domination through disavowal (that is,the production of discriminatory identities that secure the 'pure'and original identity of authority). Hybridity is the revaluationof the assumption of colonial identity through the repetition ofdiscriminatory identity effects. It displays the necessarydeformation and displacement of all sites of discrimination anddomination. It unsettles the mimetic or narcissistic demands ofcolonial power but re-implicates [sic] its identifications instrategies of subversion that turn the gaze of the discriminatedback upon the eye of power. For the colonial hybrid is thearticulation of the ambivalent space where the rite of power isenacted on the site of desire, making its objects at oncedisciplinary and disseminatory [sic] - or, in my mixed metaphor, anegative transparency.” (Bhaba 112)

This is a definition which reiterates the idea of the formation

of an identity based on differentiating the self from the

‘other’. However, the hybrid identity takes the ‘we-are-what-we-

are-because-we-are-not-them’ identity formation to another level.

The post-colonial hybrid defines itself not only in terms of

differentiation but amalgamates the colonial aspect with the

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colonist identity. In the same essay, Bhaba plots a peculiarly

particular post-colonial trajectory of identity formation. In the

stages he traces, the first one involves the subject of colonial

rule indulging in mimicry, trying to cope, replicate and repeat

the patterns of the culture of the colonists. This leads to

ambivalence or uncertainty and disturbs the colonial discourse;

the center starts getting destabilized. Finally, the process

gives birth to hybridity with a mixing of different aspects of

culture, like the language and religion, of both the mother

country and its colony.

The term ‘minor literature’ refers not to “the literature of

a minor language but the literature a minority makes in a major

language” (Deleuze, Guattari and Brinkley 16). A prominent

feature of this kind of literature is the focus on language and

the politics of its use. In that respect, Londonstani can be

termed as a ‘minor literature’ since, within its world, it makes

valid claims to the existing cultural politics. The

novel fulfills this criteria in that “It exists in a narrow

space; every individual matter is immediately plugged into the

political” (Deleuze, Guattari and Brinkley 16). Author, Gautam

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Malkani, can be seen as “political” because he engages with the

dynamics of power in his story, “spatial” because he manages to

de-territorialize the language by subverting its use, and

“revolutionary” since by being these things he manages to subvert

the power discourses and insert an alternate voice, one which

challenges the propagations of the popular and the powerful

(Braziel). Moreover, he has “the desire to de-code or to de-

territorialize” since he seems to be part of a minority which

wants to remain a minority “and affirm perspectives that are not

those of the culture they inhabit.” (Deleuze, Guattari and

Brinkley 13) Moreover, his novel is an attempt to reconcile the

hybrid identity through a language that can capture the

experience and break pre-conceived notions of cultural

identities.

Political scientist, Samuel Huntington says that “In a very

fluid world, people are seeking identity and security. People are

looking for roots and connections to defend themselves against

the unknown.” (Huntington 126) Thereby, he recognizes the need

people feel for having an identity in the modern world. He goes

on to explain cultural identity in the following manner:

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“everyone has multiple identities which may compete with or reinforce eachother: kinship, occupational, cultural, institutional,territorial, educational, partisan, ideological, and others.Identifications along one dimension may clash with those along adifferent dimension… In the contemporary world, cultural identification isdramatically increasing in importance compared to other dimensions ofidentity. [emphasis added]” (Huntington 128)

His explanation illustrates the existence and creation of

multiple identities and their importance in today’s world. He

points to the formation of a cultural identity in association

with the presence of the “other”: “identity at any level –

personal, tribal, racial, civilizational – can only be defined in

relation to an “other,” a different person, tribe, race, or

civilization... Separate codes governed behavior toward those who

are “like us” and the “barbarians” who are not.” (Huntington 129)

Malkani, through his novel, also recognizes the fact that

identities keep changing according to the different situations

that arise:

“your ethnic identity can often be something you choose to expressor not - like other aspects of your identity, you can switch it onor off depending on the context. After all, we all select ouridentities. Nobody tells us who we are anymore - we just have to“be” us by selecting our “self” from different sources.” (Malkani,“About Londonstani”)

Launching into the narration medias res, Gautam Malkani’s

Londonstani introduces a group of teenage Hounslow boys. Through

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Jas/ Jason, Amit, Hardjit and Ravi the race-steeped, second-

generation politics of the area can be analyzed. Even though they

are based in Hounslow, London, the mindset of the boys is

traditional sub-continental. The story is narrated by a nineteen

year old, white boy, Jason Bartholomew-Cliveden. The fact about

his true race is not revealed till the end of the novel, keeping

the perspective from being colored by racial terms outside the

established dynamics. It is only on the second reading that the

hints towards Jas’s actual race become clearer.

Interest in the topics of post-colonialism and hybridity

started and grew through engagement with diaspora and post-

colonial literature. The meeting point of the two histories, of

British and sub-continental identities, forms the space for

hybrid individuals. In the world of Gautam Malkani’s novel

Londonstani, this space is extended and explored through language

and its central character, Jas/ Jason. The primary focus of this

thesis is an exploration of cultural identity, especially the

hybrid identity, in London, England. A textual analysis will

highlight the functions of the above-mentioned cultural theories.

The paper will also assess the novel’s status as a minor

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literature contributing to the formation of hybrid cultures.

Moreover, it attempts to pose the question of the role of hybrid

identities and minor literature in resistance to growing global

powers. The aim of this exploration is to establish a foundation

for further analysis of hybrid identities in literature. The

thesis attempts to move beyond the given parameters that separate

cultural and literary theories from the worlds of literature and

lived experience.

Methodology

In the field of literature, it is not only important to look

at theories but also at the interaction between text, reader and

the world. Since, the purpose of minor literature is to create a

reading which will establish its own assertions (Deleuze,

Guattari and Brinkley 14), this paper attempts to keep in the

same spirit by an analysis which involves a thorough immersion

into the text. It will intersperse textual analysis and make

links with the theories. The investigation will be methodical in

dealing with themes, aiming to locate the novel in the framework

of the theory of hybridity posed by Homi Bhaba.

Note on Terms:

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The term ‘desi’ will be employed in this paper for the

characters who are brown-skinned and of sub-continental, which is

Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, origin. Though the name of the

protagonist is Jason, it is only revealed towards the end. His

nickname Jas is used throughout the novel and therefore will be

used for this paper as well. Taking a cue from Part Three of the

novel, Hardjit, Amit and Ravi, and occasionally Jas, will be

referred to as ‘rudeboys’. The scene in the novel in which Jas’s

actual physical race is disclosed is referred to as the Reveal.

Outline

This thesis is broken down into four chapters. Chapter One

is the introduction, containing sections for methodology and this

outline. Chapter Two deals with the topic of culture, especially

hybrid culture, and is divided into sections for language, ethnic

and racial integration and its problems, religious hybridity,

food and cricket, and hyper-masculinity and sexism. The section

for language deals with the linguistic hybridity of the novel and

the characters. The section for ethnic and racial integration

gives a broad view of cultural hybridity evident in the novel.

Moreover, it deals with the difficulties that are faced within

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metropolitans and hybrid culture. The section on religious

hybridity shows the religious hybridity of various characters.

The section for food and cricket traces how these two areas of

culture become intertwined with race. Lastly, the section on

hyper-masculinity and sexism deals with issues regarding gender

performance and sexuality within the novel.

Chapter Three discusses the racial identity of the narrator,

Jas. It contains sections for different parts of his identity:

Jas – the desi and Jason – the gora. There is a third section

that discusses the character of Arun, Amit’s older brother, as a

foil to Jas. In conclusion, there is a synthesis of the different

aspects of the character of Jas. The last chapter is an

evaluation which presents a crux of the various topics discussed

throughout the paper. Further it establishes how the novel is

part of a minor literature.

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Chapter Two: Culture and Race“Culture, defined in terms of art, music, fashion, cuisine, and so on,might be the broadest and perhaps also the easiest place to think abouthybridity.” (Singh 7)

It is important to note that hybridity might be a newer

concept but co-existence or ‘multi-civilizational’ is not. The

dynamic that a diaspora culture produces is that of the migrant

versus the host country. The dynamic within colonization gives

rise to the power relationship between colony and colonizer.

These dynamics exist wherever there is immigration and

colonization. In both cases, the ensuing hybrid culture conflicts

and contrasts with the dominant culture. As part of culture and

as a piece of art, the novel has a role in the production of

culture, raising the question of where Londonstani leaves the

dominant culture. The general implication of this novel on the

production of culture is that it removes the fine-line between

literature and culture. It represents, in the words of Bhaba, “a

discontinuous history, an estrangement of the English book.”

(Bhaba 113) Londonstani incorporates “the uncanny forces of race,

sexuality, violence, cultural and even climatic differences which

emerge in the colonial discourse as the mixed and split texts of

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hybridity.” (Bhaba 113) Moreover, it exemplifies Bhaba’s

condition that “If the appearance of the English book is read as

a production of colonial hybridity, then it no longer simply

commands authority” (Bhaba 113). Therefore, this novel “is the

effect of uncertainty that afflicts the discourse of power, an

uncertainty that estranges the familiar symbol of English

'national' authority and emerges from its colonial appropriation

as the sign of its difference.” (Bhaba 113) Culture, especially

which is created through the arts, acts as a form of resistance.

Londonstani defines relationships within a certain social

parameter where ironically the former colonizer actually becomes

the colonized. Two cultures living together in the same society,

especially one that is hybrid, tend to shift the power balance

often. A hybrid culture evolves in which different types of

identity crisis may evolve into full-fledged social problems. The

novel identifies these social problems through a portrayal of

different sets of ethnicities and different sets of religions.

The experience of diaspora causes a sense of displacement

which is accentuated by post-colonialism; the former post-

colonial immigrant finds no permanent settlement until it is

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accepted by the previous colonist. Exploring this displacement,

post-colonial theorist Bill Schwarz, describes that “Being

postcolonial… has required, and been triggered by, explicit and

systematic encounters with prevailing philosophies of race and

ethnicity.” (Schwarz 81) His philosophy is centered on describing

a Britain where the “ideas of race, nation and empire

increasingly became fused together.” (Schwarz 84) This is the

Britain that can be seen even in the time and setting of

Londonstani. Further, Schwarz recognizes that “To talk of the loss

of the [British] nation was… to speak of the loss of whiteness.”

(Schwarz 84) In the novel, this loss is exemplified by the

protagonist, Jas. However, as the theory of Bhaba explains, this

loss is only one of the consequences of a generational process.

The stage of mimicry outlined by Bhaba can be observed in

the first-generation desi immigrants of the novel. The parents of

Amit, Hardjit and Ravi, who acted “gora so no one treat’d dem

like dey’d just got off da boat from Bombay, innit. But all da

gora fuck’d wid dem anyway” (Malkani 22-23). The rudeboys

themselves belong to the generation that causes ambivalence and

thinks “in’t no desi needin to kiss the white man’s butt these

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days an you definitely don’t need to actually act like a gora”

(Malkani 23). Jas represents the kind of hybridity where the

colony seems to have colonized the colonizers. The debate between

the boys and Mr. Ashwood, the boys’ old History teacher, in

chapter eleven sums up the themes laid out in Bhaba’s theories.

The boys seem to have an “anti-integration, anti-assimilation

ethic” (Malkani 121). Mr. Ashwood seems to think “today’s youth

culture” should stop “being so divided along ethnic lines”

(Malkani 121). He tries to remind the boys of the immigrant

generation that worked hard and strived “to be accepted by

mainstream society” (Malkani 121-122). Instead the younger

generation seems to be “volunteering for segregation”, wanting

“nothing to do with mainstream society” (Malkani 122). He

perpetuates the ethnic divide by calling the boys “ethnic kids”

(Malkani 122) and “racially charged delinquent[s]” (Malkani 127).

He fails to recognize, like Ravi points out, that the boys “din’t

fuckin come here [Britain]”, they were “born here” (Malkani 122).

He wants to get the boys “interested in our [the British]

mainstream, multicultural society” (Malkani 123). Later, he even

tells Sanjay, the antagonist, that he wants the boys to “become

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more racially integrated” (Malkani 152). Yet Mr. Ashwood falls

into the Kipling trap of thinking of the boys as indulging in

“crude mimicry rather than a more intelligent kind of hybridity”

(Singh 7). He fails to recognize that the behavior of the rudeboy

crew, especially Jas, is an example of cultural hybridity that

establishes its own identity by destabilizing the center and

fusing the cultures of both the former colony and colonist.

Language

Slang has been over looked for many years as a formalized

mode of expression. However, the hybrid identity cannot be

separated from a more inclusive language. Language can help

establish a hybrid identity since it shakes the foundations of

post-colonial power structures. The language of the previous

colonizers, adapted and modified by the former colonized,

destabilizes the power hierarchy. The hybrid language attempts to

go beyond the point of the differences between cultures, cultural

identities and experiences. A mixture of slang and different

languages, a type of hybrid language, is sustained throughout the

novel. About the language that he used, Malkani says that:

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“slang often does have rules and I wanted to use rules and subtledistinctions to highlight fundamental differences betweencharacters who, on a superficial level, are always trying to lookand sound like each other. The point is, the slang isn’t random.There are rules and codes with all slang - otherwise slangwouldn’t create boundaries and barriers to entry. And in the caseof this particular slang, it creates both a racial boundary and agenerational boundary. So, just, like every other aspect of thecharacters’ identities, their seemingly random slang is actuallycarefully constructed and contrived. [emphasis added]” (Malkani,“About Londonstani”)

According to Bhaba’s theory, linguistic hybridity refers to

a situation where “elements from foreign language… enter into a

given language, whether it’s the adoption of English words into

Asian or African languages, or the advent of Asian or African

words into English” (Singh 4). It is also the use of “slang,

patois, pidgin, and dialect” (Singh 5) in literary works. This

technique is used to ““extend the frontiers” of the language

beyond Standard Written English in order to come closer to

capturing the voices and thoughts of people living outside of

Europe or North America”. (Singh 5) Within the parameters of this

definition, the language of the narrator, sustained throughout

the novel, is hybrid. It is a manner of speech captured through

Malkani’s use of a ‘texting’ language or simply the abbreviated

form of words. Moreover, the language of the narrator and by

default of the novel is a mixture of Hindi and English. Hybridity

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is the “displacement of value from symbol to sign that causes the

dominant discourse to split along the axis of its power to be

representative, authoritative.” (Bhaba 113) This is something

that Jas’s hybrid language has the power to do – unsettle the

center and reclaim power for the desi diaspora community and the

hybrid.

A reference to George Orwell’s comment in 1944 about Cockney

English dialect can be used in defense of Jas’s language, and by

default the language employed by Malkani for his novel: “Any word

or usage that is supposedly Cockney is looked on as vulgar, even

when, as is sometimes the case, it is merely an archaism. An

example is ain’t, which is now abandoned in favour of the much

weaker aren’t. But ain’t was good enough English eighty years ago

and Queen Victoria would have said ain’t.” (qtd. in Hennessy 98)

Moreover, “if expression provides an escape, it does so in

connection with a specific cultural context.” (Deleuze, Guattari

and Brinkley 14) The novel uses a form of expression that has a

direct link with the culture that gave birth to it. Moreover,

Malkani is a writer “who has had the misfortune to be born in the

country of a major literature” and must consequently “write in

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its tongue” (Deleuze, Guattari and Brinkley 18). In order for him

to do that and at the same time have a cultural context, he must

“find his own point of underdevelopment, his own jargon, a third

world of his own, a desert of his own.” (Deleuze, Guattari and

Brinkley 18) Londonstani is the successful result of this search.

Jas’s conversation with his former friend, Andy, proves that

he is a language chameleon. Unlike the other ‘gora’, who asks him

“what the word ahstai means in English” while “assuming it’s

Hindi for harder” (Malkani 142), Jas knows not only basic desi

words but also seems fluent in the desi languages. Andy tells Jas

that he does not “know who else to ask” and asks for “a whole

chat-up line in Hindi… an easy-to-remember one” (Malkani 142),

establishing Jas as an unofficial expert at desi languages. Jas

uses the words “tutty” and “oolti” uncountable times to express

his disgust. He knows that “Shanti means peace” (Malkani 77),

what a “mandap” is (Malkani 153) and takes pride in knowing even

basic words like “Shukriya” (Malkani 333).He even uses the word

“thooka” (Malkani 273) instead of spit. These instances make Jas

similar to other characters that also use desi words; Sanjay uses

the word “pani” (Malkani 160) and Samira uses the exclamation

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“Oi” (Malkani 220). This pattern misleads the reader into

thinking that Jas must be a desi himself for knowing the sub-

continental languages so well. The confusion created in the

reader’s mind through the unreliable narrator’s language alone

substantiates Bhaba’s point of the shift in the underlying

meanings of words. Language in this regard is Malkani’s main tool

for both creating and examining the hybrid communities.

The sub-continentals are also linguistic hybrids. Hardjit

can switch into his “best poncey Angrez accent” (Malkani 21) at

will. Tariq also seems to have “a fake poncey accent” (Malkani

107). Hardjit maintains that any individual “shouldn’t just know

either Hindi or Punjabi to keep shit secret from goras but also a

little Urdu slang to keep shit secret from mums an dads.”

(Malkani 67) The parents have their own dialect, like when they

say “won-der-ful” (Malkani 79) or sing “‘Heppi Birday’” (Malkani

62). Amit and Arun’s father speaks entire sentences in Punjabi,

for example “koi gal nahi” (Malkani 261), and also in a mix of

English and Punjabi “Tu time na waste kar” (Malkani 260). To

balance this slip into sounding like a desi, he uses archaic

English words like “smart alec, clever clogs” (Malkani 259. His

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wife follows suit by saying “something in Punjabi” (Malkani 257)

and using the word “smart alec” (Malkani 260). She pronounces ‘w’

as ‘v’, mispronouncing words like what/ “vot”, will/ “vill” and

want/ “vont” (Malkani 252-53). This habit of mispronunciation is

also reflected when their children speak to them, for example

Hardjit talking to his mother says: “mennu CORM-PEW-TAR di

zarurahthai, Mama” (Malkani 67). This is a technique to confuse

the older generation. Hardjit’s strategy is to “start throwin in

even more complicated words and maybe even a bunch a capital

letter and they’ll just give up tryin to understand. Goras got a

similar rule. Except while goras blind their parents with

science, Hardjit also blinds his with English” (Malkani 117).

However, both parties are not to blame since they face the

“Problem of immigrants and especially of their children” by

living “in a language that is not their own” or they “no longer

even know their tongue-or do not know it yet and know a major

tongue which they are forced to use poorly” (Deleuze, Guattari

and Brinkley 19).

Even Mr. Ashwood seems to be proud of his ability to

“pronounce Asian names” (Malkani 113). Yet he refers to the boys’

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hybrid language as “mafiosco code words” (Malkani 120). Amit

retaliates by asserting their right to use “our own language”

(Malkani 120). Mr. Ashwood then clarifies that he thinks “it

admirable the way you boys mix up Hindi with Urdu and Punjabi to

create your own second-generation tongue” (Malkani 120-1221). The

same can be said about Malkani’s novelistic style; a hybrid

language is one of the unconscious identity formation techniques

of the generation of desis that were born in Britain.

Ethnic and Racial Dis/Integration“To see the cultural not as the source of conflict - different cultures -but as the effect of discriminatory practices – the production of culturaldifferentiation as signs of authority- changes its value and its rules ofrecognition. Hybridity intervenes in the exercise of authority notmerely to indicate the impossibility of its identity but to representthe unpredictability of its presence” (Bhaba 114)

A definition of the word ‘integration’ can be borrowed from

an opponent of Commonwealth immigration and integration, Enoch

Powell. In his notorious 1968 speech, Rivers of Blood, he states

that: “To be integrated into a population means to become for all

practical purposes indistinguishable from its other members.”

(Powell) This is the method of integration that Jas adopts.

Powell goes on to recognize that “where there are marked physical

differences, especially of colour, integration is difficult

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though, over a period, not impossible” (Powell). Jas negates this

idea since he represents integration that is not hindered by skin

color. Malkani also states that his novel is about “racial

integration” (Malkani, “About Londonstani”). A character in the

novel, Sanjay, though he’s talking about an economic theory,

seems to describe integration and hybridity: “What was once a

niche is quickly becoming a bedrock of mainstream society”

(Malkani 162). Moreover, when he says that there is “no such

thing as a typical family” (Malkani 162), it can be taken not

just in the sense of the economy but also culturally.

“Cultural hybridity in major metropolitan centers” now

appears to be “a creative way of expressing cosmopolitanism or

eclecticism” and a way of “creating new artistic forms and

developing new ideas” (Singh 8). This can be seen in the London

represented by the novel. The rudeboys attempt, unconsciously, to

combine various cultural and generational norms to form a hybrid

lifestyle. Malkani does the same with the language of the novel.

It is interesting that even the atmosphere of the city of London

is conducive to being a metropolitan. Like Sanjay comments,

London is probably “the only place on the planet where both

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Eskimos and South American Indians could feel at home during the

same bloody week” (Malkani 148). The audience of Hardjit’s fight

also shows the diversity of Hounslow, which has “all different

kinds a people bringin all their different kinds a weather”

(Malkani 96), both literal and metaphorical weather.

Hardjit is such a good fighter that “He got desis an black

kids kickin round together again, just like it was back when

goras still shouted the word Paki an black kids told them to

watchit when they did.” (Malkani 96) There are even a few Chinese

faces in the crowd; Jas says “respect to Oriental kids, it’s

their turn now. Those guys are coming the way a black kids an

desis… In’t nobody messes with em no more, and not just cos they

kick ass at Nintendo” (Malkani 96). National and religious

identities find outlets to establish themself like Tariq,

Hardjit’s opponent at the fight, wearin “green-an-yellow Pakistan

cricket top” and Hardjit wearing an “orange bandana” representing

Sikhism (Malkani 101). Thus the characters seem to exemplify the

theory that “broader levels of civilizational identity mean

deeper consciousness of civilization differences and of the need

to protect what distinguishes “us” from “them”.” (Huntington 129)

Qureshi 32

The ‘other’ seems to shift according to the situation. However,

these differences disappear when an outside force threatens; when

interrogated by white cops, the reply is: “so now we can’t wear

our national colours? U gonna ban us from wearin turbans n

headscarves too then?” (Malkani 107)

Amardeep Singh explicates, with emphasis, that “cultural

hybridity under colonialism seems to be a close cousin of

mimicry. It is very difficult for an Indian or African, subjected

to British rule, to adopt manners or cultural values from the

British without in some sense suppressing his or her own way of

being” (Singh 8). This is what seems to be happening to Jas’s

mother before the reader finds out that she is white. After the

Reveal and on the second reading she is presented as a cultural

hybrid. Though she is white, she tries to act desi. She cooks

“chicken biryani” and puts “extra chillies in it just for his

[Jas’s] sake” (Malkani 32). She has eight pashmina shawls, “she

even wears one when she’s gardening” (Malkani 32). She seems

similar to the parents of the other rudeboys by acting like “a

new immigrant in England” who has a “strong pressure to quickly

acculturate to the norms of the place where one lives, which

Qureshi 33

sometimes entails curbing a thick accent or changing one’s dress

styles or habits” (Singh 8). Malkani also addresses “the fine

line between adapting as an immigrant to a new environment, and

transforming so radically that one risks giving up an essential

part of which one is” (Singh 8). Jas’s mother seems to live on

this “fine line” even though she is the native trying to

assimilate with the majority of immigrants.

Anthropologist Angela Aujla notes that “skin colour and

ethnicity continue to act as markers of one’s place of origin,

markers which are used to ascertain traits and behaviors which

are associated with certain “races”” (Aujla 3). Malkani’s novel

is not the first or the only in literature to capture racial

tension; it is probably not even the best example of this.

However, there is a new perspective given to the issue. Since

most readers read the novel the first time around assuming that

Jas is desi, they overlook his instances of racism towards his

assumed race. For example, the number of times he calls Bobby

“desi Shrek” (Malkani 149, 150, 152, 159, 176, 286) would have

seemed blatantly racist had the reader known throughout that Jas

Qureshi 34

is white. Moreover, instances of racism towards whites from the

desi side also cover-up Jas’s racism.

Right from the onset, the race-related slang terms, like

“Paki”, “white kid” and “gora” (Malkani 3), establish that the

main focus of the novel will be the interaction between different

races. Bannerji et. al. define the term ‘Paki’ as “a common

racist insult directed toward those who appear to be of South

Asian ancestry” which is usually used “in places such as Canada,

Great Britain, and the United States” (qtd. in Aujla 4). The

dynamic in focus in Part One is between the former colonizers,

the whites (goras), and the previously colonized, the sub-

continentals (desis). The opening scene of the novel shows

Hardjit beating up a white boy, Daniel, to teach him that it

“just weren’t right to describe all desi boys as Pakis” (Malkani

4). He elaborates that “none a us got a mum n dad wat actually

come from Pakistan, innit. So don’t u b tellin any a us Pakis dat

we b Pakis like our Paki bredren from Pakistan, u get me”

(Malkani 6). This exemplifies the undercurrent of hostility that

runs within the novel. The terms Pakistani and Indian are

synonymous with Muslim and Hindi/ Sikh. These associations are

Qureshi 35

indicative of “the bloody partition” (Malkani 48) of India and

Pakistan after the physical colonization ended.

The first generation immigrants use the history of

colonization at their convenience. When it is advantageous for

him, for example as an excuse for tax evasion, Ravi’s father digs

up the history of British colonialism; he says paying the tax

reminds him of the Crown jewels, which in turn remind him of

India (Malkani 175). What historical facts do not take into

account is “how some people who weren’t even born when it

happened or awake during history lessons remembered the bloodshed

better than the people who were” (Malkani 48). In the previous

colonizing country, the second-generation seem to have taken this

to an extreme where “Indians are just too racist to use the word

Paki” (Malkani 7). Yet, when faced with opposition from outside,

the two religious groups join ranks and “when a Muslim an a Sikh

guy decide to make like friends… the whole Muslim-Sikh thing

don’t mean jackshit to them no more” (Malkani 106). In such rare

instances, they seem to best recall that the British tried to

obliterate the culture of the entire people of the sub-continent

when they colonized them.

Qureshi 36

Race and ethnicity in the novel are not just limited to

skin-color but include societal prejudices and racial

differentiation, which seem to reassert themselves when under

threat of obliteration. There are terms that hint towards racial

bias throughout, like “boiled-chicken-coloured skin” (Malkani 4)

“gora-lovin” “brown boy” (Malkani 22) “coconut” (Malkani 20) and

“to act like a gora” (Malkani 22). Unlike the dictates of the

first stage of Bhaba’s trajectory, the boys seem to be proud of

their skin. Amit even reiterates a classic joke: “brown people

don’t actually go green… We don’t go red when we been shamed an

we don’t go blue when we dead… we don’t even go purple when we

bruised, jus a darker brown. An still goras got da front to call

us colored.” (Malkani 3-4). While verbally harassing a ‘coconut’

passerby, Hardjit slanders the other by saying: “you think you

better than your own kind cos you is so white” (Malkani 22). Jas

follows this train of thought that “God had given him [the

passerby] brown skin an so he could be a proper desi if he wanted

to” (Malkani 23). In retrospect, after the Reveal, this comment

exposes that skin color is delimiting to racial identity. While

the “gorafied” (Malkani 23) passerby is a prime example of

Qureshi 37

mimicry, Jas becomes the example of the center being

destabilized, causing hybridity. The desi who act white are

called ‘coconuts’ or other “food that was white on the inside”

(Malkani 23). The terms are meant to be derogatory and indicate

someone who is “so white … inside his brown skin he probably

talked like those gorafied desis who read the news on TV”

(Malkani 20-21). Denying the desi identity causes accusations

like “U 2 embarras’d to b a desi? Embarrass’d a your own culture,

huh? Thing is, u is actually an embarrassment to desis. Bet’chyu

can’t even speak yo mother tongue, innit.” (Malkani 22)

In Hardjit’s case, racism seems to overlap with food, ethnic

integration and sexism. For example he says “Dey [the white] can

take our food, but dey can never take our women” (Malkani 139).

While describing how offended Hardjit would be about inter-racial

dating, Jas uses sexist, racist terms: “when it comes to goras

getting with desis it’s like you’re talkin bout goras gang-bangin

his [Hardjit’s] mum” (Malkani 139). Hardjit is racist towards

other ethnicities as well, for example when he uses “Sindhi”

(Malkani 161) as an insult. Yet, when it is to his advantage, he

plays the race card, for instance he tries to intimidate the gym

Qureshi 38

manager by accusing him of calling the rudeboys “Pakis” (Malkani

180). It is not even a far-fetched accusation; Ravi’s father

mentions that some white customers call his family “Pakis”

(Malkani 174), highlighting that there is hostility towards the

desi from the white. A similar attitude can be observed in those

who have tried to assimilate into the white culture. Arun, a

“yuppie coconut” (Malkani 148), insults his parents by saying

that they’re “all so stuck in some Indian village” (Malkani 256).

Similarly, Sanjay tries to appear superior than other desis like

“the archetypal Indian businessman” (Malkani 298) and the ones

from the “Midlands” (Malkani 203). He even tries to act greater

than the white for example by mentioning a “joke about how

British people don’t want to be better than the next guy because

it’s supposedly vulgar or something” (Malkani 163).

The need to emphasize racial identity leads to “racial

tensions” (Malkani 123) as well. There seems to be an anxiety

towards potential racial hybridity. While addressing Jas, the

rudeboys keep voicing this anxiety. For example, Amit and Hardjit

seem to echo each other when, at different points, they say “we

best stick to our own kinds” (Malkani 48) and “let’s jus all

Qureshi 39

stick with our own kinds” (Malkani 65). Jas thinks that they push

this rule to the extreme where “you in’t allowed to fantasise

outside your own race” (Malkani 52). He is in a constant strife

to integrate into the desi rudeboy scene and simultaneously

establish his own racial hybridity. When Amit says “goras

couldn’t even get their facial hair right” Jas replies that “he

was being racist.” (Malkani 7-8). This is also echoed in chapter

six, during the discussion about Samira Ahmed’s looks and Hardjit

telling him to stay away from her, when he points out to Hardjit

“you’re being racist” (Malkani 59).

How far will the questions of race and ethnicity keep

affecting the world since there is bound to come a point, like

Powell predicts, where there is no such thing as a single race?

The world, especially the urban metropolis like London, is in a

state of advanced hybridity. The process did not begin recently

but took hold during colonial times. The people referred to as

‘coconuts’ existed then as well and were proof of this complex

identity, yet the problematic of whites, like Jas, trying to

adapt to the desi identity is relatively newer. This may be

Qureshi 40

because the circularity of colonization shifts the power

hierarchies throughout time.

Basically, in a multicultural society there is a struggle

for acceptance on one hand and a need to maintain a racial and

ethnic identity on the other. Hybrids like Jas are in a position

where they want to take the best of both worlds and form a

sustained, amalgamated lifestyle. However, they cannot always

achieve this since they are forced by society to pick one side

over the other and are pigeon-holed into categories that are not

all-encompassing. A hybrid culture manages to make room for

ethnic and racial integration on both the individual and societal

level.

Religious Hybridity

Religious hybridity is “a widespread theme in colonial and

postcolonial literature” (Singh 8). The post-colonials display

anxieties about “religion (specifically, religious conversion)”

(Singh 4); “the question is usually not whether or not someone

converts to a foreign or imposed religious belief system, but how

different belief systems interact with traditional and local

cultural-religious frameworks” (Singh 17). Moreover, as

Qureshi 41

exemplified in the following paragraph, “the way Hinduism is

practiced and interpreted by many Hindus themselves reflects a

certain amount of "religious hybridity."” (Singh 8) Describing

the history of colonization in terms of culture and race, Schwarz

states that it is the “intense combination of cultural proximity

and racial dislocation” that “ensured that the final moments of

the relations between center and colony were particularly over

determined [sic], not least in Britain itself.” (Schwarz 90) This

is to say that the conflict between Hindus and Muslims that is

explored below is ultimately the result of the sub-continental

colonial experience and its uncertain end, even though there may

be those who wish that “It’s the twenty-first century. Surely

people have forgotten all that 1948 stuff” (Malkani 203).

“Sardarji cops with turban helmets” (Malkani 81) are a hint

towards the hybrid religion in the context of London. Hardjit’s

house, as an extension of his mother, can be seen as a site of

religious hybridity through the passage of religious

interpretation. In the house, “the smells… of freshly cooked

subjhi” and “incense sticks” mingle. In one room is a copy of

“the Guru Granth Sahib on a table”. There are pictures of

Qureshi 42

“various Sikh Gurus” and of “Hindu Gods too”. Jas comments that

“usually you only get Hindus who’ll blend their religion with

Sikhism but Hardjit’s mum an dad were one a the few Sikhs

families who blended back” (Malkani 50). Religion is even mixed

in with a consumer culture indicated by Jas’s observation of the

Hounslow neighborhood: “some houses had got Om symbols stuck on

the wooden front doors behind glass porches some a them had

Khanda Sahibs an others had the Muslim crescent moon… you could

still tell if it was a desi house if there was more than one

satellite dish” (Malkani 17).

Hardjit seems to be the warrior for Hindus and Sikhs; like

“that Bat signal” for Batman, “the homeboys a Hounslow an

Southall should have two signals for Hardjit: an Om for when

Hindus needed him an a Khanda for when Sikhs needed him” (Malkani

78). He wouldn’t fight for the Queen “not when he could fight for

God” (Malkani 81), “whatever the Hindi, Christian, Sikh or Muslim

Gods thought” (Malkani 77). The irony is that by being violent

for trivial reasons, he “abused his religion and his culture”

(Malkani 10). Despite his own overt effort at tolerance, he

“din’t like the way his mum had hung up pictures a Hindu Gods…

Qureshi 43

next to their pictures a Gurus” (Malkani 78). According to the

younger generation, their parents “don’t know jack about

religion” (Malkani 78). They try to take religious practice a

step further like Arun, who says “it made no sense wearin

leather if you din’t eat beef” (Malkani 79). Another example is

Hardjit, who would “win arguments with his dad by quoting bits a

the Guru Granth Sahib that his dad din’t even know – like them

hardcore Muslim kids who keep tellin their parents what it says

in the Koran” (Malkani 78). Hybridity is not a subset of culture

but becomes an overarching form of cultural identity. This is

what happens with the religious identities of the rudeboys.

In the post-colonial context “conversion to Christianity is

seen as a loss and as a form of subservience to foreign cultural

values” (Singh 5-6) “at the expense of personal loyalty or

familial love” (Singh 9). Jas tells Hardjit that he “shouldn’t be

dissin Christianity, that he should check out his mum during

Christmas time… the way his mum always sends out Christmas cards

with a picture a the Nativity on them. How she even puts up a

plastic Christmas tree with an angel on top, right next to the

Buddha statue they got in their living room”. (Malkani 76-77)

Qureshi 44

Therefore, Hardjit’s mother is an example of the type of post-

colonial who “instead of becoming simple Christians… are simply

adding the reference point of Jesus to a very crowded Hindu

pantheon.” (Singh 8) As she tells Jas “it’s cos she believed all

the different Gods are all part a the same crew” (Malkani 77).

Another central dynamic in the religious context of the

novel is the conversion from Hinduism/ Sikhism to Islam. There is

even a term “sisterising” which means “tryin to convert” a girl

“to Islam”. This is used as an excuse by Muslim girls to break up

with their outside-religion boyfriends; they can simply state

that “he brainwashed me into his religion” (Malkani 77).

Moreover, Samira Ahmed is assumed to not be “a strict Muslim”

since “most Muslim fundamentalists are blokes” (Malkani 48). One

of her brothers “belongs to Hizbut-Tahrir or Al-Muhajiroun or one

a dem groups” (Malkani 48) and so would go to extremes trying to

keep her “halal” (Malkani 49). Samira and Jas therefore become

the main focus of the role of gender, race and religion in the

formation of a post-colonial identity.

Jas is a religious hybrid as well; a sarcastic mention of

“one a the Holy Scriptures that I haven’t read yet” (Malkani 80)

Qureshi 45

shows how he has knowledge of the religions of all his friends.

He is even able to maintain his own with Arun, a practicing

Hindu, by talking about “artha” which he knows to be “the Hindu

duty to do well for yourself materially” (Malkani 80). However,

Jas’s actual religion is not made clear even after the Reveal.

There is no direct clue; it is only hinted at. It can only be

deciphered using the process of elimination. He is “not Muslim”

(Malkani 213) since he clearly states it again and again. Since

the only reason he had “to get circumcised cos a some infection

I’d got down there” (Malkani 320), he is probably not Jewish. He

is not particularly religious as he wonders how “people do all a

them religious fasts” (Malkani 274). It probably would not even

enter the reader’s mind that Jas might just be Christian even if

he is a desi. Jas thinks that “Every time someone we know dies

they go to Heaven or Hell or get reincarnated via the

crematorium” (Malkani 265). The reader assumes he is Hindu since

he follows “the Hindu custom” of letting the beard grow till

someone’s funeral (Malkani 279). He even knows the complicated

reason behind it:

Qureshi 46

“It’s cos before the cremation, the dead person’s spirit s’posedto be hangin around on earth. Might even come an hang around withyou, hug you, bless, whatever. So you can’t handle sharp thingslike razor blades cos you might hurt the spirit with them. Youalso can’t hold needles, pins, scissors. Nothin.” (Malkani 279)

However, when he is debating whether Arun is in Heaven or Hell

(Malkani 311), it shows that, at an unconscious level he is not a

believer of Hindu reincarnation.

Food and Cricket

The narrator, Jas, is like the Nigerian writer Chinua

Achebe, “He often finds himself describing situations or modes of

thought which have no direct equivalent in the English way of

life.” (qtd. in Singh 4) Therefore, he finds and frequently uses

similes in cricket and food.

In order to understand how Jas, the white boy, has so much

knowledge about desi food, it is important to note that even

during the fifties, the British had started becoming familiar

with the food of their former colonies. It can be traced that

after “the immigrations of the nineteen fifty’s, Indian, Chinese,

and Middle Eastern flavors began increasingly to fill the desire

for something ‘tasty’” (Hennessy 16). These cuisines “altered the

standard fare and the collective pallet of the home nation

Qureshi 47

[Britain] for ever” (Hennessy 16). An example of ethnic

integration and hybridity in the realm of food is when Sanjay

airs his plan of opening a restaurant with a fusion of “Japanese,

Lebanese and traditional kosher food. Apparently it’s the only

fusion experience London’s restaurant scene doesn’t offer yet”

(Malkani 154). Moreover, Jas knows the ethnic Indian culture well

enough that he is familiar with much of the desi cuisine.

Jas’s references to desi food also contribute to deceiving

the reader into thinking that he is desi himself. He talks about

“saag stain” (Malkani 144), “Lahore kebab” (Malkani 170), “dodgy,

under-cooked kebab” (Malkani 326), “tandoori restaurant” (Malkani

182), “ladoo flab” (Malkani 182), “napalm chilli sauce” (Malkani

327) and various other sub-continental dishes. When describing

how spoilt Hardjit is, he says that Hardjit’s “mum’s food in’t

never too dodgy for her darling sona puther beita” (Malkani186).

Similarly, “kebabs” become a way for Ravi’s mother to blackmail

her son (Malkani 172-73). Even during his friend, Arun’s,

funeral, all Jas can think of is food and how he will no longer

be able to have Arun and Amit’s mother’s “pakoras an samosas”

(Malkani 275). It is interesting to note, however, that Jas is

Qureshi 48

not as familiar with Chinese food since he does not know that

“Chinese tea an this stuff called sake” (Malkani 240) is the same

thing. He knows only the English names for the Chinese/ Japanese

food he eats with Samira on their date, like “stir-fry XO eel

roll in yellow bean sauce” (Malkani 241) and “lychee ice-cream

sorbet” (Malkani 245).

Moreover, many of the violent incidents that enter the

narrative are framed in terms of food; for example the roulette

the minions of Sanjay play with a tattler uses “gulab jamun”

instead of an apple (Malkani 307). Sanjay’s father disowning him

is described as him being dropped “like a hot samosa filled with

maggots and shit” (Malkani 298). Arun and Amit’s mother’s angry

voice is compared to the sound of “boiling frying pan oil”

(Malkani 251). Their father’s threat of punishment for swearing

is filling his sons’ mouths with “red chillies” (Malkani 256). In

contrast, “chai” (Malkani 257) is used to cool tempers. Even

while describing the violent things he was imagining doing to his

assailants’ eyes, Jas uses an Indian food analogy: “two pakoras

fried in sunflower oil an dipped in some aunty’s napalm sauce”

(Malkani 317).

Qureshi 49

Just like desi food, cricket is an important metaphor in the

novel since it is one of the factors that contribute to the

destabilization of the center. Much like the hybrid language of

the novel, it is an aspect of the culture of the colonist that

the colonials adopt and turn into their own mode of resistance.

In general terms:

“Sport is immensely important to any serious attempt to reconstruct a nation’s collective life in any period since the mid- to-late nineteenthcentury when it became organized with rules plus bodies to oversee them.What one might call the ‘shallow play’ of a country is very indicative of the rival pulls of the individual and the collective… the private andthe public and, inevitability, the fissures of class and status that exist… In that sense it is also highly revealing ‘deep plays’ at work ina society.” (Hennessy 88)

Jas is unaware that the cricket references in his narrative

are more in tune with a white, British identity than a desi one.

He comes from a British tradition of valuing cricket as more than

a sport, and as Hennessy notes, “It is difficult… from the

perspective of the early 21st century to appreciate just how

powerful a grip cricket exerted on the collective sporting

mentalie of the English in the early post war years” (Hennessy 88).

Just like the fifty’s English commentator, Neville Cardus, Jas

uses “cricket as a metaphor for wider aspects” of culture

(Hennessy 90). His sporadic references to cricket appear as an

Qureshi 50

attempt to fit in with his desi friends, especially considering

the level of popularity the sport has with sub-continental

people. However, it is important to note that the cricket

enthusiasm of the white British is equal to, if not more than,

that of the desi. For example, the Ashes are one of the oldest

and most popular events on the sporting calendar. They have a

history that is intertwined with the colonial times; even though

Australia was just a colony, it defeated the home country and its

master, Britain, on its home soil (Sky Sports). The legend of the

Ashes signifies the pride the British have in their cricket team

and how hard it hits them when they lose. Similarly, the sub-

continentals have a strong emotional attachment with the sport

and are distressed especially when they lose to political rivals.

However, when Jas makes constant references to cricket, like

those listed below, they are more of an indication of his white

identity than a desi one. Cricket is one of the sites of

hybridity, not merely because the former colonies adopted cricket

and assimilated it as their own, but also because it is where the

colony can destabilize the colonizer. Malkani had to keep this

balance to maintain the ambiguity surrounding Jas’s racial

Qureshi 51

identity. Cricket becomes the medium through which Jas can be

assumed to be desi, and yet on the second reading make it obvious

that he is white. Basically it becomes one of the sites of

subverting power and the emergence of hybridity in Jas’s

character.

Jas states that “Basketball “in’t cricket” (Malkani 224) and

that “shooting hoops is like being the bowler in a game a

cricket” (Malkani 279). He compares the happiness of Americans at

spotting their flag to Tendulkar, the Indian batsman, scoring a

six (Malkani 209). Similarly Arun and his parents use the rules

of cricket as a middle ground for trying to understand Indian

traditions (Malkani 259-60). Samira’s father’s assimilation is

exemplified by him limiting racial tensions to the sports field,

thinking that “the only battle with Hindustan is on the cricket

path, and even then he supports India whenever they’re not

playing Pakistan” (Malkani 244). Mr. Ashwood assumes Amit must be

“a keen cricketer” since his father used to coach the cricket

team (Malkani 119). One of the reasons why Karoline Slåttum

assumed Jas was desi was because his father appeared to be a

cricket enthusiast; the only time he comes home from work early,

Qureshi 52

the first thing he does is check the “cricket scores” (Malkani

190).

Hyper-masculinity and Sexism

“If Hardjit, Ravi and Amit’s ethnic identity is basically just atool to reaffirm their masculinity, it suggests the underlyinghyper-masculinity could just as easily be expressed throughsomething else - for example, football hooliganism, extreme sportsor business or whatever. It’s just a front for something else - itdoesn’t necessarily have to be emphasised or asserted the way thecharacters in the book do so.” (Malkani, “About Londonstani”)

Malkani’s quote above illustrates that the rudeboys use ethnicity

as an excuse to assert their masculinity. Hardjit and Jas’s

repeated arguments over Samira, delineate that desi men attempt

to establish their identity by trying to control the women. If

she is from a desi family, there are set rules that dictate the

behavior and priorities of “good desi girls” (Malkani 46). For

instance, “a girl’s gotta be a virgin if she wants to be a proper

desi” and “desi girls in’t meant to be into that kind a thing”

(Malkani 52) like sex for pleasure. Jas summarizes the “standard

desi-girl rules that said all you should do is smile, look

pretty, not get too mothi, do what you’re told by your elders an

whoever else you’re s’posed to respect an maybe learn advanced as

well as basic Indian cookin.” (Malkani 63) Samira is an exception

which “just couldn’t help breakin all a those rules that required

Qureshi 53

desi girls to check themselves all the time, to check what they

say an what they do.” (Malkani 63) The hybrid culture adapts to

these restrictions, finding loopholes like “bhangra gigs at two

in the afternoon cos… it’s the only time some desi mums’ll let

their daughters go out” (Malkani 74).

After Jas is known to be white, even misogynist comments

highlight the fine lines between color, racial identity,

hybridity, and sexual identity and preference. Anxieties about

racial hybridity, especially coming from cultural hybrids, are

ironic and humorous. Comments like “fit goris”, “fit kaalis” and

“Indian women… are different” (Malkani 56) become indicators of

the fact that race, identity and sexual preference are fluid and

not readily compartmentalized. Most of Jas’s misogyny is

borrowed. For example, it is Sanjay who objectifies women by

referring to them as “tasty takeaway meat” and “the juiciest

meat” (Malkani 216). He refers to his teeth as “a thong-removal

system” (Malkani 217) and “collected magazines that’d got his

ladies on the front cover” as “trophies” instead of “notches” on

his bedpost or “panties” (Malkani 138). He thinks that calling

the boys women, with phrases like “oestrogen in the local water

Qureshi 54

supply” (Malkani 158) and “pussy” (Malkani 161), is equal to

calling them cowards. Also, it is Sanjay’s rules Jas is referring

to when he thinks it is “all part of being a guy… It’s a basic

rule of getting laid: a lady worth sleeping with, whether she’s

desi or she’s a non-desi, won’t want to sleep with a guy she

knows he wants to sleep with her.” (Malkani 137) It is one of

Ravi’s oft-repeated lines that get stuck in Jas’s head: “ladies

judge how you’re gonna handle their bodies by how you handle a

car” (Malkani 131). Similarly, his thought that “it was all the

girl’s fault for only going for well-built blokes” (Malkani 183)

is a repetition of what his former friend, Sunil, used to say.

Moreover, it is Hardjit who “ain’t gonna have no daughter” since

all his “sperm are men” and his “sperm cells got bigger dicks den

dat chota maggot” Jas has (Malkani 173). The desi rudeboys refer

to women in a degrading manner for example as “conquest”, “shags”

(Malkani 138) and “bitch” (Malkani 138, 173). The older

generation is not far behind in sexist tendencies. Ravi’s father

defines dowry as a way of balancing the liability of having a

daughter-in-law (Malkani 173-74). Even Andy is simultaneously

Qureshi 55

racist and sexist, referring to desi women as “Asian birds”

(Malkani 141) and “Indian fortress” (Malkani 142). However, it is

Jas himself who refers to a music video objectifying women’s body

parts and compares butt cheeks to “two warm pillows fluffed up”

(Malkani 148). He thinks that rakhi, the “sister tax”, “could’ve

been invented by a girl” (Malkani 168) since it benefits women.

Homophobia, like sexism, is a way in which the rudeboys

establish their masculinity. In general, Jas seems to be more

homophobic, while the other desi characters are more worried

about impotency. He keeps using the words “batty” (Malkani 149,

152, 169, 197, 250, 255), ‘ponce’ and “dickless” (Malkani 160,

194, 199, 280, 284). He associates certain behaviors with

homosexuality, like “Batty boys chuckle. Ponces chuckle.”

(Malkani 152), “lookin like a ponce” (Malkani 153) and thinking

his history teacher “was probly gay” for caring about his

students (Malkani 31). He discusses Devdas’s impotence (Malkani

238) in order to up himself in front of Samira. He uses phrases

like “be a man” (Malkani 250, 255), “gaylord” (Malkani 33) and

“electrodes into his testicles” (Malkani 195). Yet, he is

flattered when Hardjit compliments him about his style (Malkani

Qureshi 56

220). Ravi says about Sanjay and Bobby: “I knew dis coconut’d b a

batty, dey both gonna rape us” (Malkani 149). Later, Sanjay

insults Jas by saying he would “go limp” (Malkani 291) before

climax and needed “extra small size” condoms (Malkani 292). It is

interesting to note that many of the things Jas thinks are gay

are actually signs of being a gentleman or being in touch with

the feminine side. These various incidences are linked with the

hyper-masculinity of the rudeboys and the tough exterior they are

trying to show the world; there is no room for softness or a

feminine touch in the world of rudeboys.

Qureshi 57

Chapter Three: Hyphenated Identities“Identity is formed at the unstable point where the ‘unspeakable’stories of a subjectivity meet the narratives of history, of a culture.”(qtd. in Schwarz 86)

Upon a second reading of Londonstani, the different

identities Jas seems to embrace can be explored and it can be

questioned which of these plays the most important role. Britain

has “a particular historical memory (whose central component was

organized around the agency of the white man) and a particular

conception of identity in which (entitlement to identity was

weighted ethnically as well as by gender).” (Schwarz 85)

Similarly, as discussed in the previous chapter of the paper,

race, gender, religion and the history of colonization play their

part in Jas’s identity formation. However, it is important to

trace which one of these is most important for his identity and

by default for the novel. Malkani notes that in metropolitan

cities like London, racial identity is part of the vast spectrum

of “fictionalised performances” (Malkani, “About Londonstani”).

This means that race is a part of identity that is not only

biological but also societal and behavioral. It is formed by

acting in ways that are identified with specific races. Moreover,

Qureshi 58

if one acts and behaves in a manner that is associated with

another race that is not in accord with the biological one, it

becomes a fiction. The characterization of Jas also raises the

problematic of a racial identity beyond the physical color of

skin, specifically since he chooses a behavioral pattern that is

not in accord with his biological race.

In her thesis, Karoline Slåttum traces what made her feel

that the narrator was an Asian. Though it is true that most of

the novel is constructed in a manner which is ambiguous towards

the matter of Jas’s race, the author has still left enough clues

for the observant reader. Since many readers employ their own

assumptions, knowledge of stereotypes and prejudices while

interacting with a text, for most readers it would take a second

reading to figure out the hints. While this holds true, the

readers cannot be held completely responsible if the narrator

himself is confused.

Jas – The Desi“In coping with identity crisis, what counts for people are blood andbelief, faith and family. People rally to those with similar ancestors,religion, language, values, and institutions and distance themselvesfrom those with different ones.” (Huntington 126)

Qureshi 59

The preceding quote illustrates why the first-time assuming,

stereotyping and prejudiced reader might be lulled into the

belief that Jas is a desi. Many of the situations which make the

reader assume that Jas is brown involve him attempting to

distance himself from other white people. He refers to other

white people as ‘goras’ (Malkani 131, 142). He says that “it’s

mostly goras who download” fusion music (Malkani 225) and “Safe

as fuckin houses, as goras sometimes say” (Malkani 223).

Moreover, it seems as if his skin is actually darker than the

average white since he calls himself a “scrawny, dark-skinned

waiter” compared to “fit, fair-skinned women” and “fair-skinned

wedding guests who din’t even look you in the eye as she spoke”

(Malkani 144). Also, he refers to himself as “another rudeboy”

(Malkani 140). Even the instances where Malkani can disclose

Jas’s racial identity, he withholds it. For example, when he is

asking Samira out, Jas puts a religious identity before a racial

one saying: “I know you’re Muslim an I know I in’t Muslim”

(Malkani 143), and later thinks “You Muslim. Me not.” (Malkani

168)

Qureshi 60

Jason – The Gora

As mentioned before, there are hints towards Jas’s racial

identity throughout the novel. They are mostly veiled by the

instances where it seems he is desi, but upon a second reading

become glaringly obvious. One such example is when Ravi insults

the rudeboys by saying he’s been with all their mothers, he makes

a special comment: “except Jas’s a course” (Malkani 207).

Similarly, the other characters compare him to white celebrities:

“a couple a people had said I looked a little like Justin

Timberlake, only skinnier” (Malkani 27) and Samira compares his

dance moves to Justin Timberlake (Malkani 220). Sanjay compares

him in the negative to Leonardo Di Caprio (Malkani 203). His

father compares him to someone from the movie Saturday Night

Fever (Malkani 197), which has no desi cast. Jas himself tries to

sound like Johnny Depp, Pierce Brosnan and Brad Pitt, all white

actors, till finally settling for a more hybrid “cross between

Andy Garcia an Shah Rukh Khan (Malkani 143). Confusing instances

like these make sense after the Reveal.

Since this Reveal is not till the end of the novel, Jas’s

instances of racial confusion are overlooked and their complexity

Qureshi 61

is seen only in the second reading. This can be seen in his

racist sentiments towards his mother. The constant Nazi

references in relation to his mother indicate the sense of

fascism that comes with a dominant culture trying to acclimatize

and adjust to a new atmosphere without wanting to relinquish its

power. They cannot be written off as casual slur. The only time

Jas mentions trying to talk to his father is “about the Nazis an

Bolsheviks” (Malkani 165), implying that he knows the historical

sensitivity of the word. He even wonders what it would be like

“to be a Nazi” (Malkani 31).

Jas’s mother’s behavior shows how different cultures lose

their unique identity in a hybrid society. People attempt to

recapture the lost identity through different ways. According to

Huntington, people grope for groupings and find new affiliations

in a hybrid society but these associations may not be as strong

as the idea of a singular identity dominating a country. The

fascist tendencies in a social construct strive to dictate social

order, trying to keep it free from any ‘impurity’ that might

exist in society. Identity needs to be constant but within a

social structure, the more cultures intermingle, the more

Qureshi 62

problems arise. The way Jas keeps thinking of his mother as a

dictator, “a paranoid control freak military dictator” (Malkani

310) to be exact, indicates that he views anything that opposes

his assumed desi identity as fascist. Without actually trying to

see the other side of the picture, his own hybrid identity makes

him adhere to equally fascist ideology of the desi boys, as in

the ‘Rudeboy Rules’. He also thinks that the desi, rudeboy

identity is glorified and more acceptable than the dominant

perception of the white identity which he is trying to run away

from. This may be because he lives in a desi-majority area and

therefore the norms of his friends become the standard of

normality by which he judges himself and those around him.

Even though his parents are like a smokescreen to Jas’s true

race, a closer look at the text shows irregularities in the

description. His “mum’d always wanted to learn piano when she was

a little girl but her parents couldn’t afford the lessons”

(Malkani 136) not because she’s desi but because she was probably

born in post-war Britain. She is “a fairer-skinned version a

Amit’s mum” (Malkani 322), “cold an pale” (Malkani 325) and has

“newly threaded eyebrows” (Malkani 323). The special mention of

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the fact that “she even tried to cook like their mothers”

(Malkani 331) shows how different she is from Jas’s friends’

mothers. Moreover, his parents act differently from the other

parents, for example when he mentions “Mum an Dad weren’t gonna

do any a the Diwali dusting” (Malkani 168). Similarly, Amit and

Arun’s “Mum’s gone to Feltham to watch that new Salman Khan film”

(Malkani 223) yet when referring to his parents he wonders “Why

would you guys go to the cinema to see a Bollywood film?”

(Malkani 329)

Other situations in the text also have no obvious

explanation upon the first reading and only make sense after the

twist in the end. For instance, when Jas is feeling embarrassed

about a lack of female relatives who could increase his friends’

rakhi collections, it is not that he has no female cousins

whatsoever but none that would tie rakhis because they are

probably not desi (Malkani 169). Ravis’s mother “keeps staring”

at Jas’s rakhis and he imagines her thinking “Why it is you got

more rakhis than my son?” (Malkani 168); after the Reveal, the

reader can add: ‘even though you are white’. It is as if Jas, the

white boy, has no right to be getting more rakhis than her desi

Qureshi 64

son. When Jas mentions his friends were made fun of because of

him, “other people had laughed at them for hangin round with a

guy like me” (Malkani 269), the reader assumes it is because of

his former stammering, unpopular status and him being their

“charity case” (Malkani 224). Even Mr. Ashwood drops a hint by

saying that the rudeboys’ “idea of diversity seems to be limited

to recruiting Jas” (Malkani 121).Similarly, when Hardjit is

arguing with the gym manager, Jas steps in and soothes things

over, not because his explanation makes more sense but because

he’s white (Malkani 180). Also at the gym, when Hardjit calls the

manager Mr. James Braithwaite-Whatever-da-fuck-yo-name-is”, the

reader is given a hint of why Jas would be worried about his

surname (Malkani 179). Jas is always worrying about how people do

not say his surname right. The first-time reader assumes this is

because it is a non-English name and he thinks people may

mispronounce it.

Furthermore, Jas uses phrases that are used in relation to

white people for his own self, indicating his actual skin color.

The phrase “a guy like me” (Malkani 245) is a repetition of what

Andy, the white boy, calls himself (Malkani 142). Amit says that

Qureshi 65

if the facial hair of the whites “weren’t too blond, it was too

bumfluffy” (Malkani 8). Later Jas repeats this same term used in

relation to the white for himself: “straggling bumfluff” (Malkani

35, 317). When he imagines “werewolves”, “vampires”, “Goblins,

ghouls, ghosts, clowns” (Malkani 313) chasing him, the second-

time reader can notice that they are all Western monsters; Jas’s

imagination cannot extend to desi versions.

Malkani manages to keep Jas’s actual race a mystery till the

very paragraph in which the Reveal takes place. The final family

showdown holds clues that make it obvious that Jas is, in fact,

white. His parents keep using phrases like “We told you they were

different to you… You’re not like those kind of boys” (Malkani

324) and “Because you think you’re one of them? ... You’re not

like them” (Malkani 330). His father even goes to the extent of

asking whether Jas thinks his parents are being racist towards

his friends (Malkani 331). Finally, it is disclosed that Jas is

actually white (Malkani 331) and his real name is Jason. Even the

mystery of his last name is solved; it is Bartholomew-Cliveden

and the reason for his anxiety is due to it being hyphenated and

Qureshi 66

people saying it wrong as shown when the nurse calls his father

Mr. Cliveden (Malkani 332).

Huntington notes that “Spurred by modernization, global

politics is being reconfigured along cultural lines” (Huntington

125), and that “Political boundaries increasingly are drawn to

coincide with cultural: ethnic, religious, and civilizational”

(Huntington 125). These factors may lead to conflicts along the

same lines. Moreover, cultural politics get intertwined with

“identity politics” (Schwarz 85), especially in the novel. The

post-colonial minds, in this case Hardjit and his rudeboy crew,

are trying to stamp their authority on the land which ruled their

ancestral home for over two centuries. The hostility that arises

from this effort leads to a mixture of revulsion towards the

white majority and a certain curiosity to know what is it like to

be white. This is where Jas comes in; he is running away from his

white-ness and trying to fit in with the brown-skinned. Yet he

cannot fully integrate himself into the desi scene because his

mind is not the product of years of subjugation. Even though he

tries to act like the post-colonial characters in the novel, he

cannot understand the complexity of the group he is trying to be

Qureshi 67

a part of. Moreover, he does not have the conflicted sense of

inferiority that the other desi boys have due to their

inheritance of a history of colonization.

Jas’s Foil

The conflict within a hybrid culture leads to

‘irregularities’ which various ethnicities find hard to adapt to.

The ‘irregularities’ may include but are not limited to a

generation of inter-racial individuals, a cacophony of mixed

languages and individuals who adapt to multiculturalism in a

manner that negates their inherited culture. The last can be seen

in the cases of both Arun and Jas. In this manner Arun becomes

Jas’s foil, bringing out the veiled aspects of Jas’s identity by

acting as a contrast. Jas’s attempt at avoiding his English

heritage is very similar to Arun’s running away from the desi

culture; the brown wants to be white and the white wants to be

brown. While living in London and trying to assimilate to the

British culture, even though it conflicts with their own, the

first-generation immigrants and their families find it hard to

escape their own culture. By always trying to do things “the way

things are done” (Malkani 88), they lose the meaning of

Qureshi 68

‘tradition’, merely implying it and retaining only its skeleton

(Deleuze, Guattari and Brinkley 21). The difference between

generations can be summed up as the difference between Arun and

Amit’s parents’ point of view that “it’s the way things are done”

(Malkani 88) and Arun and Amit’s view that “things shudn’t be

done jus cos dat’s da way dey always done” (Malkani 89). Despite

the location, the showdown scenes with Arun and Amit’s family

appear to be right out of an Indian television drama. For Arun,

the only way out of this clash of cultures is death.

Arun and Amit’s mother seems to cling to “an obsession with

caste purity which was forbiddingly intolerant and oppressive and

certainly not conducive to the ideas of liberty or freedom of

will” (Bhatt 42). Hardjit extends this archaic exclusivity to

racial differences, countering Jas’s logic that whites and desi

aren’t “a breed apart” by suggesting that they should actually

“breed apart” (Malkani 139). Arun wants to rationalize his way

out of this trap by trying to explain to his parents how these

things are not important; his in-laws “didn’t even know about all

our fucking caste” (Malkani 256) until his mother told them.

However, to this his parents retort that he’s become too

Qureshi 69

“Westrenised” (Malkani 258). His brother, Amit, tells Jas to

“stop tryin to turn him [Arun] into a coconut” (Malkani 255).

Arun’s behavior, his remark about how he wants to “cure” his

“headache with a fucking gun” (Malkani 256) and Jas’s observation

that “he looks like a mental patient” (Malkani 253) hint at how

he is tired of the same arguments which have, in fact, made him

suicidal.

Basically Arun wants independence and wants to live his life

the British way. However, his mother thinks that if Arun has

chosen who to marry, she will dictate how the wedding will take

place. She is steadfast in arranging the wedding the strictly

traditional way. She is afraid that Reena, Arun’s fiancée, will

take her son away, not physically but emotionally. In order to

avoid this, she wants to take control not only of Arun but also

his future by making sure the bride’s family is beneath her. She

sees Reena as a threat because Reena is an independent woman

making her own living as a surgeon. In the traditional sense,

Reena escapes the position of being a subordinate and it is clear

that marrying Arun is a choice not an obligation. Arun’s mother,

however, sees the marriage as a loss of her son to an unknown way

Qureshi 70

of life. She is threatened by the modern and hybrid world she

confronts in Britain, which is dominated by white people who used

to run her homeland, India, before independence. She sees control

over Arun as having control over the British way of life and an

attempt to salvage her own. She thinks Arun is being rude because

he is adopting the ways of the ‘other’. She is attached to the

desi way of life where the children and their spouses are

supposed to be obedient and respectful no matter what and how old

they become. Back home, with the norm of the joint-family system,

she would have been able to keep an eye on her son and his future

family.

However, Arun is the kind of person who always needs a

rational reason for everything. He believes logic should be the

governing force behind everything. He sees what his mother would

call ‘care’ as an infringement on his individuality. When two

people with strong biological ties constantly disagree, it leads

to bickering and quarrels and continuous feelings of hurt and

disappointment. Not only does the generation gap lead to the

conflict between mother and son but the racial-social gap

contributes to the confusion as well. On one hand is the mother

Qureshi 71

who was born and raised in India and on the other hand is the son

who has grown up in Britain – two places with different, yet not

entirely irreconcilable, norms and ways of life.

Since Jas is also avoiding his cultural and racial heritage,

Arun becomes an alternate reading of how Jas’s story might have

played out. In the end, where Jas has been beaten up by unknown

assailants, the reader sees how his behavior brought him close to

death as well. The attack on Jas happens when he is trying to

steal cellphones from his father’s warehouse on Sanjay’s

instructions. There is a mystery surrounding who the three

assailants were. Malkani wants to leave it to the reader to

imagine whether the aggressors were Sanjay’s men, Samira’s

brothers or the rudeboys. In either case, the attack links up

with the fact that Jas dates Samira, who is of an inferior race

than himself. Whereas Arun tries to negate his mother’s control

by taking his own life, Jas carries on rebelling against his

parents by remaining his hybrid self. Arun represents a failed

hybrid, one who is in the disadvantaged position of the weak

previously-colonized trying to act like the powerful previous-

colonizer. Jas, on the other hand, has the advantage of being

Qureshi 72

biologically white. However, even this biological advantage does

not help when he transgresses the limits set by his assumed desi

identity.

Had Arun decided to take his defiance to an extreme by

marrying a white, he might have been forgiven by his mother since

he would have been moving up the power hierarchy. However, in the

reversed gender and race situation, with Samira being the desi

that the white boy Jas is dating, the established hierarchy of

race and culture is threatened and destabilized. The psychology

of this complex power structure in racial terms is captured in

the cases of both Jas and Arun. It highlights the fact that even

at an individual level, culture is moving into a direction that

can be disenfranchising and inclusive at the same time. The

acuteness of this duality of culture is emphasized by the violent

consequences for both, Arun’s suicide and the attack on Jas. Jas

is an example of the survivor hybrid that emerges from his

dilemmas and complexes as proof of the constant movement while

Arun succumbs to the pressures of his hybrid situation. Bhaba

emphasize that fluid cultures in the post-colonial era involves a

constant movement towards hybridity, at the individual and social

Qureshi 73

level. However, the consequent hybrid may be, like Arun, unstable

and therefore unable to cope with the assimilation of cultures.

Arun is incapable of reflecting upon his own cultural heritage

and making an effort to further consciously incorporate it into

his identity. Whereas, though he may not be aware of it, Jas

still has the residue of his white identity. This part of his

identity is deep-rooted and cannot be changed without deliberate

effort. Due to the ensuing synthesis of the two facets of his

personality, he is able to sustain his hybrid identity.

Jas – Londonstani“If you defined yourself as a Londonstani, it meant you felt youbelonged here and so it was an identity that transcended ethnicity. Andof course, by the same logic that says you don’t have to be white to bea 100 per cent native Londoner, it follows that you don’t have to beAsian to be a Londonstani.” (Malkani, “About Londonstani”)

Malkani’s definition illuminates the thought process that

led him to believe that Jas deserves the label ‘Londonstani’.

Malkani characterizes Jas so that he feels like he belongs, even

though he’s not Asian. Similarly, Jas fits into Bhaba’s

definition of hybridity:

“a difference 'within', a subject that inhabits the rim of an 'in-between' reality. And the inscription of this borderline existenceinhabits a stillness of time and a strangeness of framing thatcreates the discursive 'image' at the crossroads of history andliterature, bridging the home and the world.” (Bhaba 113)

Qureshi 74

Jas manages to incorporate both the white and the desi racial

identities, trying to become the expansive “image” of

inclusivity. He acts as a medium for synthesis between the

previous colony and the former colonizer. He inhabits the fragile

space where it is possible that skin color and inherited culture

are not pertinent. Furthermore, the novel in which he is a

protagonist is also the “image”, a space where history and

literature are not mutually exclusive, but form a hybrid that is

not limited by the colonial experience. More importantly, it

should be noted that:

“Hybridity has no such perspective of depth or truth to provide:it is not a third term that resolves the tension between twocultures… colonial specularity, doubly inscribed, does not producea mirror where the self apprehends itself; it is always the splitscreen of the self and its doubling, the hybrid. [emphasis added]” (Bhaba 113-14)

Jas is this hybrid: the “split screen of the self”. Moreover, the

novel is not merely an attempt that reconciles two entirely

different cultures, but is a mirror to both, showing that each is

not as different and opposite as they are made out to be. The

synthesis and bridge that Jas exemplifies is the site of

hybridity that highlights the grey areas in racial and cultural

identities. His character portrayal shows how racial and cultural

Qureshi 75

identity cannot be narrowed down to ‘brown’ or ‘white’ but it is

a muddy area. The history of colonization, since it is a history

of power relations, lends itself to the complications of

identities. Yet Bhaba’s hybrid individual, as exemplified by Jas,

and hybrid text, as exemplified by the novel, are the reversal of

complications. Hybrids simplify and make the ‘self’ confront the

‘other’ within itself.

Fanon explains that it is “perfectly possible to grow up in

a uniquely white community in the North East of England [or any

part of England] without knowing in any real sense that you are

white. There is no need to know that, and it is well known that

fish have no sense of wetness” (qtd. in Macey 30). Jas may also

have had this inherent, unconscious affiliation with the white if

he had not grown up in a desi majority area. When he confronts

white heritage, he tries to abandon it in favor of the desi

identity. Moreover, Fanon states that “we may have to be told who

and what we are, that we may not know it ‘naturally’. Perhaps

being-for-others is, in ethnicity as in other domains, a

precondition for self-knowledge”. (qtd. in Macey 30) This is the

parameter which Jas seems to fit directly into; he is who is who

Qureshi 76

he is for the sake of others, not for himself. He knows his

individual self through external, social clues rather than

internal or biological traits.

Jas and the first-time reader both fail to recognize the

complexity of his racial affiliation. Both the protagonist and

the reader unwittingly fall into the trap of stereotyping; Jas

does so with his fellow characters and the reader with Jas.

Although contrived, Malkani’s narrative style discredits the idea

of racial demarcations, hinting at the continuity of hybridity

which is exemplified in all of Jas’ efforts and observations. In

order to try to fit in with the rudeboys, Jas has to have them

figured out first. For example, he refers to “proper desi style”

(Malkani 147), lists rudeboy rules, and notices how Sanjay’s

apartment does not fit into the desi stereotype: “None a those

pictures a Sikh Gurus, Hindu statues or signs sayin God Bless

This House” (Malkani 145). It is as if Jas has figured out

everyone; even the Afghan figures into his narrative as a taxi

“driver” (Malkani 134), particularly a “minicab driver” (Malkani

310). He makes unflattering comparisons like “squatting like some

Indian village peasant takin a shit” (Malkani 222). He

Qureshi 77

appreciates parts of Indian culture with seemingly innocent

comments such as, “if a good desi knows anything, it’s how to

look after their best customer” (Malkani 39) and “desi

networking” (Malkani 175). However, these comments may mask an

underlying sense of differentiation and an ‘us’ versus ‘them’

dilemma, in which he does not always know which side to take.

Schwarz brings in the discourse of Stuart Hall, whose words

are quoted at the start of the chapter as well. Hall’s definition

of identity is “decentered, hybrid, and in which strangeness

itself might be embraced without fear.” (qtd. in Schwarz 94) His

theory is prescriptive: “a politics of identity which is plural

in its range of potential identifications, not singular and

exclusive” and descriptive: “modern identities actually work, in

real historical time” (Schwarz 95). This definition of identity

can be applied to Jas. His identity is strange in comparison with

the majority. His racial identity has multiple cultural reference

points and is inclusive of these cultures. Moreover, instead of

being static, his identity is in a constant flux as indicated by

his shift from being a ‘gimp’ to a rudeboy.

Qureshi 78

Hybridity functions with the awareness of constants in

separate cultures and the fluidity of mixed cultures. In the

character of Jas, Malkani manages to portray both aspects. Jas

exemplifies the hybrid individual that has the ability to

amalgamate the cultures of both his true and assumed race. He

blurs the power lines between center and margin, giving way to

the possibility of change within both. Not only does he mark a

change in the dominant white culture of his heritage but he also

highlight a shift towards inclusivity from the former colonial.

This poignant portrayal destabilizes power by discrediting its

functions of separation and exclusivity.

Qureshi 79

Conclusion – Londonstani as Minor Literature“colonial hybridity is not a problem of genealogy or identity between twodifferent cultures which can then be resolved as an issue of culturalrelativism. Hybridity is a problematic of colonial representation andindividuation that reverses the effects of the colonialist disavowal, sothat other 'denied' knowledges enter upon the dominant discourse and estrange thebasis of its authority - its rules of recognition... What isirremediably estranging in the presence of the hybrid… is that thedifference of cultures can no longer be identified or evaluated asobjects of epistemological or moral 'contemplation: cultural differences are notsimply there to be seen or appropriated. [emphasis added]” (Bhaba 114)

Hybridity is an amalgamation of two or more seemingly

diverse cultural identities. It is not merely a co-existence of

these identities but how they also complement each other.

Furthermore, hybridity is a phenomenon where disparate cultures

come together to form parts of the whole by taking what is common

in each and synthesizing the differences. The hybrid is a space

where the post-colonial subject takes from the former colonist

and vice versa and unites the two into a new product that is

strange and hard to identify. In the process, the former

colonist becomes the creator of its own resistance. Power breeds

its own opposition in itself; therefore the hybrid identity

becomes resistant to the power. Hybridity has the ability to show

the dominant culture what it has in common with the marginal.

Since power thrives on negative associations and the presence of

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the ‘other’, similarities with the marginal destabilize its hold.

It is hard to maintain the boundaries of the ‘other’ in a culture

that moves towards assimilation. The hybrid becomes proof of how

the myths of identity-creation may be misleading.

Whereas previously the site for exploring hybridity was the

post-colonial subject, Jas provides an example of the true nature

of a hybrid experience. Power shifts in order to adjust previous

margins into its fold; the culture of the post-colonial subject

is synthesized with the former colonist center. This shift is a

two-way movement, causing hybrid individuals in both cultures.

The receiving dominant culture experiences subtle changes and

becomes hybrid in order to make space for the new sub-culture

just as the oppressed peripheral culture mimics it to experience

the perceived power of the ‘center’. In the enactment of this

entire process, power dynamics shift, giving birth to new

constructs. Literature of the minorities expresses and explores

this newly-created space as seen in Malkani’s Londonstani. Jas

represents the change in the colonist, in this case Britain, from

proper and ‘geeky’ to hybrid. This marks a shift from the

powerful entity, represented by the singular British identity to

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a more dynamic hybrid culture. A destabilization of power occurs

which causes the status of the minority to undergo a

redefinition. Bhaba hopes “that we will find those words with

which we can speak of Ourselves and Others. And by exploring this

‘Third Space’, we may elude the politics of polarity and emerge

as the others of ourselves” (qtd. in Laragy). Thus hybridity

involves a space where two cultures not only face each other but

also manage to reflect and respect the commonalities. This

process may proceed to a more universal acknowledgement of

culture as fluid. Moreover, it may erase the binaries of ‘self’

and ‘other’, ‘margin’ and ‘center’ that are part of power

discourses.

If a writer, like Malkani, a second generation immigrant,

“lives on the margin, is set apart from his fragile community,

this situation makes him all the more able to express another,

potential community, to force the means for another consciousness

and another sensibility.” (Deleuze, Guattari and Brinkley 17)

Precisely because of his inside look into the marginalized

community he is describing, Malkani manages to capture nuances

that would have escaped someone occupying the center. Basically

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the narratives of individuals at the margins of power differ from

those at the center. Though London, itself, is a metropolitan,

desi majority areas like Hounslow are prone to be marginalized on

racial and ethnic lines. Malkani’s novel, since it is treated as

part of a minor literature, manages to open up an alternative

space, where the lines of power are blurred. This gives way to

new modes of perception, thought and behavior, as exemplified by

the rudeboys, especially Jas.

Malkani’s novel lays greater stress on linguistic hybridity

which become a means to study this new space of cultural

hybridity. He has innovated a “deterritorialized tongue suitable

for strange, minor uses” (Deleuze, Guattari and Brinkley 16).

This hybrid language marks a speech pattern, which, though

localized to a specific area, manages to become universal since

the use of slang extends beyond borders. In his novel, Malkani

fuses slang, contractions, different modes of speech and

languages.

Through such attempts, Malkani creates “the possibility of

making one's own tongue” (Deleuze, Guattari and Brinkley 26). He

has used the already multilingual nature of English “to make a

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minor or extensive use of it” (Deleuze, Guattari and Brinkley

27). The English language was used in colonial times as a method

to perpetuate the power of the colony. The center had full and

exclusive use of their own language, while the margins were

ensured by keeping them from an exclusivity of it. The novel,

with its hybrid English, manages to highlight “its points of non-

culture and underdevelopment, the zones of linguistic third-

worlds through which a tongue escapes” (Deleuze, Guattari and

Brinkley 27). By subverting the language, Malkani has become “a

stranger in” his own language (Deleuze, Guattari and Brinkley

26). Though the language used may be called English, it still has

a flavor and hybridity that qualifies it as a minor use of a

major language. However, without the purpose of trying to

maintain the ambiguity of Jas’s true race and the final twist at

the end, this language may not even be notable. The racial and

cultural identity performance of Jas justifies the use of a

unique language, and helps establish a niche for this novel. To

put it poetically and poignantly:

“Even if a tongue is unique, it is still a mish mash, aschizophrenic mélange, a Harlequin suit in which differentfunctions of language and distinct power centers act – airing whatcan and cannot be said.” (Deleuze, Guattari and Brinkley 26-27)

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This hybrid combination is not limited to the novel’s

physical space and spills over into the reader’s world,

incorporating and implicating him in the entire process of

hybrid cultivation. He is left with equal feelings of

amazement and instability as linguistic nuances befool him

into relying on his preconceived notions. It is a difficult

task to conduct and maintain through the length of a novel,

but Malkani, by using Jas as the narrator, overcomes this

difficulty.

The novel highlights a synthesis of cultures of the

former colonial subject and the previous colonizing center.

Jas the narrator is an extension of this synthesis and a

successful hybrid individual. This is possible because his

assumed identity negates the idea of a uniform cultural or

racial identity. His character shows how it is possible for

the white to assume the racial and cultural identity of the

brown. By giving voice to this unique hybrid identity,

Malkani discredits the myth of the ‘pure’ and static

culture. He exposes that Britain is moving not only towards

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multiculturalism or cohabitation of different cultures but

towards hybridity or an amalgamation and synthesis of

cultures. He uses a hybrid language to demonstrate his point

of view. By doing so, he fulfills the criteria of minor

literature to subvert language and therefore to subvert the

power structure that limits social and individual

perceptions and behavior. Londonstani becomes a part of minor

literature precisely because it introduces a distinct

existence through a marginal language.

The systematic textual analysis by means of cultural

theory in this paper helps combine the internal world of the

novel and the external world of cultural theory. The thesis

opens up the possibility of speculation regarding the use of

slang in literature as a mode of resistance. Further, it

lays the groundwork for an analysis of other literary works

that use slang and a hybrid language and portray hybrid

characters, within the theoretical framework of Bhaba. It

also helps outline the parameters of Deleuze and Guattari’s

theory and may help delineate whether such works can qualify

as minor literature or not.

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