Welcome to the second discussion for our India read - A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Today we are looking at chapter III - In a Village by a River. Next week we will discuss chapters IV - Small Obstacles - V – Mountains. Link to the schedule is here, with links to all discussions as well, and the link to the marginalia is here.

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For some background info, here are some links that you might find useful:

Partition of India

The Emergency (India) - Wikipedia

Caste system in India - Wikipedia

Punishments and torture in ancient India

Parsis

Krishna - Wikipedia

Mahatma Gandhi - Wikipedia

Thakur )

Pandit

Chamar - Wikipedia

Who Are the Brahmins in the Indian Caste System?

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Discussion questions are in the comments below but feel free to add your own!

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Chapter summary

In this chapter, we get Ishvar and Om’s back story. We start with Dukhi, Ishvar’s father. Dukhi was a tanner and a chamar in a small village. Life was very tough, we are told many stories of the real and imagined petty ‘crimes’ that villagers are accused of and their brutal punishments. Dukhi marries Roopa and they have three daughters and two sons. Roopa regularly has to go out at night and steal food in order to survive. One night, while out stealing oranges, she is caught and raped. Roopa gives birth to a second son, Narayan.

Ishvar and Narayan are soon taught the tanning trade, where Ishvar has an accident, resulting in permanent disfiguration. Following an accident while doing a job for Thakur Premji, Isvar was accused of damaging property, Dukhi decides to leave the village and go to the nearby town to look for work. He meets a Muslim friend, who offers to help him find work. Ashraf offers to teach Ishvar and Narayan to be a tailor. He declines, but after the boys get whipped for breaking into a school and speaking to Pandit Lalluram, the village Brahmin, who agrees that the boys punishment was fair, he decides to send them to Ashraf to become tailors. As a result of sending the boys to become tailors, the village turned against him and work dried up.

After a few years, they decided that Narayan would go back to the village to work and Ishver would remain in town, but there was unrest and the decided to stay until things calmed down. While they were there, attacks against Muslims increased. They changed the name and décor of the shop to look like it is Hindu owned. Eventually, a gang came to their door. Ishvar and Narayan went to the door, with the others hiding. They were forced to strip and prove that they were not Muslim. The crowd were eventually appeased.

Narayan eventually returns to the village to work and Ishvar remained in town with Ashraf. Business was successful for both brothers. Eventually Narayan married Radha and had a son Omprakash and then three daughters. When Om was 5, he was taken to the tannery to learn the trade, much to his and his mothers disgust. When he was 8, he was sent to town to live with Ishvar to learn to become a tailor.

Narayan decides to take a stand against the rigged elections, insisting that he mark his own ballot. As a result, him and two others are hung and the rest of the family were killed when their hut was set on fire as punishment. The police refuse to investigate.

Business for Ishvar began to dry up. Ishvar and Om decide to go to the city to look for work. For 6 months, they stay with reluctant friend of Ashraf, and eventually find work with Dina and a new place to live.