Although the Major was so sympathetic to India, his piece sounds like a warning. He said that one has to be very determined to withstand--to stand up to--India. And the most vulnerable, he said, are always those who love her best. There are many ways of loving India, many things to love her for...but all, said the Major, are dangerous for the European who allows himself to love too much. India always, he said, finds out the weak spot and presses on it. ...Yes, concluded the Major, it is all very well to love and admire India--intellectually, aesthetically, he did not mention sexually but he must have been aware of that factor too--but always with a virile, measured, feeling. One should never, he warned, allow oneself to become softened {like Indians} by an excess of feeling; because the moment that happens -- the moment one exceeds one's measure-- one is in danger of being dragged over to the other side. ... He who loved India so much, knew her so well, chose to spend the end of his days here! But she always remained for him an opponent, even sometimes an enemy, to be guarded and if necessary fought against from without and, especially, from within: from within one's own being.
( Ruth Prawer Jhabvala )
[ Heat and Dust ]
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