A Tea Party by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Wit and Humour

A TEA PARTY

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Born on 7^th May in 1927, was a German-born British. She was an American Booker prize-winning novelist, short story writer and two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter. Jhabvala wrote a dozen novels, 23 screenplays and eight collections of short stories. She is the only person to have won both a Booker Prize and an Oscar. She was lived in India for 24 years from 1951. She won Booker prize for her eighth novel, Heat and Dust in 1975.  she moved to America in 1975, where Jhabvala passed away in her home in New York on 3^rd April 2013 at the age of 85.

THE HOUSE HOLDER (1960)

The Householder opens with the account the concerns of an ordinary young man’s slow attainment to a status of the householder. Prem is married to Indu and is fumbling to find his foothold in his personal and professional life. He wants to be impressive just like his father and wants Indu, his wife to imitate his mother while she is treating her husband (Like her mother would treat her husband with respect and reverence).

Prem along with his wife Indu has shifted to Dellhi and by virtue of his late father’s influence got a job in a private college. The comic element of the story lies in the concept where Prem though married his mind and heart at his mother’s feet. His attachment with his mother, the food she prepares and the comfort of life where the responsibility of the house taken by his mother and shows his desire for ‘the state of plentitude’ and comfort. So he imitates his father expecting his wife to imitate his mother in respecting him.

Prem and Indu are like little cherubs who have been tied into a nuptial knot – a situation they are mentally not mature enough to be in. Prem belongs to middle class and is depicted as a man in battle with his personal and professional life. He is yet to come to terms with his economic conditions, work environment and is also fumbling to act as a man trying to bring a balance between two women his mother and his wife.

The present small piece of story, A Tea Party is taken from the novel 'The Householder' where the newly wedded couple was invited for a tea party by the Principal Mr. Khanna. His lack of confidence in handling situations was brought to the reader in the most comic style. 

Watch video of the Tea Party 

Previous Tea Party bit questions

1. Who hosted the Tea Party? Mr & Mrs Khanna.

2. A Tea Party excerpt has been taken from the following novel. [ d] 

 a) God of Small Things b) Cry, The Peacock c) The English Teacher d) The Householder

3. “For it is indeed imperative”, said Mr. Chaddha. what does imperative mean? [b ] 

a) Unimportant b) Urgent c) Polite d) Serious

4. Indu is ______________ woman. [a ] 
a) not educated b) a modern c) not fashionable d) a dynamic

5. Which saree Indu wore for a Tea Party? [ c]

a. Simple saree b. lovely saree c. One of her best sarees d. Blue colour saree

6. Who is the psychophant in the excerpt ‘A Tea Party? [c ]

a. Indu b. One of the guests c. Mr. Chadda d. Mrs. Khanna

7. A Tea Party is selected under the theme of .... [ a]

a. Wit and Humour b. Science and Technology  c. Knowledge and Wisdom d. Risk Management


8. Who is the author of the excerpt A Tea Party? [b ]

a. Jumpa Lahiri b. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala c. R.K. Narayan d. Helen Keller

9. Which of the following is not related to Mr. Chadda’s conversation in ‘A Tea Party’ [ c]

a. Good fellowship b. Recipe of sweets c. Role of women in the society

d. Sense of comradeship

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