Study Materials – by Paul Brians

Notes for Anita Desai’s Baumgartner’s Bombay

Note: This study guide is presented here as a historical document only. Paul Brians is retired and his courses are no longer offered by WSU.

Page No.	German	English Translation
2	mein Gott	my God!
	was ist dann, wie kannst du	what is it, how can you?
3	Meine kleine Maus, Mein Häschen, Liebchen	My little mouse, my little rabbit, lovey.
	Meine kleine Maus, mein Hugo, Geliebter	My little mouse, my Hugo, beloved
4	Mutti	Mommy
5	Blutwurst, Leberwurst, Bratwurst–was willst du?	Blood sausage, liver sausage, bratwurst–what would you like?All pork sausages unavailable in Bombay.
6	Coelho, Da Silva	Portuguese names, the Portuguese settled early in Bombay; the others are typically Indian names.
	du Dummkopf	stupid!
7	baksheesh	alms
9	sahib	Sir formal term of respectful address for a foreign man
10	masala	spices which cats would not like
11	his god Zoroaster	Farrokh, like many of his neighbors, is a a Parsi, a follower of the ancient Persian religion taught by the prophet (not god) Zarathustra, whose name is usually rendered “Zoroaster” in English
13	sacred thread	worn only by Brahmin men, the highest caste
	say they love Buddha	Although Buddhism began in India, it almost entirely vanished from there centuries ago, with only remnants being absorbed into Hinduism.
	ashram	center for meditation and worship
18	piscine	fish-like
	juice-wallah	“Wallah” often means “vendor,” as here
19	burnoose, chador	typical male and female costumes of Muslims
23	Zigaren, Zigaretten	cigars, cigarettes
25	Hopp, hopp, hopp,	Hop, Hop, Hop,
	Pferdchen lauf galopp	Little horse run galloping
	Über Stock und über Steine,	Over sticks and over stones,
	Aber brich dir nicht die Beine!	But don’t break your bones!
	Hopp, hopp, hopp,	Hop, Hop, Hop,
	Pferdchen lauf galopp.	Little horse run galloping.
26	chaises-longues	couches
28	Kommt ein Vogel geflogen,	A bird came flying,
	Setzt sich neider mein Fuss,	and landed by my foot,
	hat ein Brieflein im Schnable,	he had a note in his beak,
	von der Mutter ein Gruss.	a greeting from my mother.
	du kleiner Affe	you little ape
	so ungehorsam
29	Lieber Vogel, flieg weiter,	Little bird, fly away
	Nimm ein Gruss mit, einer Kuss,	Take a greeting, a kiss, with you
	Denn ich kann dich nicht begleiten	Because I cannot go with you,
	Weil ich hierbleiuben muss	For I must remain here.
	Gib mir dein kleines Pfötchen	Give me your little paw.
30	loden	A traditional type of very heavy coat made of boiled wool
31	Welt am Abend	The Evening World
32	O du lieber Augustin	Oh, beloved Augustine,
	alles ist hin!	Everything is gone!
	Geld ist weg,	Money is gone,
	Beutel ist weg,	Purse is gone,
	Augustin liegt auch im Dreck,	Even Augustine is lying in the filth,
	O du lieber Augustin,	Oh, beloved Augustine,
	alles ist hin!	Everything is gone!
35	Hoppe, hoppe, Reiter,	Hop, hop, rider,
	wenn er fällt, dann schreit er gleich.	If he falls, he will quickly cry.
	Fällt er in die Hecken,	If he falls in the hedges,
	fressen ihn die Schnecken,	The snails will eat him;
	fällt er in den Klee,	If he falls in the clover,
	schreit her glich: O weh . . .	He will also cry, Oh, woe!
	O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum	Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree,
	Wie grün sind deine Blätter!	How green are your needles!Original words to the popular carol.
36	Klein	the name means “small”
37	Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf!	Sleep, little child, sleep!
	Da draussen gehn zwei Schaf!	Outside two sheep are going by!
	Ein Schwarzes und ein weisses,	A black one and a white one,
	und wenn das Kind nich schlafen will	And if the child won’t go to sleep,
	dann kommt das Schwarz und beisst es.	the black one will come and bite him.
	Schlaf, Kindlein, Schlaf!	Sleep, little child, sleep!
	language Hugo had never heard before	Hebrew
38	Hänschen klein, geht allein,	Little Hans, go all alone,
	in die weite Welt hinein,	out into the wide world,
	Stock und Hut stehn im gut,	his stick and hat will suit him well,
	ist ganz wohlgemut.	He is quite cheerful.
	Doch die Mutter weinet sehr,	But his mother weeps bitterly,
	hat ja nun kein Hänschen mehr . . .	because she no longer has her little rabbit . . .
	Es tanzt ein Bi-ba-butzemann	A bogeyman dances
	in unserem Haus herum, didum,	around in our House,
39	es tanzt ein Bi-ba-butzemann	A bogeyman dances
	in unserem Haus herum, didum,	around in our House,
	Er rüttelt sich, er schüttelt sich	He rattles and shakes himself,
	er wift sein Säckchen hinter sich,	he draws his little sack behind him,
	Es tanzt ein Bi-ba-butzemann	A bogeyman dances
	in unserem Haus herum.	around in our House.
40	Berliner Zeitung	Berlin Times (newspaper)
41	Shabbos	Sabbath
42	Eija, Popeija,	Hey, Popeja!

Notes by Paul Brians, Department of English, Washington State University, Pullman 99164-5020. Corrected by Mario Menti.

More Study Materials for World Literature in English of India, Africa, and the Caribbean

Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart
Buchi Emecheta: The Joys of Motherhood
Wole Soyinka: Selected Plays
Athol Fugard: “Master Harold”. . . and the Boys
Nadine Gordimer: Selected Stories
George Lamming: In the Castle of My Skin
R. K. Narayan: The Guide
Salman Rushdie: The Satanic Verses
Arundhati Roy: The God of Small Things
“Postcolonial Literature”: Problems with the Term
The Irrelevance of “Postcolonialism” to South Asian Literature
About African Literature, by Azfar Hussain
Postcolonial Literature Journals List
World Literature Syllabus

Book Cover: Modern South Asian Literature in English — Modern South Asian Literature in English Published 2003 by Greenwood Press. This is a discussion of some authors from India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka who write fiction in English (Attia Hosain, Jhumpa Lahiri, Rohinton Mistry, Bharati Mukherjee, R. K. Narayan, Michael Ondaatje, Raja Rao, Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie, Shyam Selvadurai, Khushwant Singh, Bapsi Sidhwa, Manil Suri, and Rabindranath Tagore). These essays are aimed at being helpful to readers beginning to explore this popular literature. It avoids fearsome theoretical and critical vocabulary and aims at explaining what needs explaining without giving away plot surprises. Ideal for libraries, reading groups, and beginning college courses on the subject.

For more about Anita Desai and other South Asian writers, see Paul Brians’ Modern South Asian Literature in English.

Version of March 31, 1999.