ABSTRACT
The temptation is strong to approach Indo-English novels set in Indian cities as case studies in urbanization. The symbolic truth of a particular city as represented by a novelist may supercede in importance the literal representation of that city. In more novels, judgment concerns take precedence over symbols that are rooted in experience with the British, even in novels dealing with the Presidency towns. British mismanagement of the famine is treated as consistent with their inhumanity as colonial rulers, a view which intensifies the nationalist sentiments at work in both Coolie and So Many Hungers. Kamala Markandaya, in A Handful of Rice, written in 1966, shows us a Madras no longer inhabited by the British. Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta share a common history as major urban centers which evolved during the period of British rule. The urban cycle has come full circle, from jungle to "jungle."
