The myriad pressures of suburbia and the life of communities and ways of life torn apart in trying and coping with continous change has been a subject matter for much great literature throughout the past century. In Family Matters, Rohintan Mistry chronicles the troubles of the Parsis, a proud Persian community struggling to meet the demands imposed on them by the suburban jungles of Bombay. It is a well-crafted tale which explores how past skeletons and the grim realities of everyday existence can cause good people to treat their near and dear ones as unnecessary baggage. The central character in the story is Nariman Vakeel, a 79 year old retired English professor who lives in a dilapidated seven room house with Jal and Coomy, his middle-aged unmarried stepchildren. Roxana, his daughter, lives with her husband Yezad and kids Jehangir and Murad some distance away. 

Trouble starts when Nariman, already suffering from Parkinson’s disease, breaks his foot and is completely immobile. Nursing him proves to be too much of a nuisance for Coomy and Jal. Consequently, he is slyly forced off to Roxana’s two room tenement, which is already inhabited by four people. The two families share a complicated relationship – one of affection, but with undercurrents of tension. The natural resentment which stepchildren feel towards their stepfather and his children is hinted at now and then, sometimes openly. This uneasiness is exacerbated by Nariman’s tendency to open the cupboard doors frequently to revisit all the skeletons, which act as frequent reminders to Jal and Coomy of how their mother had been mistreated. It is interesting to note that Roxana, also borne by the same mother, has forgiven her father but Coomy, who doesn’t share any genes with him, hasn’t. This is a fine illustration of how differences in gender and finances contributing to a perceived favouritism can sour relationships. Sadly, it takes one more accident, an extremely ironical one at that, to bring the whole family back together.

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Mistry uses the arrival of Nariman into Roxana’s home as a convenient segue to focus on the enterprising qualities inherent in Parsis, who have made immense contributions to the nation, and especially Mumbai, far out of proportion to their numbers. Roxana, the epitome of the Indian homemaker, does a fine balancing act - nursing her father while doing her utmost best to ensure that her husband and kids are put through as little hardship as possible. Yezad tries to beat fate by experimenting with risky endeavors to bring more money to the table. Jehangir, the designated homework monitor at school, allows himself to be bribed by the rich kids in school so that his family members could have an extra helping of mutton in their dhansak. The insignificant consequences of these attempts are a pointer to the trials and tribulations of the ordinary parsi today, and his diminished importance in Indian society.    

Though the story is set in a troubled Mumbai still trying to come to grips after the 1993 riots, Mistry liberally sprinkles life-affirming diligent characters who add enough color to make this a rich mosaic. Daisy, the violinist and Salil, who writes letters for illiterate migrant workers to send to their loved ones, play their part in making life more bearable for the ones feeling lonely. Then there’s also Mr. Kapur, a champion of the city’s secular ethos, Husain, a riot victim and the Villie, the matka better. Each of these characters represent certain facets – the feeling of loneliness and how it is overcome, increasing cosmopolitanism coupled with religious intolerance and the dream of a quick buck -  symbolic of the roses and the thorns the city throws at the Mumbaiker. He ends the novel on an ominous note, with an epilogue narrated by Jehangir, set five years later, where he highlights the consequences of religious bigotry, visible in the strained personal dynamics within the family. Mistry also poses a question which is causing splits in the diminishing parsi community even today: the trade-off between prohibiting inter-marriage so as to ensure the continued survival of their culture, versus the increasing need to intermingle in today’s cosmopolitan world.    

While Mistry has neither Vikram Seth’s verbal wizardry nor the ability to paint Mumbai in the delightfully lyrical way we have come to associate with Salman Rushdie, Family Matters touches one in a way that most books have not, largely because the characters are firmly etched in reality. Moreover, their travails have a deeper significance than how they seem at first glance. For example, there are frequent incidents which revolve around the discomfort caused due to Nariman’s unpredictable bowel movements. Though these detailed descriptions are patently disconcerting to read, the response of family members to these understandable failings of a sick patient (the bowel litmus test) is a true measure of affection.  

In this dog-eat-dog world which is forcing individuals to become more self-centered, what do we do with the old and the infirm? On one hand, there’s bharatiya sanskriti, which lays strong emphasis on taking care of those who lovingly brought you up. On the other hand, there’s financial reality, which forces you to mortgage the past to survive the present. To paraphrase George Orwell, does everybody in your family matter equally or do some family members matter more than others? As the story demonstrates, even if adults - reeling under financial stress and carrying emotional baggage make some tough choices, a kid, unspoilt by the big bad world - shows them the way.

About me 

Tired of warming the benches in an IT behemoth, Ravi went to B-school, where he invested time in productive pursuits like midnight snacking and watching Scrubs. He walked out with some understanding of business, which didn’t stick for long, and an unflattering nickname, which has stuck to him like a leech. He currently works for an eCommerce firm in Mumbai. His favourite pastimes are quizzing, bubble-wrap bursting and shamelessly plugging his blog

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