Global Narratives: Indian Culture

As the story "Pigeons At Daybreak" by Anita Desai introduces the idea of humanity and love, it reveals its Indian cultures throughout the story. When Otima Basu reads newspaper to her husband, she mentions a lot of news topics which characterize Indian customs or geography. Otima talks about a typical Indian animal, "Blue bull menace in Delhi airport can be solved by narcotic drug"(221). Blue bull is a large Indian antelope which represent Indian cultures. The author relates the animal to this narrative because she wants to show that Mr. Basu was so irritable when he does not understand the Indian culture. In addition to Indian antelope, the author relates the Indian geography and common natural situations to the story. Because of Indian's different weathers between west and east, it is very common to see flood and drought there, "'Floods in Assam'.'Drought in Maharashtra." (222) The author shows these in order to give the readers a more closer look of India which may help them understand the story better.