A Lady, Her Three Roommates, and a Rare Bond

Rohinton Mistry, an Indian born author who now lives in Toronto, Canada has been compared to Charles Dickens and Leo Tolstoy for the realism of his novels. In a glowing introduction to this author, The New York Times said:

"Those who continue to harp on the decline of the novel ought to consider Rohinton Mistry. He needs no infusion of magic realism to vivify the real. The real world, through his eyes, is magical."

I really don’t know how I could have missed reading A Fine Balance for so long. Had I read this book when Lyagushka had hosted The Book that Changed my Life write-off, A Fine Balance would certainly have been my entry.


A Lady, Her Three Roommates, and a Rare Bond

The place is definitely Bombay, India, even though it is never mentioned by name, and is just referred to as a City by the Sea. The year is 1975. The backdrop for the events that occur in this book is “The State of Emergency”, declared by Indira Gandhi, then prime minister of India. In 1975, when Indira Gandhi was asked to resign on charges of corruption, and for an infraction of the election laws, she not only did not resign, but also responded by declaring a “State of Emergency” in India.

According to Manas, an online Indian magazine, during this state of emergency,

“Mrs.Gandhi’s political foes were imprisoned, constitutional rights abrogated, and the press was placed under strict censorship. Meanwhile, the eldest of her two sons, Sanjay Gandhi, started to run the country as though it were his personal fiefdom, and earned the fierce hatred of many whom his policies had victimized. He ordered the removal of slum dwellings, and in an attempt to curb India's growing population, initiated a highly resented program of forced sterilization.”

Dina Dalal is a middle aged widow struggling hard to maintain her independence after her husband dies in an unfortunate accident. She is trying to remain independent from her domineering and tyrannical older brother, Nusswan, who insists that she should be living with his family, and not by herself. Dina makes a career of sorts for herself by sewing clothes for people. The money she earns barely makes ends meet, but she is happy about being independent.

However, as soon she hits the magic age of forty, her eyes start bothering her, and she cannot keep up with her sewing career. When she receives a huge sewing commission from Au Revoir Exports, she starts looking out for two tailors to help her finish the job. In addition, she thinks of taking on a paying guest to help maintain her independence.

Ishwar, and Omprakash Darji, have left their native village, and have arrived in the big city in search of better prospects. Having struggled hard to break free from their traditional Chamaar (Cobbler) profession, they have managed to learn the art of tailoring clothes. It has been three months in the big city, but a decent job is nowhere in sight.

Maneck Kohlah is a native of a charming little small town in the Himalayas. His parents have a small homerun business of manufacturing a soft drink. Kohlah’s Cola, not Coca Cola, is the favorite soft drink in this small town. With thoughts of further expanding their small business, Maneck’s parents send him to the big city to study ‘Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning.’ Maneck is sick of the ragging that happens in the college hostel, and is on the lookout for a place that will take him in as a paying guest.

It is under these circumstances that Dina, Ishwar, Om, and Maneck meet. The 600 pages of A Fine Balance explores the lives of these four characters in great detail. Even though the lives of these four lives are filled with unthinkable injustice, and sorrow, the rare bond that they share gives them enough hope to live in a state of “a fine balance.”


A Fine Balance

Heart wrenching despair, unspeakable agony, and unthinkable cruelty happen throughout this book, but I was not able to put this extremely candid book down till I had read it completely. The characters were so real in this book that my heart broke into tiny little pieces, every time they experienced sorrow and despair. It has been two weeks since I read this book, but I am still heartbroken.

I was 6 years old when the “State of Emergency” was declared in India. As a matter of coincidence, we lived in the same “City by the Sea”. But, the life of people in the slums was only a distant reality for me, because I lived a much protected middle class life. This book educated me about the not so distant history of my country, in a way that a history textbook never could.

Last week, I bought my tickets to go to India this summer for a vacation. I am sure that it will be a lot of fun, but I am also sure that I will not be able to look at a beggar on the streets again without losing my composure.


Final Note

It is rather sad that this Indian–Canadian author who has spoken out so passionately against racism, bigotry, and corruption in his books was a victim of racism himself when was on a book signing tour to the United States for one of his other books.

One his agents said that, "As a person of color he was stopped repeatedly and rudely at each airport along the way -- to the point where the humiliation for both he and his wife has become unbearable." As a result he cancelled his book signing tour midway, and returned to Canada.

This book signing tour incident happened just a little after September 11th, and airports across the country had tightened security measures. But that certainly did not mean that the customs officials could go about violating human rights. At the very least, they could have exercised decent manners!

I brought this up only because I strongly feel that racism, and bigotry should not be tolerated as a principle, whether it is in India, or here in the United States. This, after all is the message of this very fine book.