He returned to the city to visit Dina and the tailors, and after tracking her down at her brother's place, learned what had happened since he had left. Dina ignored this notice, and a few weeks later, Ibrahim again knocked on the door, this time with two goondas, who destroyed most of her belongings in the flat. One day before they had left for work, a fleet of buses assembled outside their colony. When I think of a strong woman or even Feminism, I often think of Dina. The pair remained at the tailor shop until business started to slow down, and then they headed into the city to look for work. AllReaders - A Fine Balance AllReaders is a user-sourced site, collecting reviews from the general public. This is the restaurant where Ishvar and Om regularly have their tea, which becomes Shankar's new hangout. When she said that they were not there, he asked if she knew Beggarmaster, and she told the injured man when was the day and time that she next expected a visit from him. Meanwhile, Dina had received a letter from Maneck saying that he had been offered a job in the Gulf and would not be returning to the city. The next day, they made an arrangement with the nightwatchman at an all-night chemist to sleep in the doorway, leaving their trunk with their belongings at Dina's house. By this time, Ishvar was beginning to think about finding a wife for Om, and Maneck's final exams were approaching. Chapter 6, Day at the Circus, Night in the Slum. This section contains 248 words (approx. This Study Guide consists of approximately 86 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of A Fine Balance. They had their tea down at the Vishram Vegetarian Restaurant, where they quickly became regulars. After making some inquiries, Ishvar discovered that there were four potential families and organised a trip back to his village for the wedding. Her friend, Zenobia, finds a border to rent out one of the rooms in Dina's flat and also introduces Dina to Mrs. Gupta, who offers her tailoring piece work if she can employ two tailors. On their third anniversary, however, Rustom has a bicycle accident and is killed, leaving Dina alone. As the weeks passed, they developed a comfortable routine and even ate their daily meals together; it was almost as if they were a family. Order our A Fine Balance Study Guide. Ishvar and Om's home before it was flattened by the government. They had forty-eight hours to vacate. While Dina was angry that they hadn't shown up for work that day, she was glad they got back safely after the meeting. Where Ishvar and Om slept while they were homeless. After her father died when she was young, Dina Shroff was raised by her strict brother Nusswan. Print Word PDF. The friendships that develop between the four main characters are unlikely but heart warming. Despite their different social backgrounds, the four manage to set asisde these differences and become friends. The tailors decided to return to the city. Later that day, while shopping, garbage trucks and policemen swarmed the square, taking people at random. These are all good topics for this book. Meanwhile, the tailors made their regular visit to Dina's kitchen, and she fed them, hurrying them along because her sister-in-law would be home early. A FINE BALANCE By Rohinton Mistry. get custom paper. It tells the story of four unlikely people whose lives come together during a time of political turmoil soon after the government declares a "State of Internal Emergency." For holding this opinion, he is tortured and killed, and his family burnt alive in their hut. After experiencing abuse at the hands of some rowdy students at the college hostel, he told his father that he could not return to the school, so his mother found someone who needed a boarder, and so it was arranged that Maneck would live with Dina Dalal and attend college in the city. Not affiliated with Harvard College. A few days later, Maneck returned home to the mountains for the holidays, and Dina was again alone in the flat. During an election, Narayan, being of a lower caste, decides that he would like to have his own vote rather than having the upper caste members vote for him. Asked by Elena on 1/7/2014 1:29 PM Last updated by Aslan on 1/7/2014 1:46 PM Answers 2 Add Yours. everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of A Fine Balance. Shankar, with no legs, was unable to work in the fields so would wait on the patients, particularly the tailors. He returned them to Dina's flat, where he would pick up his monthly fee for having saved them. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry's stunning internationally acclaimed bestseller, is set in mid-1970s India. It all became too much for him, and he ended his life by jumping in front of a train. They gathered what belongings they could and slept on the railway station for the night. Back in Ishvar's village, they reunited with Ashraf, their teacher and were saddened to hear that his wife had died. Once Maneck moved in, he also joined the tailors for their tea at the Vishram and the three quickly became good friends. It took a few weeks for Om to recover from this, but once he did, his uncle began to get ill, his legs swelling up and turning black. The shop where Ishvar, Om and his father, Narayan, were all apprentice tailors, and where Ishvar and Narayan practically grew up. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Their rescue came in the form of Beggarmaster, Shankar's boss, who bought the crippled and injured back from the project manager, and as a favour to Shankar, and also for a price, the manager also bought back the tailors,. Ibrahim told her that the injured man had murdered Beggarmaster and that Dina was no longer safe from the landlord. While they were shopping in the market place, they came across Thakur Dharamsi, who was responsible for the death of their family, and unable to contain himself, Om spat at him. However, her eyes begin to deteriorate, so she is forced to find another means of income. Dina agreed to let Om's new wife sleep on the veranda also. One day a badly injured man knocked on her door and asked for the tailors because he was a previous acquaintance of theirs. While at the project, the tailors had a hard time adjusting to the nature of the work and would often fall ill and injure themselves. The doctors had no choice but to oblige. It tells the story of four unlikely people whose lives come together during a time of political turmoil soon after the government declares a "State of Internal Emergency." After finishing up another day at work, the tailors returned home to find their colony being demolished--under the laws of the Emergency order, slums such as theirs were illegal. Ibrahim advised Dina to seek legal help. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. The house that Dina grew up in and returns to after she is kicked out of her apartment. Friendship. That is until one night when there was a knock on the door, and Ibrahim, the rent collector, gave them a final notice because Dina was not supposed to be running a business out of her home. Once they had finished their apprentiship, Narayan returns to his village, marries and starts up a successful tailoring business. This Study Guide consists of approximately 86 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - $26. I have to write an essay on this novel through one of the criticisms:-post colonial criticism-feminist-Marxist -psychoanalysts . When the tailors did not return, she was forced return the sewing machines. They told this story to Beggarmaster, who came to collect his fee the next day, and who assured them that as long as he was paying them, there would no trouble from the landlord. help you understand the book. Originally from the picturesque mountains, Maneck was sent to college to study refrigeration and air conditioning by his father. Maneck. Unfamiliar with the conditions, they were shown the ropes by Rajaram, who also became a good friend. Dina had no choice but to go back and live with her brother. everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of A Fine Balance. They were all forced onto the buses and taken to a big meeting where the Prime Minister was speaking. 603 pp. However, while they were sleeping, policemen and trucks raided the street, packed all the beggars, including the tailors, into the truck and drove them to an irrigation project, where they were told they would work for food and board. Rohinton Mistry. Politics. A Fine Balance: Characters just from $13,9 / page. To avoid being thrown out of Parliament, she declared a state of emergency and threw her accusers in jail. The bottom of each review page contains user-contributed information on characters, themes, settings, and similar titles. Originally Rustom's family flat but inherited by Dina after his death, this is where Dina and Maneck live, and where Ishvar and Om eventually move in, and where the sewing business is run from. The riots had been provoked by the murder of the Prime Minister by her Sikh guards. Those who continue to harp on the inevitable decline of the novel ought to hold off for a while. Dina Dalal certainly is a protagonist that must survive in a patriarchal often misogynistic society. A few days after the tailors had left, Beggarmaster arrived with the bad news that Shankar, who he had recently discovered was his brother, had been killed. Originally from a family of cobblers, Ishvar and his brother, Narayan, are sent by their father to Ashraf Chacha to become apprentice tailors.