A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

Set primarily in 1970’s India, four peoples lives are intertwined under the rule of Indira Ghandi’s “Emergency”.

Mistry masterfully introduces the four major characters from their childhoods starting with the 1947 Partition of India and the ensuing violence that followed up to questionable emergency in 1975.

Caste distinction kept people in very limited and clearly defined roles, from the unfortunate Undesirables to the privileged Brahmins, while those in the lowest castes were forced to accept undeserved and extreme punishments as well as forced sterilizations.

Dina Dalal, an independent and resourceful widow needs to take on a border and two tailors in order to keep living in her rent controlled apartment and must do so with discretion as her efforts are considered a breach of her lease.

A naive college student from the country, Maneck Kohlah has fled his unsavory dorm and has been referred to Dina by a mutual friend of his mother’s. He is clearly the upper caste member in the household.

Ishvar Darji, at times self-deprecating, much to the chagrin of his nephew Om, has travelled a great distance for a tailoring job with Mrs. Dalal and believes hard work will allow for saving enough money for a bountiful return to their native village.

After his entire family is burned alive, Omprakash Darji leaves the village with his uncle Ishvar to learn the tailoring trade. He is bitter and does not hide his resentment towards anyone, much to his uncle’s dismay.

Quotes:

The brief early-morning ride from the train station was no preparation for the hysteria of midday traffic. It was like seeing wild animal lethargic in zoo cages, then coming upon them in the jungle.

The nonsense that people foisted on their children. When the boy had visited last month, he seemed nothing like the person described in his mother’s letter. But that was always the case–people hardly ever saw their children as they really were.

You see, you cannot draw lines and compartments, and refuse to budge beyond them. Sometimes you have to use your failures as stepping-stones to success. You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair.

What an unreliable thing is time–when I want it to fly, the hours stick to me like glue. And what a changeable thing, too. Time is the twine to tie our lives into parcels of years and months. Or a rubber band stretched to suit our fancy. Time can be the pretty ribbon in a little girl’s hair. Or the lines in your face, stealing your youthful colour and your hair…But in the end, time is a noose around the neck, strangling slowly.

What a thrill to sit with Mr. Mistry and hear the multitude of voices he is able to put to paper. Would love to ask how he is able to so clearly define so many unique characters.

My rating for A Fine Balance  is a 9 out of 10.

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Next up…Tadeusz Borowski’s This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen….