One of the very obviously striking figure in Kipling's On the City Wall is Lalun. The opening
paragraph of the story delineates Lalun as a mystical, but extremely central
and indispensable character. While her profession was that of a prostitute,
Kipling never once portrays hers in a conventional light. Her profession is
almost elevated and glorified in that it makes her who she is, a figure of
secular nationalism, and her salon is the site of her resistance. Kipling
distances herself from all notions of Morality right from the start, which exempts
her from a commonplace narrative that surrounds a prostitute. "In the
West, people say rude things about Lalun's professions...that Morality may be
preserved...In the East...nobody writes lectures or takes any notice". Analogous
to "the Moon, the Dil Sagar Lake, a spotted quail, a gazelle, the Sun on
the Desert of Kuch, the Dawn, the Stars, and the young bamboo", Lalun is
not only plays the role of the new Indian nationalist figure but also that of
the Motherland. She brings together people of all kinds in her salon, Shiahs,
Sufis, Hindu priests, Pundits etc. all congregate in her secular world. The
salon appears removed from the rest of the city, not just in terms of its
literal location, but also because of its 'electic' visitors and participants.
However, Lalun herself is vital to the function of the salon. She acts as the
moderator between all kinds of people, especially between the two males, Wali
Dad and the narrator, hindered neither by language or color. It is indeed
curious why the narrator seems to be a regular fixture in the salon. It is
imperative to note that the reader never finds out Lalun's religion. Moreover,
she is never physically described, minus the one time where her black eyes and
hair are described; regardless, there is nothing sexual about her. She is,
therefore, a figure of spiritual gratification, rather than physical. All these
develop her role of the mother of Indian nationalism.
The placement of Lalun and her salon in the city is
instrumental. She lived in the peripheries of the city, on the east wall facing
the river. It is ironic because her central and unifying role places her in a
non peripheral space. Her house on the wall possesses an aerial view, and one
that surrounds the whole city. She has been granted a forefront role therefore,
which goes with her knack of knowing everything ("Lalun knows
everything"). This same salon is responsible for trying to resuscitate
India's lost glory in the form of Khem Singh, as this physical space is instrumental
for the escape. Her salon, therefore, is a constant site of the Indian
nationalist struggle. The novel ends on a note conveying Lalun's immense power
and importance with, "But I was thinking how I had become Lalun's Vizier
after all."
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