Portrayal of racism and ethnicity in Tabish Khair's "the thing about thugs"

Abstract

London the city of dreams, hopes and light has been fictionalised by a number of authors since the colonial period. But the portrayal of the city in Tabish Khair's novel The Thing About Thugs is something unique. It defines the beauty, rich culture and lavish life of the city on one hand and on the other hand it reveals the haunting mysteries which become a major form of fear, horror and marginalisation of the city. The author has tried to represent Indian past without stinky spots and with the help of multiple techniques he denies with the superiority of British Empire over India or other eastern countries. The novel he also refutes the typical mind-set of Europeans about eastern subcontinents along with eastern thinking and dreams about western lavish, high profile and busy country life. The novel is a wonderful attempt of the writer to attack upon the issues like stereotypes, barbarism, class, caste, racist attitude, inter-racial relationships, and religion etc. The novel is a story of a reformed thug Amir Ali who has taken away to London by a British Captain, T. Meadows to investigate the cult of thugee and series of brutal beheadings happening in the dark, stinky streets of London. The novel highlights how the authorities suspect that there must be Indians or eastern behind these activities but the reality was not as per their thinking. It represents how these issues have always been in the minds of the west about east by which they always feel themselves superior to eastern subcontinents. The presence of a race which is looked down as inferior give them always a sense of superiority to the east.