Introduction to the Poem “In India” by Nissim Ezekiel
Nissim Ezekiel’s “In India” is a satirical piece that adopts the voice of a tourist overwhelmed—and often repelled—by what he encounters in the country. Through this exaggerated perspective, Ezekiel exposes India’s everyday realities and challenges the overly romantic, idealised images often circulated by others.
The poem showcases his trademark blend of irony and gentle self-ridicule, offering a nuanced critique of both Indian and Western attitudes and emphasising the tension between a glorified past and the disorderly present.
“In India” is a reflective and vivid poem by Nissim Ezekiel, one of the most important modern Indian English poets. Written in free verse, the poem presents a realistic and sometimes ironic picture of everyday life in India. Ezekiel draws on his personal experiences as someone who was born in India yet often felt like an outsider, giving the poem a unique blend of affection, criticism, and observation.
The poem captures the chaotic beauty of Indian cities — their noise, crowds, poverty, festivals, traditions, and contradictions. Ezekiel does not romanticise India; instead, he portrays it honestly, with a tone that is both humorous and critical. Through sharp images, he highlights the struggles, confusion, and energy of Indian society, exploring themes of identity, belonging, and cultural complexity.
Overall, “In India” is a thoughtful exploration of what it means to live in a country full of diversity and extremes, and it reflects Ezekiel’s lifelong engagement with the idea of “Indianness.”
Stanza wise Summary of Poem “In India”:
Stanza.1:
Always, in the sun’s eye, Here among the beggars,
Hawkers, pavement sleepers,
Hutment dwellers, slums,
Dead souls of men and gods,
Burnt-out matters, frightened
Virgins, wasted child
All in noisy silence
And tortured animals
Suffering the place and time,
I ride my elephant of thought
A Cezanne slung around my neck.
Explanatory Word-Meanings:
Hawkers = a peddler. Pavement sleepers = those who sleep on the footpath. Hutment dwellers = those who live in huts. Frightened = afraid. Virgins = girls who have yet not been married. Tortured = oppressed, tormented. Slung = hung.
Paraphrase:
Each time the sun rises over India, its first gaze falls upon beggars and street vendors, on people sleeping along the pavements, and on those surviving in shanties and unclean surroundings. It witnesses both men and deities whose spirits seem lifeless—symbolising a numbness to human suffering. Here, one encounters charred mothers, frightened unmarried girls, and animals subjected to cruelty and oppression. Pain dominates the landscape; suffering appears everywhere, at every moment. The poet reflects on all this, and the entire scene unfolds vividly in his mind whenever he thinks of India.
Stanza.2:
The Roman Catholic Goan boys
The white washed Anglo-Indian boys
The muscle bound Islamic boys
Were earnest in their prayers.
They copied, bullied, stole in pairs
They bragged about their love affairs
They carved the table broke the chair
But never missed their prayers.
Explanatory Word-Meanings:
Roman Catholic = Christians who believe in Roman Catholicism. White washed = faces. Muscle bound = robust and strong. Earnest = sincere, zealous, ardent. Bullied = tyrannised the weak. Bragged = boasted, to talk with too much pride. Carved = to make design by cutting wood or stone etc.
Paraphrase:
The young Roman Catholic boys, the Anglo-Indian lads with their powdered faces, and the robust Muslim boys—all were earnest in offering their prayers. Though they indulged in many misdeeds—imitating others, bullying, stealing without hesitation, bragging about their romances, and creating every kind of trouble—they never failed to perform their prayers with devotion.
Stanza.3:
The Roman Catholic Goan boys
Confessed their solitary joys
Confessed their games with high-heeled toys
And hastened to the prayers
The Anglo-Indian gentlemen
Drank whisky in some Jewish den
With Moslems slowly creeping in
Before or after prayers.
Explanatory Word-Meanings:
Confessed = admitted their sins. Solitary = alone, only. High-heeled toys = girls wearing high-heeled sandals. Den = a cave, a private retreat for doing something.
Paraphrase:
The Anglo-Indian boys sought enjoyment in the company of high-heeled girls who seemed almost like playthings, openly confessing the misdeeds they shared with them. Yet, when the moment for prayer arrived, they rushed through it with haste. The Anglo-Indian men, meanwhile, drank whisky in a hidden Jewish tavern, a place where Muslims, too, would slip in for a drink either before or after their prayers.
Stanza.4:
To celebrate the year’s end;
Men in grey or black,
Woman, bosom semi-bare,
Twenty-three of us in all
Six nations represented.
Explanatory Word-Meanings:
Bosom = breast. Semi-bare = half naked.
Paraphrase:
New Year’s Eve—the close of the year—is celebrated here with remarkable excitement, drawing people of all ages into the festivities. Women take part as well, some with their breasts partly uncovered. The poet and his twenty-three companions came from six different nations.
Stanza.5:
The wives of India sit
They do not drink,
They do not talk,
Of course, they do not kiss.
The men are quite at home
Among the foreign styles
(What fun the flirting is!)
I myself, decorously,
Press a thigh or two in sly innocence.
The party is a great success.
Explanatory Word-Meanings:
Quite at home = feel easy and comfortable. Flirt = to play the coquette. Decorously = decently. Sly = cunning, secretively.
Paraphrase:
The Indian wives remain apart from this festive revelry. They keep themselves removed from it, neither drinking nor engaging in conversation or affection. The men, however, relax into the atmosphere, relishing the gathering much like the foreigners do. They take to light flirtation with enthusiasm. The poet, too, joins in eagerly, and with discreet cleverness allows himself a polite press of a thigh or two. In the end, the gathering is hailed as a resounding success.
Stanza.6:
Then someone says: we can’t
Enjoy it, somehow, don’t you think? The atmosphere corrupt, and look at our wooden wives.. I take him out to get some air.
Explanatory Word-Meanings:
Wooden wives = wives who look dull, uninteresting and bore.
Paraphrase:
Someone in the group remarks that he cannot take any pleasure in the celebration. In his view, the party’s atmosphere is corrupting, and gesturing toward the wives, he adds that they seem bored and detached from all the revelry. They appear almost lifeless, as if carved from wood, because none of this appeals to them. The poet then leads him outside into the open air, hoping the fresh surroundings will help revive his spirits.
Stanza.7:
This she said to herself
As she sat at table
With the English boss,
Is it. This is the promise:
The long evenings
In the large apartment
With cold beer and western music.
Lucid talk of art and literature;
And of all the changes India needs’.
At the second meeting
In the large apartment
After cold beer and the music on
She sat in disarray.
Explanatory Word-Meanings:
Large apartment =a single room or set of rooms designed for dwelling. Lucid =clearly expressed, easy to understand. Disarray =in disorder.
Paraphrase:
An Indian woman murmured something to herself while seated at a table across from her English employer. She soon made a quiet vow, and afterwards the two of them would spend long evenings together in the spacious apartment, sharing cold beer and listening to Western music. Their conversations flowed easily—from art and literature to the changes they believed India needed. That first encounter did not remain their last. They met again in the same large apartment, drinking beer and listening to music as before, but this time, after it all, she was discovered sitting there in a disheveled, unsettled state.
Stanza.8:
The struggle had been hard
And not altogether successful.
Certainly the blouse
Would not be used again.
But with true British courtesy.
He lent her a safety pin
Before she took the elevator down.
Explanatory Word-Meanings:
Courtesy = good and urbane manners. Elevator = a lift.
Paraphrase:
There had clearly been a tense confrontation between the Indian woman and the English employer, though the poet never states exactly what occurred. It is implied that the man may have attempted to assault her, but she managed to pull herself away from him. This seems to explain the poet’s remark that the encounter was “not altogether successful.” The later lines—mentioning that her blouse could no longer be worn and that the boss handed her a safety pin—also hint at a physical struggle. Her blouse must have been torn or damaged during the incident, and the safety pin was given so she could fasten it before taking the lift down from the apartment.
Critical Appreciation of the Poem “In India”:
Introduction:
The Poem “In India” was published in 1960 in the fourth volume of Ezekiel’s poetic collection. ‘In India’ is one of the fine poems written by Nissim Ezekiel. Ezekiel is a Jew by birth but he has settled in India and is very much a poet of India. He takes his theme from Indian life. He is fully aware of Indian culture, its traditions, its way of living and he loves India in spite of its poverty, heat and filthiness.
The poem is divided into four parts. Each part of the poem gives us a picture of some aspect of Indian life. The picture of life as Nissim presents in his poem is realistic and based on his close observance of the life and people living in India. He does not hide the ugly aspect of Indian life nor does he exaggerate its vices.
Depiction of Poverty Among Indian People:
The opening section of the poem presents a stark portrait of India’s impoverished masses. With daybreak, beggars begin their rounds from door to door, and hawkers roam the lanes trying desperately to sell whatever they can. Life stirs: those who spend their nights on pavements rise, and slum dwellers emerge from their cramped shelters, dispersing into the city in search of a livelihood.
The plight of women and children appears even more distressing. Mothers look exhausted and worn out, young girls move about in fear, and children drift through the streets without purpose, squandering their childhood in endless wandering. Both human compassion and divine grace seem absent—people show little kindness to one another, and the gods offer no relief to their worshippers. Everywhere, poverty and suffering dominate the landscape.
This is the everyday reality of both large metropolitan centres and smaller towns. Towering buildings, bustling markets, industries, shops, hotels, bars, restaurants, and clubs may define the modern Indian city, yet behind this dazzling façade lies a grim world of deprivation—rows of shanties, unclothed children, and undernourished men and women driven to sell their bodies to survive.
Nissim Ezekiel is often described as a poet of the city. Indeed, he captures urban life vividly, but he is far from oblivious to the hardship and despair of those who inhabit its slums and neglected quarters.
Hypocrisy of Indians:
The second section of the poem exposes the deep-rooted hypocrisy within Indian society. On the surface, we appear devout, faithfully observing our religious rituals and reciting our prayers on time. Yet, we fail to grasp the true essence of spirituality. Our lives remain entangled in vices—we trouble others, commit theft, intimidate people, and even boast about our romantic exploits. Still, when the moment for prayer arrives, we rush to perform it, ensuring our presence at the holy places.
But both before and after these rituals, many of us can easily be found “in some Jewish den,” indulging in drink. It is difficult to deny this contradiction. Nissim Ezekiel observes the people around him closely, and he translates these truths into the language of poetry with striking clarity.
Activities in Parties:
The third section of the poem highlights how we conduct ourselves at parties. Although we take pride in our cultural heritage, we continue to drift toward Western ways of celebration. During the ‘year’s-end festivities’, we match the foreigners in every respect. A party is deemed truly successful only when it involves plenty of flirtation—when thighs brush against thighs and chests press closely together.
Realistic Picture of Women:
The fourth section of the poem highlights the modern, progressive nature of our women. In public gatherings, they present themselves as composed and restrained, acting as though the lively celebrations around them cause them discomfort. Yet, in private—whether with their superiors or their loved ones—they reveal an entirely different side of themselves.
Nissim offers a strikingly realistic portrayal of the subtle “games” played by so-called respectable people behind the closed doors of their spacious apartments. In doing so, he shows that no facet of Indian life remains unexamined.
Language of Poem:
The poem uses simple language, and its ideas are presented with clarity. Most of it is written in free verse, but in the second section, the first three lines of each of the three stanzas follow a rhyme scheme, while the fourth line remains unrhymed. For example,
“They copied, bullied, stole in pairs
They bragged about their love affairs
The carved the table broke the chairs
And hastened to the prayers.”