A Passage to India Hamidullah Quotes

Hamidullah

Quote 1

"They all become exactly the same, not worse, not better. I give any Englishman two years, be he Turton or Burton. It is only the difference of a letter. And I give any Englishwoman six months." (1.2.16)

Hamidullah expresses here the Indian's experience with the English colonial administrators and their wives. As a Muslim lawyer educated in England, he notices a marked difference in his treatment. In England, he was treated with courtesy, as a guest. In India, on the other hand, the colonial situation encourages a more racist attitude where Indians are treated as an inferior race. Englishwomen fare worse than Englishmen because their interactions with Indians are never professional, only private, as when they interact with their servants.