The Village by the Sea by Anita Desai

The Village by the Sea is set in a small village called Thul, a village which is near to Alibagh. It is a story about the life of a family of six which consists of the parents and their four children; Lila, Hari, Kamal and Bela. Lila, the eldest child among four siblings, is thirteen years old, yet she already has the maturity of an adult. Lila’s family represents the typical lives of families in the small fishing village of Thul. While other children are fortunate enough to have parents or at least the fathers to go fishing and provide food for them, Lila’s siblings have to survive on their own since their mother is sick while their father has always been drunk. For that reason, Lila plays the role as the mother by doing the house work. Her brother Hari, just twelve, is the only person with whom she can share her troubles. He works in the field behind their hut.Their mother is ill and needs constant care and nursing. She is anaemic due to malnourishment and she grows weaker and weaker with each passing day. Their father, who has been out of work for months, is in a permanent drunken stupor. With two younger sisters to take care of as well as their mother, life for Lila and Hari is not easy. Their father is not very useful as he is often away at the local toddy shop, getting drunk. There is a constant need for money as the family is almost always in debt.

One day, Hari is being told by his good friend, Ramu that their fishing village is going to transform into an industrial place with many factories to be built. Since that, he keeps thinking about the idea that the factories would give the villagers new jobs. However, Hari is not sure about the idea since it seems to take long time for the transformation to happen that he should think of another way to earn a living. Then one day, Hari decides he has had just about enough and decides to leave for Bombay – the Bombay where dreams come true and ambition yields. Hari leaves for Mumbai secretly, leaving Lila the full responsibility to take care of the family. She is left alone to manage her sisters Bela and Kamal, as well as her mother, and somehow keep the family strings together. Help comes from an unexpected source, the rich de Silva's.

 There, Hari builds a strong friendship with Mr. Panwallah, the lovable watch repairer whose shop is just beside Jagu’s. Through his experience with Mr. Panwallah and Jagu and the chain of events that take place in Bombay, Hari realises that he should return to his village with savings and help his family overcome their hardships.

Meanwhile, in Bombay, Hari works at Sri Krishna Eating House owned by Jagu, a kind person, and he is also a watchman of the de Silva’s house in Bombay. Hari being new in the great city of Bombay, and all alone, Jagu takes pity on him and welcomes him to work in his restaurant. De Silva has a vacation house in Thul and he knows Hari since Hari used to help him to settle down in Thul. While working at the restaurant, Hari builds a good relationship with a watch mender, Mr. Panwallah who then teaches him watch mending. Hari acquires the skill that he manages to repair a watch of Mr. Panwallah’s customer and make money for that. Mr. Panwallah inspires Hari to learn the skill so that one day it could be useful for him to earn a better living.

Meanwhile, Lila and her sisters Bela and Kamal are doing well since the de Silva’s family come for summer vacation in Thul. They work for the family like Hari used to during his presence. Mr. de Silva is the one who sends their mother to the hospital in Alibagh when Lila asks for his help. Their father turns over a new leaf, and accompanies their mother throughout her seven month treatment without drinking and without having any debts. After that, a bird researcher Sayyid Ali replaces Mr. de Silva’s place to stay at the house but Lila and her sisters still continue their job at the house. 

It has been seven months since Hari left his village and it is right before Diwali that Hari goes back to Thul, surprising his sisters with the money he has earned. He eagerly tells them everything that has happened in Bombay and his dream of building better life for them in Thul. He plans to adapt with the transformation which is soon to take place by working on poultry farm first. His watch mending skill would make him money when the factories are built since people from town who wear watches will come and stay in Thul to work. Hari also has been told by Lila about their father’s change and their mother’s health condition. That year, their family celebrate Diwali much better than the previous years. Their mother has been discharged from the hospital and their father is not drinking anymore.

Anita Desai has explicitly described in her very own style of writing how Hari in the dilapidated conditions of the Sri Krishna Eating House finds warmth and affection through Mr Panwallah-owner and watchmender of the Ding-Dong watch shop. Mr Panwallah instills confidence in Hari and comforts him when he is terribly home sick. He even gives Hari a vivid and inspiring future and teaches him watchmending .This shows that even in one of the most busiest, rickety and ramshackled cities such as Bombay (now Mumbai) there is still hope, love and affection.