Tales From Firozsha Baagh

This was title of the book by Rohinton Mistry. I was little apprehensive and in two minds whether to issue it or not from British Council Library. I have read one of his books: A Fine Balance. It was, I found, horrible though my friend Minu liked it a lot and insisted we read it for the Book Club in Colorado. But I could not wade through it and about 3/4th of the way I completely gave up. There was never a lighter moment and the only thing that kept happening was troubles. Troubles pile upon the heroine, Dina somebody, in waves. Her husband dies within a year of marriage, her family is dysfunctional, poverty of course is a constant companion, her brother does not like her and tries to swindle her, and so on and so forth. There was not even humor to lighten up the scenario. The writing was turgid and heavy and I simply hated it.

So when I saw a collection of short stories by the same author I was in two minds. Should I or should I not.

I am glad I picked it up. The writing was much lighter and though the tone was heavy and dark throughout, it was not as bad as his novel. In fact I enjoyed almost all the stories. The 11 stories are interlinked and somewhat semi-autobiographical I suspect based on the last story. It tells the stories of the tenants of a building called Firozsha Baagh in Bombay. The setting is from post-independence to early 1970s when I think the author emigrated to Canada. The story I liked best was one called Condolences. Daulat has just lost her husband. She very much dislikes recounting the story of his last days to the people who come to pay her condolences. Her pesky neighbour, Najamai, keeps turning up at the most importune moment much to Daulat's intense irritation. It is a situation where she is helpless to say anything to Najamai though by the end of the story she has retrieved the situation.

The pesky neighbour reminded me of my mother's ex-neighbour. She would dictate every aspect of my mother's life much to our irritation. Only her removal from the building retrieved the situation for us.