Dina Shroff

     Hello again everyone, for today I've decided to give a detailed description of Dina Shroff (later Dina Dalal after marrying Rustom Dalal) life in A Fine Balance.

     Dina's family was wealthy, not extremely wealthy, but they had enough money to afford luxuries that most others could not. Her father was a doctor who died when she was merely 12 years old. After her father's dead, her mother went threw withdrawals for pretty much the rest of her life, and therefore was unable to take care of Dina and her brother Nusswan. Nusswan, who became the man of the house, surprisingly was rather abusive to Dina, to say the least. He would force her to do all the housework, all the cooking, cleaning, hit her when she misbehaved, and even made her drop out of school. Nusswan had dropped so low that he once even made Dina tape her hair that she cut off back to her head, because she did so without permission (how humiliating that must've been for Dina when she went to school!). Dina was a strong-will girl just like her father, and so she rebelled against Nusswan for most of her childhood, including when she had become of age. Dina rejected all of Nusswan's prospective suitors harshly, giving them no thought whatsoever. Instead, Dina found her own husband, a Parsi named Rustom Dalal, who she met at a concert hall and gradually became very close to. Surprisingly enough, Nusswan and his wife Ruby were quite happy for Dina (not because she is getting married, but because they had finally gotten her out of their house). Dina moved to Rustom's flat, and they lived a happy married life for 3 years. Unfortunately the worst thing that could possibly happen to Dina happened. Dina was widowed as Rustom died on their 3rd wedding anniversary (even the worst DAY for it to happen!). Rustom was hit by a bus while he was on his bicycle, on the way to the grocery store.

     Forced to start a new life, Dina became a tailor with the help and guidance of Rustom's parents (this helped her avoid moving back in with Nusswan, thank god). Dina had become quite good at sewing, in fact she had also started quite the little business, going to a few houses in the neighbourhood and sewing them certain things in return for a some rupees. Dina had also found a handsome young man that she became quite close to, but later stopped seeing because of personal reasons and the memories of Rustom. After 20 years of a repetitive life, Dina's eyesight starts to become weak, making her sewing almost impossible for her. To her luck, she eventually met a lady named Mrs. Gupta from a company called Au Revoir Exports, who said she would buy ready-made dresses in Au Revoir patterns. Mrs. Gupta agrees to let Dina sew the special and 'Secret' Au Revoir patterns, and in return paying Dina. However, the twist was that Dina could not sew anymore because of her poor eyesight. Therefore, not wanting lose this oppurtunity to make money and pay the rent for her flat, she decides to hire tailors (and also a paying guest, for a little more income).

     This is where the 3 other central characters are revealed, in Ishvar Darji, Omprakash Darji, and Maneck Kohlah. The author takes the time to reveal each of their pasts, oscillating through the 3 stories and showing how they all came to the current situation (to Dina Dalal's flat; as it is often refered to).

City by the Sea - Part 1

     Hello everyone, I'm posting this blog to tell you that I have read about a quarter of the book A Fine Balance already. However in this post I've decided to only summarize a portion of the first chapter which is called "City by the Sea". This is quite a long chapter, and a very informative chapter at that (the reason why I am only summarizing the first half of it). The chapter begins with introducing a character Dina Dalal and goes deep into her past; more specifically all the way from her childhood, till present day when she is a widowed lady who works for a clothing company.

     Anyone who has even a little background about India, would know that the "City by the Sea" is actually the city Mumbai (back in the 70's was called Bombay). Mumbai is located right on the Western shores of India, and is nowadays referred to as a beach city, much like Miami, Florida. Mumbai could very easily be the capital of India, as it has probably the 2nd largest population in the country, along with shopping malls, recreational facilities, beaches, immigration offices etc., give it the features of a true capital. Although back in the 70's Mumbai wasn't as popular as it is today, it was still 'over' populated with many slums, beggars, etc., and all of these things are referred to by Rohinton Mistry in this novel.

Without further ado, like I promised, here is the summary of the first chapter "City by the Sea":

     At the end of the prologue we are given somewhat of what the plot could be; we have 2 tailors and a college boy who come to Mumbai, 2 looking for a tailoring job and the other a place to stay. Both parties arrive at the same place, Dina Dalal's home, where they obtain exactly what they were looking for; work and a place to stay. However this entire chapter is used to go into the depths of Dina Dalal's past, by using a literary device; flashback. Dina Dalal tried to avoid going into her troublesome past, however she does occasionally catch herself remembering the times before her marriage, when she was Dina Shroff. Dina was the daughter of a man that was well known and ambitious towards his career as a general practitioner. Dina's father, Dr. Shroff, was greatly admired and respected by his daughter Dina, as she was what we call a "Daddy's Girl." Dina tried to do everything like her father, and attempted to model herself after him. Dina had a sibling, an elder brother named Nusswan. Nusswan, Dina's elder by only 9 years, was forced into taking care of both his little sister and his mother after the death of Dr. Shroff, who died treating villagers. Nusswan, at a young age of about 18, was now responsible of both Dina and their mother, he decided to rule over his family with a heavy hand. He did this by constantly and gradually assigning Dina with more and more chores around the house, which included cleaning, tidying, and caring for her mother. As their mother's mental health started to weaken, Dina found herself having to remind her mother to do the even most common daily tasks, from bathing and eating to even helping her put her clothes on correctly.

     Time passes and Nusswan grows up to become a business man with much respect from both his business colleagues and the relatives of the Shroff family. Nusswan began telling their relatives what a nuisance it is to take care of his sister and mother, along with running a business all at the same time. This really made Nusswan look like a hero in the eyes of everyone, as he had gotten everyone on his side, absolutely disregarding the rest of the story, the truth of the story. Dina had absolutely no luck in her life, other than the luxury of getting away from Nusswan to go to school, especially after the passing away of their mother; this left Dina and Nusswan to live with each other, no one else but them (NOT GOOD!). Dina would go to school and see all the other girls, how they would dress up, how they would wear their hair, nicely cut short. Unfortunately, Dina decided to ask Nusswan if she could cut her hair short like the other girls in school, and of course this infuriated Nusswan. However, the rebel Dina had become towards her brother, she got her hair cut anyways from her friend who wanted to become a hairstylist. Nusswan did the unthinkable when he saw what Dina had done, he made her TAPE the hair she cut off every day before she went to school (What a JERK!).

     Again years go by, and Dina becomes of age to get married. Nusswan states to his wife who he married about 5 years prior, that Dina had become quite a beautiful girl; implying that she could get almost any guy. Nusswan, the nosy brother he is, decides to try and set Dina up with some of his colleagues perhaps thinking to get some kind of profit out of her marriage (marrying a business man could mean more money and name for him).

That's a fitting end for today's summary, a suspense-filled future awaits the readers of this book. Nusswan has been very authoritarian his entire life towards his entire family, especially Dina, what do you think Nusswan will make Dina do this time? Who do you think Dina will have to marry; will be handsome AND rich, or simply rich?

If you have any questions about the story so far please post them as I am more than willing to answer them for you. Also, if you have any predictions of what you may think might happen or the answers to the questions the ending produced, please post them as I would love to hear them and I'm sure others would take interest in them as well.

That's all for today, enjoy your reading everyone!

Introduction to 'A Fine Balance' by Rohinton Mistry

     Hello, my name is Om Patel, and I am a grade 12 academic English student at Fort Erie Secondary School. For our ISU, we were to choose an academic level novel to read and explore from various angles, and therefore choosing an interesting novel not only for myself but for anyone else, was an extremely important task. This is because I want people to be highly interested when reading my blogs, listening to my presentation, let alone reading the novel itself. Keeping these things in mind I chose the novel A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.

     A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry takes place in Mumbai, India between 1947 and 1977 during the high point of The Emergency; which was a 21-month period when elections were halted and the government expanded their power. A Fine Balance is a story about 2 Parsi's (an Indian religion), a man, his nephew; all having various backgrounds-Dina Dalal, Ishvar Darji, his nephew Omprakash Darji, and the young student Maneck Kohlah-who all come to together in the same place, Mumbai.

     Ishvar Darji and Omprakash Darji, both came from a poor Indian village not far from Mumbai, and became tailors under professional training from a friend of Ishvar's father. They struggled to find work in the city of Mumbai, also called "City by the Sea." Dina Dalal is a widow from a middle class Parsi family that gives the Darji's sewing work in her secret export company. Maneck Kohlah is a Parsi teenager from a mountainous village in northern India who is the son of one of Dina's college friends, who moves in with Dina to get away from his college residence. Due to The Emergency, these four characters are caught in the midst of numerous situations where the chaos could very well swallow them altogether. As the book progresses each of their tales slowly unfold and express the lives of people in India from the 1940's to the 1970's, in the midst of the chaos created by the government itself.

     As I've explained already, the novel A Fine Balance is based and set in India. I have an Indian background because my entire family (excluding my brother and myself), was born and raised in India, including my parents, my grandparents, and so on. This really urged me to read this novel and perhaps give myself a chance to learn more about the days of my parents and grandparents, and what it must have been like for them in their youth. Whenever I think about reading a novel, I read a little bit about that book prior to actually selecting it; usually the first few pages. Believe it or not, the very first page of the book states the name of one of the four main characters; Omprakash Darji (Om Darji). Since my name is also Om, having the same name as a central character of the book made this an almost greater factor for myself in terms of choosing this novel to read. This is mainly because I honestly have never heard or seen my name anywhere in English literature whether it is used to pray and worship god, as someones name, or simply used at all for that matter.

    

     I'm hoping for this novel to really help me learn more about my heritage and what my parents' lives might've been like. I'm also hoping I can keep you up to date and also help you get an idea of what the novel is about through my blogs. If you are someone that wants an Indian opinion about an English/Indian novel, then please follow my blogs and I promise to keep you all posted.