The
role of an individual in shaping the history of a nation has always been a
subject of debate. National history is often regarded as ‘the truth’ about the
important events and lives of public figures in the country. These
representations of facts, which are recorded by historiographers, claim an
objective tone. But where does the individual, who is a social product, figure
in this historical record? Does the writing of an ordinary person about his
society, life and experiences have a bearing on the national history?
Individual writing and institutional histories do have a point of intersection.
Each individual perception becomes important as this point of view will alter
the outlook to what happened in the past.
Rohinton
Mistry’s A Fine Balance is also one such individual perception of the Emergency
imposed in India in 1975. The novel revises institutional history which has,
for a long time, neglected the lives of the common people. Diasporic writers,
like Mistry, often face the criticism of not being aware of several
socio-political, economical and religious intricacies of the country they write
about. But Mistry, in his ‘A Fine Balance’, successfully overcomes this hurdle
and achieves a ‘fine balance’ between national history and the society in which
individuals live.
Advt
The
novel pitches four characters at its centre – Dina Dalal, Maneck Kohlah, Ishvar Darji and Omprakash
Darji. The characters live in their own world of despair and necessity brings
them all under one roof. Initially, the four people are ‘unwilling
co-inhabitants’ of a crammed apartment in crowded Bombay. Dina, a widow, wants
to live independent of her dominating brother. Maneck, a student, takes lodging
with Dina. Ishvar and Omprakash, victims of racial discrimination, join the household
as employees of the small-scale tailoring business which she toils to run for
her living. Despite the barriers created by their social, economic and
religious status, a bond develops among them. They realize that they are not
alone but do have other shoulders to rest their burdens upon. But their dream
of ‘a one happy family’ is shattered with the declaration of Emergency. On a
trip to their hometown, the tailors are forced to undergo vasectomy. The upper
caste enemies of Ishvar and Omprakash enlist their names for a mass vasectomy
programme. Ishvar is infected by the un-sterilized instruments used in
vasectomy and this leads to the amputation of his legs. Unable to continue
their profession as tailors, Ishvar and Omprakash are reduced to beggars.
Maneck leaves the country to take up a job and returns after a few years to
witness the fate of his friends. Dina, who has now turned half-blind, lives
with her not-so-caring brother. Maneck, unable to bear the reality of destiny,
commits suicide. This novel is a reflection of many such tragedies that have
happened but gone unvoiced in the pages of history.
Rohinton Mistry’s
novel focuses on the point of intersection of the two lines – public history and private history. Artistic
expressions of any historic period represent the silences of the marginalized. A
Fine Balance, too, describes what might have happened to unknown citizens in
the nooks and corners of the country in 1975. It is a novel which brilliantly
makes its readers realize that the boundaries of literature expand tremendously
when Art tries to accommodate what Historiography has missed.
