Mistry's book received much praise, rightly so, as its picture of the 'underclass' in India in the early 1970's is moving, frighteningly realistic. But if you want a feel good book, this is not for you. Life for the underclass in India is not easy, a life of driscrimation, poverty, and government 'good intentions,' all leading to chaos and often tragedy. That being said, it's a powerful read, even a great book about India.
The novel follows the intersection of four characters, two from the lower middle class, the forty something widow, Dina Dalal, her lodger, a twenty year old student named Maneck, and the two tailors who work for Dina, both born to the class of 'untouchabables, Omprakash and his Uncle, Ishvar. Dina, constantly badgered by the landlord, often short of money, decides to take in a boarder and start a business of tailoring for a large company. Thus, her very sheltered and lonely life, slowly changes, as does her attitude, as she must not only work with but often eat and talk with Om and Ish, both beneath her, as they are the lowest of the low. Early on, both tailors end up sleeping each night in an alley, in the city, where they meet other poor, forging friendships with a beggar, legless on a wheeled cart, and a collector of hair. All four end up losing their sleeping spaces, and as a necessity, Dina reluctantly lets them sleep out on her veranda. Slowly, all four lives change, as the three males become fast friends, despite their differences, and Dina also begins to change, allows the four to eat their meals on the veranda, eventually inviting them into her kitchen and house. The four become friends, Dina especially enjoying the friendship and lost of solitude. Maneck, though middle class, is the most unhappy of the four, with grudges against his father, his being forced to leave home and go off to college, away from the life he loved.
Things change when Ish and Om decide to go back to their village, to find a wife for Om, an important step in a young man's life. This is the period of what was called The Emergency in India in the 1970's, where government proclamations were the law and forced sterilisations took place. These forced sterilization's remind me of a favorite quotations by C. S. Lewis:
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own consciencee.
Both Ish and Om were caught up in this net, Ish losing his legs as a result of a botched operation, and Om became impotent and overweight. As a result, they did not return to Dina's, leaving her alone once again. Maneck decides to go to Dubai, for work. Seven years pass before Maneck returns home, looks up Dina, finds her house was taken and turned into wealthy condos, and she is leaving off of her brother's family, greatly aged and unhappy. Maneck is shocked when he here's of her plight and the fact that both Ish and Om, are beggars, who depend on Dina for food early each morning. Both Maneck and the two beggars glimpse each other after Maneck speaks with Dina but neither acknowledges the fact, both ashamed of their plight, their fear.
The novel ends with Mancek, after returning home to bury his father, walking to a train station, and as the train speeds by, jumps in front of it, a shocking though not unexpected end. The most thoughtful and philosophical, he continually fought against the sadness of the lives of his friends but eventually he is overwhelmed by the scale of poverty and suffering of his fellow man and ends it all.
No comments:
Post a Comment