CHAPTER 4: ROTTI By P. Lankesh (Translated by Nataraj Huliyar) — Powerful story of hunger, survival, and unexpected human empathy
PART A: 15 Short Answer Questions & Answers (1-2 Sentences)
Q1: Who is the protagonist of the story 'Rotti', and what is her background?
Answer: The protagonist is a down-to-earth, middle-aged village woman who visits her daughter and son-in-law in a busy metropolitan city during the 1970s.
Q2: Why does the woman decide to leave her daughter's house early?
Answer: She decides to leave because she feels uncomfortable with the mysterious, busy lifestyle of the city and the evasive, cold behavior of her son-in-law.
Q3: Where does the central incident of the story take place?
Answer: The central incident of the story takes place on a crowded platform inside a busy, noisy railway station.
Q4: What does the woman learn about her train journey when she reaches the station?
Answer: She learns that her train is late by an hour, forcing her to wait on the crowded station platform.
Q5: What does the woman have in her bag, and why did she pack them?
Answer: She has a pack of homemade rottis (flatbreads) wrapped in a newspaper, which she had packed to eat during her journey back to her village.
Q6: Who is the man standing near the pillar, and how is he described?
Answer: He is a tall, thin, and young man with long, uncombed hair, a dirty green cloth over his shoulder, a rough dhoti, and hungry, cruel eyes.
Q7: Why does the woman hesitate to open her pack of rottis initially?
Answer: She hesitates because she is not used to eating in a public place in front of strangers, feeling shy and self-conscious.
Q8: What sudden act of violence occurs on the platform?
Answer: The tall, thin man suddenly hops toward her, snatches the rottis from her hand, and begins eating them greedily.
Q9: How does the woman react immediately after her rottis are snatched?
Answer: Baffled and frightened by the sudden attack, she raises a loud scream, shouting, 'Hey, thief! Thief! He stole my rottis!'
Q10: How does the crowd at the railway station react to her scream?
Answer: The crowd gathers quickly, but instead of helping her, they laugh, mock her, and treat the situation as an amusing public entertainment.
Q11: What does the policeman do when he arrives at the scene?
Answer: The policeman immediately pushes the crowd aside, runs toward the hungry man, snatches the rottis back, and begins beating him brutally with a cane.
Q12: Why does the woman feel a sudden wave of guilt and remorse?
Answer: She feels guilty because she realizes the man was not a professional thief, but simply a desperately hungry human being who snatched the food to survive.
Q13: What does the woman try to do to stop the policeman from beating the man?
Answer: She pleads with the policeman to stop beating him, shouting that the man is innocent and trying to grab the policeman's cane.
Q14: How does the story depict the public's attitude toward the poor and hungry?
Answer: The public is depicted as indifferent, cruel, and hypocritical; they enjoy the spectacle of the poor man's beating and show no empathy for his hunger.
Q15: Who is the translator of 'Rotti' from Kannada to English?
Answer: The story 'Rotti' was translated from Kannada to English by Nataraj Huliyar, a close associate of P. Lankesh.
PART B: 12 Medium Answer Questions & Answers (80-100 Words)
Q1: Describe the woman's feelings of discomfort and alienation in the city.
Answer: The protagonist is a simple, traditional village woman who feels completely alienated and out of place in the metropolitan city. She is bewildered by the busy, fast-paced life, the towering banners, and the continuous noise. Her discomfort deepens inside her daughter’s home, where she senses a lack of genuine warmth. Her son-in-law is evasive, cold, and buried in his office work, avoiding any real conversation. Feeling like an unwelcome burden, she decides to cut her visit short and return to the safety and simplicity of her village, highlighting the emotional distance in modern urban relationships.
Q2: Analyze the setting of the railway station and its significance in the story.
Answer: The railway station is a crucial setting that represents a microcosm of modern urban society. It is depicted as a hot, dusty, and overcrowded space filled with busy commuters, coolies in soiled clothes, and homeless people sleeping on the ground. The station platform is devoid of privacy or compassion, where people hurry past without caring for others. It is in this public, uncaring environment that the raw struggle for survival is exposed. The station becomes a stage where the themes of extreme hunger, public indifference, and systemic violence play out in front of a mocking crowd.
Q3: Describe the appearance of the man standing near the pillar and how he evokes fear.
Answer: The man standing near the pillar is described with vivid, unsettling detail that initially evokes deep fear and suspicion in the woman. He is a tall, thin chap with dry, uncombed hair falling to his shoulders, wearing a dirty green cloth and a loose dhoti. His face is pale, and his body looks weak, as if suffering from a fever. Most strikingly, he has wide, hungry, and somewhat wild eyes that stare directly at her. His desperate, intense gaze makes the woman feel extremely uncomfortable and threatened, causing her to drag her trunk away and try to hide her bag of food.
Q4: What is the significance of 'Rotti' as a central symbol in the story?
Answer: In P. Lankesh's story, 'Rotti' (flatbread) is a powerful symbol of basic human survival, hunger, and dignity. For the village woman, the rottis are a simple, home-cooked meal packed with maternal care for her journey. For the starving man on the platform, however, the rottis represent the thin line between life and death. His sudden, desperate act of snatching the rottis is not a crime born of greed, but an direct cry of a hungry body. The rotti serves as a touchstone that exposes the characters' morals, the crowd's cruelty, and the ultimate realization of shared human vulnerability.
Q5: How does the crowd react to the theft, and what does this reveal about urban psychology?
Answer: The reaction of the crowd at the railway station is characterized by extreme apathy, cruelty, and a thirst for entertainment. When the woman screams 'Thief!', a large crowd gathers immediately, but they do not show any real sympathy or try to understand the situation. Instead, they laugh at her distress and mock the starving man. Some shout accusations, while others watch the violent beating of the man by the policeman with silent satisfaction. This reaction reveals the cold, voyeuristic, and desensitized psychology of urban crowds, where human suffering is reduced to public amusement.
Q6: Discuss the moral dilemma faced by the village woman when the man snatches her food.
Answer: When the man snatches her rottis, the village woman is caught in a sharp moral dilemma. Her first, instinctive reaction is guided by fear and a sense of personal violation, causing her to scream and call for help. However, as she watches the crowd’s mocking laughter and the policeman’s brutal cane strikes, her maternal and human instincts awaken. She realizes that the man was not a dangerous criminal, but a starving human who snatched food out of sheer desperation. Her fear turns into deep guilt and pity, prompting her to defend the very man who took her food.
Q7: Analyze the role of the policeman in the narrative.
Answer: The policeman represents the rigid, unthinking, and brutal nature of state authority and systemic power. Upon hearing the woman's scream, he does not investigate the cause of the disturbance or show any compassion. Instead, he immediately asserts his authority by physically pushing the crowd aside and brutally beating the thin, sick man with his cane. He ignores the woman's desperate pleas to stop, viewing the situation strictly as a law-and-order issue. The policeman symbolizes a system that punishes the victims of poverty and hunger while remaining blind to their suffering.
Q8: How does the story explore the theme of hunger as both a physical and social reality?
Answer: The story depicts hunger not just as a physical biological need, but as a deep social injustice and a source of intense humiliation. The tall, thin man is so consumed by hunger that he discards all social rules and personal dignity, snatching food in public from an elderly woman. His feverish body and desperate eating highlight the painful, physical reality of starvation. Socially, the story shows how a well-fed society ignores and criminalizes hunger, treating the starving poor as subhuman pests who deserve to be beaten rather than fed, highlighting the spiritual poverty of the urban class.
Q9: Explain the significance of the woman trying to grab the policeman's cane.
Answer: The moment the village woman tries to grab the policeman's cane is a powerful act of moral courage and rebellion. By physically interfering with the officer's brutal actions, she directly challenges the cruel authority of the state. She screams that the man is innocent and begs the officer to stop the beating. This physical intervention shows that her empathy has completely overcome her initial fear and anger. She is willing to risk her own safety and face public embarrassment to protect a helpless, starving stranger, embodying the theme of pure human compassion.
Q10: How does Lankesh portray the failure of communication and empathy in modern societies?
Answer: Lankesh portrays a tragic failure of communication and empathy in modern city life. The woman cannot communicate with her son-in-law, who hides behind his busy routine. At the station, the crowd cannot communicate with the starving man; they only shout insults and laugh. The policeman cannot communicate; he only uses his cane. The only moment of genuine, silent communication occurs between the village woman and the hungry man, when she looks past his dirty appearance and wild eyes to recognize his shared humanity, suggesting that empathy is lost in the noise of the modern city.
Q11: Discuss the emotional transition of the protagonist from anger to profound pity.
Answer: The protagonist undergoes a rapid and deep emotional transition. Initially, she is nervous, self-conscious, and suspicious of the strange man. When he snatches her rottis, her fear explodes into anger and she screams for public help. However, the moment she sees the policeman's wooden cane strike the man's weak, feverish body, her anger vanishes. Seeing his blood and hearing his silent suffering, she is filled with profound maternal pity and guilt. She realizes that her scream caused this violence, and she desperately tries to undo the damage, showing her deeply compassionate nature.
Q12: What does the ending of the story suggest about the persistence of poverty and indifference?
Answer: The ending of 'Rotti' is bleak and realistic, suggesting that poverty and public indifference are deeply entrenched social realities. Despite the woman's desperate attempts to stop the beating and her offering of fruits and toys to the crowd, the system remains unyielding. The policeman continues to drag the bleeding man away, and the crowd remains indifferent. The story closes without a happy resolution, leaving the reader with a painful awareness of the ongoing suffering of the poor and the cold, unfeeling nature of modern institutionalized society.
PART C: 5 Long Answer Questions & Answers (200 Words Each)
Q1: Analyze 'Rotti' as a powerful social critique of urban apathy, poverty, and the criminalization of hunger in modern India.
Answer: P. Lankesh’s short story 'Rotti', translated by Nataraj Huliyar, is a devastating critique of urban apathy, extreme poverty, and the systematic criminalization of hunger in post-independence Indian cities. The narrative exposes the harsh moral vacuum of metropolitan spaces, where basic human survival is treated as a crime, and the suffering of the destitute is reduced to public entertainment.
The central conflict arises when a starving, sick young man snatches a pack of rottis from a visiting village woman on a crowded railway platform. The reaction of the urban crowd is a chilling display of apathy; instead of showing compassion or trying to understand the man’s desperate situation, they laugh, mock the victim, and enjoy the dramatic spectacle. The arrival of the policeman further highlights the cruelty of the state apparatus. Rather than addressing the systemic failure that leaves citizens starving, the policeman inflicts brutal physical violence on the hungry man, treating his act of survival as a threat to public order. Through this, Lankesh critiques a society that protects property over human life. The story forcefully argues that hunger is a collective social failure, and by criminalizing it, modern cities expose their own deep-seated spiritual and moral decay.
Q2: Discuss the character of the village woman, focusing on her moral transformation, maternal instincts, and humanity.
Answer: The protagonist of 'Rotti' is a simple, down-to-earth village woman whose journey on a city railway station becomes a profound test of human empathy and moral growth. Initially, she is portrayed as a typical conservative villager—shy, uncomfortable in public spaces, and highly suspicious of the strange, dirty people around her. When her rottis are snatched, her immediate reaction is driven by fear and a sense of personal violation, causing her to shout and call the man a thief.
However, her character undergoes a rapid, beautiful moral transformation when she witnesses the brutal consequences of her actions. As the policeman rains cane blows upon the weak, feverish body of the hungry man, her maternal instincts and deep-rooted humanity are awakened. Her anger instantly turns into overwhelming guilt and remorse. She realizes that she has unleashed a violent state machine upon a helpless, starving fellow human. Showing immense courage, she defies the crowd’s laughter and physically attempts to stop the policeman, claiming the man is innocent. Her actions prove that her heart is unpolluted by urban selfishness, emerging as a symbol of pure, unconditional compassion that stands in sharp contrast to the cold, indifferent city.
Q3: Examine the psychological and physical depiction of hunger as a driving force for human action in 'Rotti'.
Answer: In 'Rotti', hunger is depicted not merely as a physical discomfort, but as a primitive, overwhelming force that strips away all social conditioning, dignity, and fear of consequences. Lankesh presents hunger as an absolute physical reality that drives human action to the extreme, exposing the raw, animalistic struggle for survival in a neglectful world.
The hungry man near the pillar is physically described as weak, feverish, and emaciated, yet his eyes are wide, intense, and 'hungry'. When he snatches the rottis, his movements are described as sudden and desperate, like a wild animal grabbing prey. He does not steal money or valuables; he only snatches flatbreads and begins eating them greedily in public, completely oblivious to the surrounding crowd or the approaching danger. This raw, feverish focus on food shows that extreme starvation bypasses all human reason and social shame. By highlighting the physical details of his bleeding body and his silent endurance of the beating, Lankesh forces the reader to confront the agonizing reality of starvation, demonstrating that hunger is an absolute physical force that demands satisfaction, regardless of the societal laws that seek to suppress it.
Q4: Critically evaluate the contrast between rural values of empathy and urban values of transaction and apathy in the story.
Answer: The story 'Rotti' establishes a sharp, dramatic contrast between the compassionate, organic values of rural life and the cold, transactional, and apathetic culture of modern urban centers. This conflict is navigated by the protagonist, an elderly village woman who feels intensely alienated during her visit to the city.
In the city, relationships are depicted as cold, distant, and transactional. Her son-in-law is polite but emotionally unavailable, hiding behind his office work. At the railway station, the crowd represents the peak of urban apathy; they are desensitized to human suffering, treating a starving man’s desperation as a comic performance and a violent beating as a spectator sport. In contrast, the village woman represents rural values rooted in natural empathy, communal care, and maternal protective instincts. Although she initially reacts with fear, she quickly connects with the suffering of the hungry man on a deep, human level. Her desperate attempt to halt the violence and her willingness to offer her own food represent a selfless, non-transactional love that is entirely missing from the modern city, highlighting the moral superiority of simple, nature-aligned rural lives.
Q5: Analyze how P. Lankesh builds suspense, tension, and dramatic irony on the railway platform in 'Rotti'.
Answer: P. Lankesh masterfully constructs suspense, tension, and dramatic irony to build a highly engaging and emotionally charged narrative on the railway platform. The tension begins immediately with the setting—a late train, a crowded station, and a simple village woman who is self-conscious and uncomfortable eating in public. The introduction of the silent, mysterious man standing near the pillar, staring at her with wide, hungry eyes, introduces a sense of creeping unease and suspense.
The tension peaks and explodes in a sudden moment of action when the man hops forward and snatches the rottis, triggering the woman’s loud scream. From this point, Lankesh utilizes intense dramatic irony. The woman screams 'Thief!' to protect her food, but the moment the policeman arrives and begins a brutal beating, both the woman and the readers realize the tragic irony: the 'thief' is a dying, starving victim of society, and the woman’s scream has made her an accomplice to his torture. The frantic, chaotic movements of the crowd, the sound of the wooden cane, and the woman’s desperate, failed attempts to grab the cane build a powerful, high-stakes climax that leaves the reader with a deep sense of moral discomfort and tragedy.