Summary of Final Report of Minor Research Project
Politics and the Parsi World in the Work of Rohinton
Mistry: The Expatriate Writer
Dr. Bhange P. B.
Principal investigator (MRP)
DEPT. OF ENGLISH
S. G. B. Co!!ege,Purna (jn.)
A huge success enjoyed by the writers of Indian Diaspora overseas has only
helped many an Indian raising their eyebrows, and they even deny them their hardearned roles of "the cultural ambassadors" of India in the far- off lands. But, the
fact remains that such writing has definitely paved a way for the emergence of a
new trend in the literary discourse in the post-colonial literatures. Indian Expatriate
(diasporic) writing, for quite some time now, has been gradually widening its
borders within the gamut of Indian Writing in English and it has been rapidly
making its presence felt in the World Literatures in English. The Expatriate
Writing, as it encapsulates a wide range of experiences, lends variety, richness and
complexity to Indian Writing in English. It has been observed that the geographical
displacement and the subsequent material affluence have not tampered with the
roots of those who left their motherland in search of "green pastures".
This is quite true in the case of Rohinton Mistry, who has established himself
as an exciting new Asian Voice on the Canadian Literary Scene, with innumerable
awards to his credit. The present study is an attempt to see how Rohinton Mistry
has linked up the life of Parsis in India with the major contemporary political /
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historical events and the politics of harking back on the memories of the home land
for creative purposes. Mistry has aroused interest in Parsi people and the working
of Parsi mind through his work. The reason for his great success as a writer can be
found in his themes and narrative techniques. Mistry's work exhibits the postcolonial zeal of his engagement with his own past, a desire to be introspective and
critical, and also a resentment against the appropriation of his own Space and
culture.
Mistry's literary corpus is showcases the realistic picture of the postcolonial India.
It deals with the themes of the socio-cultural reality of India, the predatory politics
of corruption, tyranny, exploitation, violence and bloodshed. He has given a fair
exposure to the neglected voices which were out of the domain of literary tradition
of diasporic writers. Rohinton Mistry attempts to portray the Parsi community in
India, its traits, traditions and superstitions in Zoroastrianism. Mistry recreates the
world of the Parsis with its distinctive ethos and culture. His works reverberate
with anxieties, aspirations, fear for future and cultural disillusionment of his
community. He has demonstrated immense ability in exploring the existing threats
to the Parsi community inside and across the border.
The unique feature of Mistry's writing is its "universal appeal," travelling
across the borders. Critics are convinced by his capacity to mix universal themes
with the individual. The power of Mistry's writing style lies in his ability to raise
questions through fiction that foreground the significance of the individual and the
necessity of the spiritual balance that will never be fully last.
Mistry's novels and short stories, thus reveal a richness of language and
its texture which resonates with its own communal dialect of the South Asian
diaspora. Rohinton Mistry exposes the traits of his community and national politics
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of the post-independent India through his characters with gentle humour and an
eye for the comic in human nature. The language is also a celebration and
experimentation of linguistic hybridity laced with Parsi idioms.
The studies have been conducted in the field so far, either by putting focus
on Mistry's minority status as a Parsi or his consciousness as an expatriate writer.
The present study has, therefore for the first time, been attempted to probe into
how Mistry has juxtaposed the life of Parsis in India, the land of their ancestors'
refuge, and the implications of controversial political decisions made by the head
of the nation. An attempt has been made to find out what made Mistry to hark back
on such themes for his creative purposes. The present study therefore seeks to
examine his short stories and novels as they are valuable modes of literary
expression to access the complex nature of Parsis' living in India. The study will
definitely go a long way in understanding the role played by the Parsi community
in the great task of nation building in the post-colonial era.
The study has been undertaken keeping in view certain specific
objectives:
•
To explore the culture, customs and religious practices of the Parsi
community as dealt with in the writing of Rohinton Mistry.
•
To see how Rohinton Mistry has interwoven the delicate social fabric in his
work.
•
To study the role of politics in shaping the individual human life and the
state in Mistry's work.
•
To examine the socio-political, cultural turmoil as portrayed in Mistry's
work,
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•
To explore what it , is in Mistry’s present that takes him off into the past.
•
To see how Mistry has attempted to deconstruct and repossess the past of
his present country.
•
To explore the implications of the cultural synthesis in Mistry’s work.
•
To theorize the Expatriate writing as an independent discipline and assess
the place and contribution made by Rohinton Mistry to the Indian Expatriate
writing.
The present research work is extrinsic one and is purely analytical in nature.
The primary sources have been put to close scrutiny and the secondary sources
have been thoroughly examined. The researcher has tried to showcase a true
understanding of the attitude and ideology of the writer through his literary work
and a few interviews appeared in print.
The present research project , for purpose of convenience, has been divided into six
chapters as detailed here in :
The Chapter I titled Introduction attempts a survey of the Indian Writing in
general and Indian Expatriate Writing in particular and tries to place Rohinton
Mistry in the tradition of Indian Letters. The chapter has been divided into three
sections each one leading to a distinctive stage in the history of novel. The first
section makes an attempt to trace the origin and linear development of thought in
Indian Writing in English. The survey has been conducted in the field to work from
the general to the specific. The second section throws light on the Indian Expatriate
Writing as an important mode of literary expression. The third Section presents a
biographical sketch of Rohinton Mistry, and discusses his place and contribution
as a novelist.
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The Chapter II Such a Long Journey: A Futility of War deals with the novel
Such a Long Journey (1991) which is set in Bombay ( Mumbai) against the
background of the Indo- Pakistan war of 1971 and the subsequent emergence of
Bangladesh as an Independent Nation , and the famous Nagarwala case. Such a
Long Journey seeks an examination of the politics invoved in the dreadful wars
and the aftermath and particularly the effect of the War on the minority
communities i. e. Parsi Community. Mistry has focused on the issues like Parsi’s
historical background, diasporic consciousness, sense of displacement and
nostalgic factors.
Chapter III Family Matters : Identity Crisis seeks to examine how Mistry
has deftly interwoven the life of Parsi with the contemporary political
developments. The novel is a bold attempt to secure a distinct space for the Parsi
(Zoroastrians) within the dominant Indian culture. The present chapter has
attempted a thorough examination of the novel Family Matters (2002) . The novel
is about a Parsi family living in Bombay ( Mumbai) which has been engrossed
with the issues of Parsi Zoroastrian identity and survival in the 1990. Mistry has
very graphically depicted the destruction of the Babri Masjid, a historic mosque,
rising communal tension, the mobilization of forces by Shiv Sena against the
minorities, and al the pressing concerns related to it.
The author narrows down his approach giving umpteen references to the
Parsis’ efforts to protect their racial purity, religious practices, sense of superiority
, attitude to other Indians, food habits, elite status and the present regrettable
position of the community . Dwindling birth rate of the Parsis: its causes and
results and the protest against the intercommunity marriages are elaborately
discussed in the novel. Mistry has squarely brought out minority community's
expostulations with the 'secular' multicultural image of the India as a nation.
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Chapter IV titled A Fine Balance : A Saga of Suffering attempts a close
scrutiny of the novel A Fine Balance (1995). The novel is a saga of sufferings
which includes the momentous events of India's recent history from the turbulent
times of country's partition in 1947, through the horrors of Emergency in 1975 to
the macabre aftermath of the Prime Minister's assassination in 1984. One can come
across the modernistic tendencies in A Fine Balance as the writer expresses his
sense of dissatisfaction over state of affairs. Mistry narrates the horrors of Internal
Emergency with a view to define and understand his own self and to seek an
independent identity for both, his community in India and himself in his country of
immigration. The writer, it seems sympathizes with the lower middle-class and the
poor who have unmistakably became the victims of oppression, neglect and
brutality at the hands of those who are in power. The novel also reflects the
predatory politics of corruption, tyranny, exploitation and violence, injustice,
cruelty and the horror of deprivation. In the novel most upheavals take place
because of the imposition of Internal Emergency; exploitation in the name of
discipline, beautification and progress in a democratic country. The eviction of the
poor from the cities, the forced labour camps, and the sterilization are all
manifestation of the Internal Emergency of 1975. By enlarge, The novel reflects
some aspects related to the Parsis; feeling of one's own independent life,
interpersonal relations, longing for emigration, ecological view and the battle
between the reformists and the orthodox, etc.
Chapter V titled Tales from Firozsha Baag: A Family Saga examines how
Mistry relates the pangs of belonging to a multi-cultural and multi-lingual
community. It attempts to highlight writer's penchant for ethnicity and local colour
in his first book, a collection of eleven short stories titled Tales From Firozsha
Baag (1987). Ali the stories in the book center around the minute details of Parsi
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life, culture, tradition, superstitions, traits, complexities and so on and so forth.
One could clearly see how Mistry represents the identity forming elements of
Parsiness involving cultural, historical issues and a feeling of unease in the
decolonized India. In this insular world the protagonist's life revolves round the
Parsi housing complex of Firozsha Baag; the Parsi religion, the Fire temple, the
Parsi Priests, the Parsi calendar, and the Parsi cuisine and collective Parsi identity
fairly exposed. It is like a comedy of manners dealing with the nature and
eccentricities of its characters. Besides this the Chapter also focuses on the cultural
differences which makes the individual an alien in the migrated country .Such type
of experience finally takes one towards nostalgic feelings. The stories are a
testimony to Mistry's ability in bringing about the different contours and variations
of a community experience that connect themselves with an overall pattern of life.
Chapter VI titled - Conclusion. It attempts a kind of summing up of the
arguments made in the previous Chapters. The researcher believes that more than
the feelings of displacement and nostalgia of living abroad, Rohinton Mistry is
more concerned with the welfare of his own community back in the land which he
left behind. His treatment with the major political issues like imposing Emergency
and War with Pakistan is quite gripping.
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