International Journal of English

and Literature (IJEL)

ISSN(P): 2249-6912; ISSN(E): 2249-8028
Vol. 6, Issue 5, Oct 2016, 1-8
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd

THE TRAGIC TALE OF SINDI OBEROI - A ROOTLESS ROBOT IN

ARUN JOSHIS THE FOREIGNER
ARUN DAFRAIK1 & USHA PATHANIA2
1

Assistant Professor of English Government Degree College Nerwa, Shimla, India

2

Professor, H.P.University, Shimla, India

ABSTRACT
Arun Joshis fictional forte is the exploration of mans inner turbulent life and the deepest core of his self.
He plunges into the unfathomable depths of human psyche and brilliantly illumines the subtle ways in which it deals with
the onslaughts of disturbance to its balance. His protagonists are easily marked out by their hyper sensitivity, obsessions,
introspection, intellect and of relating to the world. Feeling fractured and shattered under the burden of many unresolved
dilemmas, Arun Joshis protagonist in The Foreigner is confronted by the questions raised by his own self. Born in an
epoch of immense material prosperity, tremendous academic achievements and carefree luxurious life- style, Sindi fails to
find peace and calm around and longs for stability in life. Khushwant Singh refers to The Foreigner as a compelling

Joshi has painstakingly exposed his heros serious but fruitful encounter with life. Sindi Oberois unhappy, lonely and
absurd existence has been portrayed poignantly by Joshi in the novel. Due to the overwhelming sense of loneliness and
the burden of the chaos of his being, this alienated hero fails to relish the bright career prospects and exceptional
academic achievements which always knocked at his door opening new vistas.
KEYWORDS: Absurdity, Loneliness, Chaos, Hyper-Sensitivity and Obsessions

Original Article

(Arun Joshi, The Foreigner 1) piece of fiction which moves through the mazes of the past and the present and wherein

Received: Jul 17, 2016; Accepted: Aug 17, 2016; Published: Aug 20, 2016; Paper Id.: IJELOCT20161

INTRODUCTION
Man in the contemporary world is engulfed by darkness and finds himself in the grip of extreme pang of
pervasive meaninglessness. Frank Johnson terms it fractionated functions (Quoted in Karl Jaspers 46) which is
responsible for absurdity in ones life and its affairs. Seeman explains the search for meaning in terms of the
increase of functional rationality and the concomitant decline of substantial rationality (American Sociological
Review 786). Karl Manheim in Man and Society in an Age of Reconstruction states that with the increase in
functional rationality there is a parallel decline in the individuals capacity to act intelligently in a given situation
on the basis of ones own insight into the inter-relations of events (59). This hopeless state of affairs gives an
impetus to the feelings of inauthenticity and absurdity. Arun Joshis The Foreigner portrays these negative feelings
and exposes the agony of loneliness and psychological conflicts in Sindis character. His search for meaning
through a maze of relationships compels him to grapple with the problems of detachment and involvement.
Filial and stronger emotional bonds provided by loving parents inculcate in a child the feelings of love,
security and communion with the people. But Sindis misfortunes continue chasing him as the Cruel Fate
snatches from him the love of his parents who die in an accident depriving him of the opportunity to establish good
rapport and relationships with the society. Desperately wandering from pillar to post from one person to another,
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Sindi remains suspicious of all involvements and makes detachment the creed of his life. The protagonist, a product of
diverse cultures, is born in Kenya of an Indian father and English mother. Becoming an orphan at the age of four and being
left under the care of an uncle in an alien country instils in him a sense of frustration and rootlessness. Devoid of a spiritual
and cultural anchorage, and being brought up in an absolutely loveless world, he harbours in him a deep sense of
insecurity. As his uncles death snaps the last chord of parental love, life becomes a sort of hell offering only purposeless
existence for him.
An epitome of rootlessness, insecurity and anomie, Sindis life becomes a stigma for todays youth. Meenakshi
Mukherji rightly refers him as a perennial outsider (Quest 101). An orphaned spiritual exile, he considers himself an
uprooted young man living in the latter half of the twentieth century. For him the reality of is parents is a couple of
wrinkled photographs [TF12] and he doesnt particularly miss them. The sudden fall of the spider from the ceiling which
aimlessly walks upside down exploring his inverted universe symbolises the mans pitiable conditions in the world.
A loveless existence devoid of the emotional strength provided by familial bonds and cultural moorings, turns him into a
fragile robot whose rootlessness is not merely of geography or nationality, it is rooted within his soul like an ancient curse
and drives him from crisis to crisis. (The Blurb of The Foreigner)
Sindis predicaments remind one of Nayantara Sehgals novel A Time to be Happy, where the protagonist Sanand
Shivpal, the son of a rich man is faced with problems of regaining his roots which is vividly portrayed as he curses his life:
I dont belong entirely to India. I cant. My education, my upbringing and my sense of values have all combined to make
me un-Indian. What do I have common win most of my countrymen?(56). Sindi is moved by an impulsive urge towards
self fulfilment. To receive a superior education, Sindi goes to England and the U.S. Scarred by his sad childhood, this cynic
proudly wears a mask unconcerned and little bothered about his burdened life. He doesnt like to be trapped in any kind of
emotional bond. The tragic tale of his life at the age of twenty- five has become a bitter saga of struggles, failures and
disappointments. Meenakshi Mukherji aptly remarks in this context: Sindi is an alien everywhere physically as well as
metaphorically.(Quest 90)
This unique Indian- Kenyan Sindi Oberoi, after returning to the Indian soil from the West, finds it utmost difficult
to adjust emotionally with the contemporary world around. My foreignness lay within me, [TF 61] he confesses.
He works as a dishwasher at a night club in Soho, but even amidst the clatter of pots and pans and clouds of steam
[TF 63] he persistently endeavours to unravel the mystery of life and delves deep into the unfathomable depths of life.
While working as a barman at the same club, his adventurous sexual encounters with Anna and Kathy fail to give him
solace and equanimity of mind. Sindi feels that his passionate relationship with them earned him nothing but only filled his
heart with unbound pessimism, guilt and disgust at such a meagre age. He acknowledges: Twenty- five years largely
wasted in search of wrong things in wrong places. And all that he had to show a ten- stone body that had to be fed four
times a day, twenty eight times a week. This was the sum of a life time striving.[TF 92]
A tireless seeker of truth, Sindi wandering aimlessly through the different shades of experience, desperately
searches for answers to the severe problems of life. His desperate working at a small village library in Scotland and
holding valuable discussions with a catholic priest point to his serious efforts and concern for endless search of truth.
And one morning a somewhat magnificent revelation dawns upon him that one, can love without attachment, without
desire [TF 138]. This exclusively unique philosophy of detachment and desirelessness would enable him to solve the deep
strains and challenges his life is battling with and definitely promises to heal the ugly scars troubling his personality.
Impact Factor (JCC): 4.5629

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 6.1

The Tragic Tale of Sindi Oberoi-A Rootless Robot in Arun Joshis the Foreigner

To escape this feeling of unbearable restlessness, Arun Joshis protagonists make relentless efforts. One day sitting
on a weathered stone, a certain strange revelation regarding love and greed comes to him:
All love-whether of things, or persons, or oneself-was illusion and all pain sprang up from this illusion. Love
begot greed and attachment, and it led to possession. [TF 180]
Hence, it is imperative that a wise man must love without attachment or desire. Sindi seeks to achieve total
detachment in life and withdraws from all action that might cause pain. But he finds it extremely hard to practise it.
The deaths of his friend and his sweetheart resulting from Sindis own blundering approach to life shake his confidence.
Sindi feels as if some indefatigable surgeon is cleaning his soul with the sharp edge of the scalpel. The image of the
indefatigable surgeon similar to Eliots wounded surgeon speeds up the therapeutic process saves the self
(Four Quartets 147). In his bid to experiment with himself and start life afresh, he wishes to roam about the streets of the
world. He like Conrads Lord Jim he kick-starts his search for a new world free from his past, like a straggler yearning
inconsolably for his humble place in the ranks (Lord Jim 165). So Sindi lives in an exclusive world of intense happiness
and equally intense pain.
Sindi, finding absurdity around him, considers his rootless life full of illusions. Insecurity creeps into his life and
he considers all people his enemies and everything signifying purposelessness. The meaninglessness of life is reflected in
his painful realization: Somebody has begotten me without a purpose and so far I had lived without purpose unless you
could call the search for peace a purpose.[TF 65]
Sindis way of self- realization is blocked and hampered by his desperate attempt to espouse the having mode of
existence and his consistent refusal to become active and alive in the broader societal network of people. Freedom from the
craving for holding on to things and ones ego is the condition for love and productivity but Sindi is incapable of this
freedom. June rightly remarks: I thought you never loved anybody except perhaps yourself [TF 90]. This leads to the
tragic death of Babu Khemka and June. His torturous experiences in life make him aware and convinced of the
impermanence of things. He frankly says to June: Nothing seems real to me, leave alone permanent. Nothing seems to be
very important. His entire life is woven around his quest for permanence in life. Lack of gratifying relationships makes
him look suspiciously at lovely bonds and soothing matrimonial alliances. Marriage was more often a lust for possession
than anything else. People get married just as they bought new cars. And they gobbled each other up.[TF 66]
The uprooted and alienated Sindis search for himself and to conquer new horizons takes him to London, Boston
and America. In Kenya, Sindi feels restless, even contemplates suicide. He shifts to London where lost in infatuation he
gets involved in a love tangle with a minor artist Anna who tries to revitalize and recapture her lost youth. His deeply
passionate love affair with a married woman named Kathy, whom he loves with the piercing, all- caressing love of an
adolescent, [TF 95] and the consequent separation makes him realize the futility of luxurious physical passion in life.
Kathy leaves him for the sacredness of marriage. After the sudden shocks of rejections by his lovely sweethearts whom he
considered damsels and his subsequent anticipated dejections he starts practicing his so called detachment.
The emotionally and mentally broken Sindi cant respect the society or religion just like Meursault of Camuss
The Outsider who believes that there is no end to suffering, no end to the struggle between good and evil.[TF 43]
Sindis prodigal life-style catapults him into the tempting, lovely and sensuous arms of June Blyth, a relationship
developing into intense physical passion during his stay in London across the Atlantic. He refuses to marry June on the

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clearly unjustified and absurd ground of detachment and involvement. Sindi deludes himself with the belief that he has
attained the spirit of detachment. However, June who is born as a lively, cheerful and positive American girl with her own
idealistic dreams and desires, unconditionally submerges her own identity for the happiness of other person. But she feels
trapped when she realizes that she has bankrupted herself in love without expecting to receive anything in return.
Sindis philosophy of detachment and his aspirations to touch the untouchable vast sky and get the moon and
achieve something beyond imagination, apart from his withdrawal from love and marriage, sends June to Sindis friend
Babu who is a dependence-prone Indian. Taking cognizance of her sense of sacrifice and love for the mystical, Arun
Joshis portrayal of June finds a parallel in Bilasia of The Strange Case of Billy Biswas and Anuradha of The Last
Labyrinth. According to Hari Mohan Prasad, she is a symbol of the sensate culture (Arun Joshi 31) striving towards the
ideational.
Sindis sufferings are manifestations of a spiritual crisis which all the sensitive people are facing today. His life
can be equated with a dull school boy who always gets stuck with the same unanswerable questions. He wants peace, a
capacity to love and the courage to live without desire and attachment [TF 138]. All his attempts in this regard, however,
fizzle out like an ill- packed cracker [TF 139]. He squanders away the meagre quota of happiness given to him. He feels
always pushed on the giant wheel, going round and round, waiting for the fall.[TF 140]
The hint of pathlessness and meaninglessness of Sindis wayward life is clearly depicted by Arun Joshi through
the road to New York. Significantly, the heart touching juke- box song played in the restaurant, where he goes after getting
his papers cleared for migrating to India, has existential overtones:
Who knows where
The road will lead?
Only a fool can say. [TF 182]
Sindi is a quester of absurd longings, with a devil in his soul. The gloominess that surrounds his useless life leaves
him completely dazed. He feels as if somebody has given me a big dose of anaesthesia.[TF 141]
Sindis brief sojourn in America confronts him with his utter powerlessness in this world of scornful deception,
treachery and materialism. He wants to leave America to escape a bit of himself that appeared most decayed.
Nigeria or India is the choice and a flip of the coin turns the tide in the favour of India. In India he is appalled by the people
like Mr Khemka, man of the world owner of a growing empire [TF 208]. Among young men there are Babu Khemka
who represents typical Indian fantasies and illusions about a glamorized dreamland, where they go to play around with
foreign girls, [TF 23] to make American friends and not to mix the Indians. Reacting sharply against Mr. Khemkas
strangeness he says: My set of experiences has taught me a reality that is different from yours [TF 134]. He frankly
admits:
You had a clear- cut system of morality, a cast system that laid down all you had to do. You had God; you had
roots in the soil you lived upon. Look at me. I have no roots. I have no system of morality. [TF 135-36]
Sindis experimentation with self intensifies his dismal loneliness and acute sense of meaninglessness of life.
Ultimately he somehow seeks in detachment a solution to his problems.
The detachment which Sindi so resolutely cultivates to overcome his painful memories and meaninglessness of
Impact Factor (JCC): 4.5629

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 6.1

The Tragic Tale of Sindi Oberoi-A Rootless Robot in Arun Joshis the Foreigner

life becomes a source of deeper agony for him as it is solely responsible for the tragedy of Babu and June. Sindi himself
admits: I had acted out of lust and greed and selfishness, and they had applauded my wisdom. When I had sought only
detachment I had driven a man to his death [TF 150]. Due to the extreme security of parental authority of his upbringing
Babu fails to adapt himself to the society that brings his dooms day. While Babu represents the fragility, Sindi stands for
the toughness and durability of experience. Throwing light on her reluctant transfer of love to Babu, June tells Sindi:
You are so tied up with your detachment it makes little difference whether you love or you dont. She further registers
her anger: I had wanted you to belong to me, but you didnt want it. You are so self -sufficient there is hardly any place
for me in your life- except perhaps as a mistress [TF 158]. This detachment which Sindi follows with tremendous passion
and executes obstinately is a symbol of his self-isolation, unparalleled selfishness and callous indifference that takes him
closer to his deathbed.
The extreme obsession of Sindi with this deteriorated and outdated concept of detachment makes way for shirking
his responsibility. At this point he can be compared with Camus Meursault who always feels bored with the world and
with Philip Roths Neil in Good Bye Columbus who does not shoulder even ordinary responsibilities and shies away from
it.
Originally Sindi mistook detachment to mean inaction, but now he acknowledges the fallacy in it [TF 176].
Detachment becomes a misty notion for him and even love comes in its destructive sweep. He doesnt realize that
detachment consisted of right action and escape from it was a work of worthless idiot and smells of unquestioned timidity.
Even a renowned academician and philosopher Dr Radhakrishnan feels that a neutral stand between right and wrong is a
sign of moral perversity. The ultimate futility of human effort has been brought out clearly by Muthu, an employee of
Khemka industry: Sometimes detachment lies in actually getting involved. [TF 225]
Somerset Maughams Razors Edge has a lot of similarities with The Foreigner. The hero of the former novel
keeps on asking himself what life was for and feels depressed by the problems of life. Maugham himself is not sure of
the purpose of life. One has to make up ones mind as to what is the meaning and use of life. If death ends all there is no
reason for life and life has meaning (251). Larry, a prime example of detachment has no ambition and no weakness for
fame, renounces all his worldly possessions. Significantly, The Summing Up ends with a quotation from Luis de Leon:
The beauty of life is nothing but this, that each should act in conformity with his nature and his business
(Maugham 171). This is what Larry does. He practises the Karamyoga every moment in his life. Sindis detachment looks
pale beside Larrys, which is born of his genuine conviction and long quest:
All love-whether of things, persons or oneself- is illusion and all pain springs from that Birth and death are
constants. The rest is variable.Each one of us lives in his own realityThe wheel of Karma like the wheel of
industrialization never stops. To concentrate on the decisive action. [TF 170]
Mr. Khemkas dishonesty and cunningness make Sindi sick of entire scenario in which he is living. The former
devil has been in the habit of cheating those people who push carts on the streets and die at a tender age; telling lies and
fabricating documents for business gain so that he can organize parties to please his so called friends. Sindi decides to
leave Khemkas tumbling universe when he is sacked by income tax people only because Sindi is reluctant to pay for the
latters sins. He decides to hold the reigns of business out of sheer sympathy and kindness for the employees who face
termination from service. At this juncture the cynical exponent of detachment becomes a purposeful man of action
overnight- being of use to another person the golden rule so dear to June Blyth. As B. Rajan in his novel The Dark Dancer
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identifies his hero with Karna, the great character in The Mahabharata, Joshis character Sindi can also be equated with
Karna, for to Karna too the problem was one of belonging. Even Karna could not stick his roots anywhere like Sindi.
Swanmi Chidbhavananda in The Bhagvad Gita has very beautifully commented that Sindi Oberois quest for
identity and meaning in life can be viewed as a yatra, a pilgrimage from Existentialism to Karamyoga (172). It is only
after a long fight between the saint and the lusty beast in him that Sindi comes out victorious by learning how to live but
not before throwing out to the maze of his existence looking for a purpose in life as we find in the Puranas. His academic
achievements, critical love tangles, doom and destruction of Khemka Empire teach him a strong moral lesson making him
wise ultimately fructifying his voyage to the distinct islands of mind. The departure of his ladylove June and his friend
from this world demoralizes him and in such frustrating moments he comes to the conclusion that involvement in affairs of
the world without undue attachment is the key to a meaningful human existence.
The death of June due to abortion proves to be an eye opener for him as it acts as a revelation to him of something
precious in life: Junes death finally broke my attachment to myself [TF 148]. He sadly remembers how June was
deprived of her vivaciousness because he always thwarted her affiliation wants by showing her psychic needs.
He dismissed them by saying, It is none of my business [TF 168]. June dies when he fails even to receive her call for
help. The word detachment which according to his own philosophy meant many things totally different from what others
feel now spreads its vistas beyond his self interest and reveals the full meaning half of which was made clear after Babus
death. His realization of having no friends in this world catapults him into a deep trauma where his agony and loneliness
write new harsh storylines for him. Vyvyan Richards in his Person Fulfilled rightly remarks: Isolation and neglect are
mens hell: fellowship is heaven.(37)
Sindis brief sojourn at Delhi was nothing more than a callous offer of a vicious trap to work in Mr. Khemkas
empire as personal assistant. The having mode of life style and their shameless and immoral intrusion to own other people
confound him and made him sick quite similar to his experience in America. He encounters another hell in the form of
Khemkas social parties and public gatherings. The cunningness and flattery of Mr Khemka and his affiliates in exploiting
Jain and Muthu for the growth of their empire leaves a foul taste in his mouth. Muthu requests him to take over the office
and save him and other workers from starvation. The heroic struggle of Muthu to provide food to his family and the family
of his brother reveals to Sindi the real meaning of life which one finds in developing sympathetic understanding of the
needs of the other people and responding to them warmly. Muthu defines for Sindi the ideal of non-attachment as it is
preached in the Gita: Duty should be done with indifference, renouncing all results. He, who gives up the fruit of action, is
the true renouncer (Zachner, The Bhagvad Gita 219). Muthu stands for him as the epitome of ideal person having
exceptional wisdom.
Sindi takes over the management of the imprisoned Khemkas business and devotedly discharges his
responsibilities. He carries the sinking ship ashore and to achieve his goal he hurls himself headlong into the battle of
survival which the workers of the factory could not have won without his help, co-operation and guidance. Sindis journey
is a journey from alienation to arrival, from selfishness to sacrifice. He has towards the end found a haven after the
vigorous quest of meaning that has shaped his life and tormented his psyche.
Usha pathania argues that Sindis desire to serve others with joy and gladness of heart not only minimizes psychic
conflicts arising out of the feelings of loneliness and worthlessness, but it creates one of the deepest forms of human
happiness, shared enjoyment. (Quoted in The Novels of Arun Joshi 79)
Impact Factor (JCC): 4.5629

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 6.1

The Tragic Tale of Sindi Oberoi-A Rootless Robot in Arun Joshis the Foreigner

CONCLUSIONS
The most coveted goal of peace within and around, emanating from a meaningful existence and a sense of
belongingness has been attained. Sindi Oberoi, a man completely cut off from his societal roots, friends and his love, turns
out to be a Messiah for the factory employees. Rahul in Bhabani Bhattacharyas So Many Hungers loves his work and
his family but the sufferings of the people shake him and he is able to rise above his own needs to think of others.
He confesses: What happened to him, as an individual did not matter. It only mattered what happened to his people.(213)
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Seeman, Melvin. On the Meaning of Alienation, American Sociological Review, 24/6(December 1959).

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Manheim, Karl. Man and Society in an Age of Reconstruction. New York: Harcourt, 1940.

4.

Joshi, Arun. The Foreigner. New Delhi: Hind Pocket Books, 1968.

5.

Mukherjee, Meenakshi. Quest, 60(January-March; 1969)

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Sahgal, Nayantara. A Time to Be Happy. New Delhi: Sterling Paperbacks, 1975.

7.

Eliot T.S. Four Quartets. London: Faber and Faber, 1944.

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Conrad, Joseph. Lord Jim. London: Penguin, 1976.

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Prasad, Hari Mohan. Arun Joshi. New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann, 1985.

10. Maugham, W.S. Razors Edge. Philadelphia: Blackstone co., 1944.

11. The Summing Up. New York: The American Library, 1938.
12. Chidbhawananda, Swami. The Bhagvad Gita. Tirupparaiturai: Sri Ramakrishna Tapovanam, 1970.
13. Richards, Vyvyan. Person Fulfilled. Cambridge: W. Heffer, 1976.
14. Zachner, R.C. The Bhagvad Gita. Great Britain: Oxford University Press, 1968.
15. Pathania, Usha. Having and Being: A Study of The Foreigner, The Novels of Arun Joshi, ed. R.K. Dhawan. New Delhi:
Prestige Books, 1992.
16. Dwivedi, A. N. The Novels of Arun Joshi- A Critical Study, Studies in Contemporary Indian Fiction in English. Allahabad:
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17. Bhattacharya, Bhabhani. So Many Hungers. New Delhi: Vision Books, 1971.

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