Book Review - The strong portrayal of caste, cruelty and woman character in Mistry's novel “A FINE BALANCE”“...you have to use your failures as stepping stones to success. You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair. In the end it’s all a question of balance.” – Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance
With its backdrop set during the emergencies of 1970’s Rohinton Mistry’s novel, A Fine Balance is a tale of our prejudiced caste system, a corrupt and cruel society, tale of grief and despair and a single woman’s struggle for existence. It was published in the year 1995 by McClelland and Stewart. The book was nominated for the booker prize award in 1996.
I was recommended this book by my client whom I had counseled back in 2007. And the reason he said he liked this book was as he saw himself as one of the characters in the book. I was moved to tears when I read this novel and I would recommend each one to grab a copy and read the same.
The book deals with four characters, who had been victims of the caste system; had dealt with poverty, hardships, humiliations and had faced the wrath of the atrocities during the emergency when India was ruled by thugs and goons whose sole purpose was to overpower the poor for power and money. All the four characters come from different background but get connected through one chord – destitution and grief.
The prologue and the first two characters speaks of Ishvar and Om who belonged to the chamaar caste which was considered as lower castes and hence untouchables. Unable to bear the constant torture and opprobrium rendered by the upper caste Thakur clan Ishvar’s father breaks stereotypes and send his sons Ishvar and Narayan to learn tailoring in the city under a Muslim tailor Ashraf Chacha. On completion of the training Ishvar stays back in the city while Narayan return to the village and sets his own tailoring shop. He gets married and fathers a son Om who too is sent to Ashraf Chacha to learn the tailoring art. Later Narayan and his entire family gets killed in the village by Thakur Dharamsi on a dispute on voting rights and the only survivors being Ishvar and his nephew Om as they had stayed away from the village.
The second character speaks of a beautiful young woman Dina. She grew up in a wealthy family in Bombay and had been the apple of eye of her doctor father who dies when she was just twelve. Her mother unable to bear the shock of losing her husband withdraws herself and the sole responsibility to run the household falls on the shoulder of Dina’s brother Nusswan. Nusswan who with his hostile attitude towards Dina forces her to do all the cooking, cleaning, taking care of the sick mother and often hitting her when she went against his wishes. Dina is made to drop out of her school and Nusswan starts searching for suitors to get her married off. Dina loses her mother, Nusswan gets married and the torture and chores increase on Dina with each passing day. Ultimately Dina rebels and marries Rustom Dalal a chemist whom she had met in a concert hall. Dina finds love in arms of Rustom and post her marriage moves to his rented flat. Rustom an orphan had his neighbors Shirin Aunty and Darab uncle whom he revered as his own parents. Dina takes a liking for Shirin Aunty and Darab uncle who too sees her like their own daughter. All went well for three years till Rustom suddenly gets killed in a road accident leaving behind a young and vulnerable Dina. Though Nusswan initially shelters Dina his never ending taunts forces Dina out of his home to move back to her husband’s rented apartment. The once wealthy Dina suddenly falls victim of extreme poverty, learns tailoring from Shirin aunty and takes up tailoring job to meet her ends. She refuses to go back to her abusive brother and it is her grit with which she endures the blows life had thrown to her.
The third character speaks of Maneck Kohlah who was born in the mountains. Maneck’s father owns a grocery shop and also manufactures a popular soda with brand name Kohlah Cola. Maneck was happy living with his parents when suddenly he was packed off to the boarding school by his father thinking about his future. Since then his relationship with his parents deteriorates and the final straw was when upon his return from boarding school he is sent to Bombay to study refrigeration and air conditioning.
The novel moves to present times where Ishvar and Om moves from Asraf Chacha’s house to Bombay in search of a livelihood and in the train befriend Maneck. Back in Bombay Dina’s poor eyesight leaves her no option but to search for tailors to continue her tailoring business. To add to her income her friend Zenobia suggests her to rent out a part of her apartment to a paying guest. All three characters – Ishvar, Om and Maneck lands up in Dina’s house where Ishvar and Om takes up the tailoring job and Maneck accommodates him as a paying guest. Maneck had been a victim of ragging in his college where he only had one friend Avinash who was actively into politics but later gets murdered. A price Avinash paid during emergency for being involved in politics.
Mistry in his novel had depicted the shingle of a single woman Dina who handles the advances of men, deals with the cruel landlord, manages her meager business all by herself. The effect of emergency is also scripted beautifully where the tailor’s shanty gets knocked down for the government beautification program. They are rendered homeless and are sold off to a labor camp. Later they bear brunt of the caste system which leaves Om castrated and Ishvar’s leg amputed due to forced vasectomy by the upper caste Thakur’s whom they encounter while searching for a bride for Om. Dina too is forced out of her rented home by her thug lessor and had to take shelter in her brother’s house.
The novel too dealt with the violence that followed after the Prime Minister’s assassination where Sikhs were killed and it was portrayed through Maneck’s eyes. Maneck who had left for Dubai and had settled with a good job returns to India to carry the last rites of his father. On his journey way back from the mountains he lands up in Bombay in search of Om, Ishvar and Dina. He hires a cab and is shocked to hear that the cab driver had been forced to shave off his hair and let go of his Sikh turban for the fear of getting lynched. The novel also dealt with the brutality of the dowry system where Maneck learns from the newspaper that his friend Avinash’s sisters have hung themselves as their parents could not fetch in the dowry for their marriages. In expectation of better news he visits Dina at Nusswan’s house where he gets much bitter news of the tragic fates of all three. Dina at mercy of her brother and Ishvar and Om reduced to beggars surviving on Dina’s left over.
Mastery of Mistry lies in the end of the novel. It ends with a poignant note with Maneck committing suicide as his world is shattered. Dina, Om and Ishvar maintain a fine balance between dream and anguish. A spectacular novel with strong depiction of a woman character and the savagery of the caste system the novel is bound to keep the readers gripped till the last page.
Before I forget I had narrated that client of mine who had found a similarity with a character in this book. Yes he did find a similarity and that was with Maneck and the difference is he did not commit a suicide which Maneck did and says that it was my counseling that had stopped him from committing a suicide. So what are you waiting for? Go get your copies and delve in the book. A truth I like to share in closure, I myself have read this novel endless time and I still do. It’s a reality of the emergency, caste, cruelty and pogrom narrated through a tale of fiction.