Skip to main content

Compare and contrast the personalities of Sir Mohan Lal and Lady Lal


Compare and contrast the personalities of Sir Mohan Lal and Lady Lal, especially the way they conduct themselves at the railway station.


Answer:  In the short story Karma, Sir Mohan Lal and his wife Lachmi are completely opposite in personalities and characters.

Sir Mohan is a proud and arrogant. He is a barrister by profession. He has a degree from Oxford University and speaks English fluently like an Englishman. He has  practised English etiquette and culture in a refined manner. He always hate Indians. According to Mohan Lal, British Culture and tradition is far superior to that of India. He thoughts that Indians are dirty, inefficient and indifferent. The hatred for his native land is the humiliation to the country. This is an act of self-humiliation too.

When Sir Mohan is inside the waiting room, his wife sits upon the trunk outside. He gets illusioned with his dress and fineries. But he has no qualms of conscience for his wife. From this feature of Sir Mohan Lal we can understand that human emotion and feeling is missing in him.

On the other hand, Lachmi is simple and unsophisticated. She is an illiterate Indian woman and doesn’t know the ABC of English. She has no such title and glory. She is grown up with Indians customs and traditions. Like many Indian housewives, she chews betel leaves.

Lachmi’s common dress is white saree with red a red border and blouse which shows her rustic simplicity and lack of taste.  This stands in sharp contrast to Sir Mohan’s Saville Row suit and prim and proper outfit.
Even their food habits they are totally different. When Sir Mohan Lal drinks whiskey inside the waiting room, Lachmi takes chapattis with mango-pickle outside and conversing with a coolie. She could talk freely and enjoyed finding a native like her to talk to. From this character of Lachmi it is understood that she never discriminate between a rich and a poor.

Sir Mohan Lal  travels in the first class and let her wife travel in the Zenana Inter-class. Here we see  that Lachmi does not protest against such misbehavior. Rather she  proves herself to be an obedient wife.
Eventually, Mohan Lal is found to have been flung out of the train by two British soldiers. We the readers can realise that Sir Mohan is nothing but a hypocrat.

Lachmi knows nothing what happens to her husband. The rejection from two British soldiers symbolizes that Mohan has lost his identity. He is neither an Indian nor an English.  His wife has no such crisis and happy with her Indian counterparts.

Conclusion:

Lachmi is a native woman, who never tries to adopt the western manners as her husband. Through his character, Lachim shows her indifference to urban artificially and sophistication.

On the other hand, Sir Mohan Lal try to imitate the ways and customs of English people blindly and hates Indian culture and tradition.

However,  contrast between the personalities of Sir Mohan Lal and Lachhmi that emerges through their behavior teaches us that to be a real person, not just education, one must respect one’s own culture and society.

If we don’t do that, we are sure to face humiliation and tragic doom, like Sir Mohan Lal.

★Thank you.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The north ship | Philip Larkin | Questions with Answers

★ Important Questions with Answers: 1. Who wrote the poem, ‘The North Ship'? Ans: Philip Larkin wrote the poem, ‘The North Ship'. 2. Where did the first ship turn towards? Ans: The first ship turned towards the west. 3. What did the first ship discover in the west? Ans: The first ship travelled over the running sea and winds carried it to a rich country. 4. Why is meant by ‘quaking sea’? Ans: ‘Quaking sea’ refers to the running or stirring waters of the sea, caught up in the midst of strong wind. 5. What does ‘the third ship’ stand for? Ans: ‘The third ship’ stands as a symbol of the endless journey of mankind filled with difficulties in order to attend one’s aspirations. 6. Where did the wind carry the first ship? Ans: The wind carried the first ship to a rich country. 7. Give any two points of difference between the journey of the third ship and the other two ships. Ans: While the fast to sleep ‘turned towards’ the west and the east respectively the third ship drove towards ...

Sketch the character of Sir Mohan Lal and Lachmi from the story KARMA

The character of Sir Mohan Lal and Lachmi Karma: by Khushwant Singh Q.NO. – 1:-  Sketch the character of Sir Mohan Lal. ANS:-   In the short story “Karma” Khushwant Singh has elaborately sketched the character of Sir Mohan Lal.  He was eminently well bred, well dressed, and sophisticated. He embraced the English ways and culture. He saw himself as an Englishman. He took his education at Oxford. To him Indians were dirty, inefficient, indifferent and place. He thought Indians were showed examples of bad breeding with their excitement, bustle and hurry but he never made haste, and his life was very regulated and orderly. He was not loud , aggressive like most Indians.  In view of his personality and image, Sir Mohan Lal appeared to be snobbish and proud. He disliked Indian culture and tradition. His wife was uncivilized, dirty and an ordinary Indian woman to him. So he didn’t spend too much time with his wife Lachmi. He blindly intimated and practiced European culture ...

Textual Grammar from Karma for class-XI

All Important Textual Grammar from Karma for class - XI ★★★ ➣➣ Voice Changes:  1. The arrival of the train did not disturb Sir Mohan Lal’s sang-froid. [Change the Voice] Ans: Sir Mohan Lal’s sang-froid was not disturbed with the arrival of the train. 2. Lady Lal opened the brass carrier. [Change the Voice] Ans: The brass carrier was opened by Lady Lal. 3. They picked up Sir Mohan’s suitcase. [Change the Voice] Ans: Sir Mohan’s suitcase was picked up by them. 4. The mirror smiled back at Sir Mohan. [Change the Voice] Ans:  5. He glanced at his watch. [Change the Voice] Ans: His watch was glanced at by himself. 6. She wore a dirty white sari with a red border. [Change the Voice] Ans: A dirty white sari with a red border was worn by the coolie. 7. You’ll find room in the Zenana. [Change the Voice] Ans: Room in the Zenana will be found by you  8. Jim struck Sir Mohan flat on the face. [Change the Voice] Ans: Sir Mohan was struck flat on the face by Jim. 9. The...