A Real Durwan & This Blessed House

In each story I could hear the author’s voice, even though the stories were about two very different subjects.  I felt the stories progressed in similar ways and were paced the same.  The author was able to keep the same type of style in both of the stories.  She was consistent without being boring.  She could keep her chosen tone and storytelling technique without getting repetitive.  In the two stories she approached different characters and situations but there were hints of something familiar about them.  Keeping a third person perspective in these stories helps the author keep control over how she tells the story.  She looked at different people and lifestyles, but in a way she stayed the same.  No matter who the character is, she can keep her voice, as a storyteller, the same in this way of writing.

            In A Real Durwan an apartment building comes apart over greed.  The story is told through the stair sweeper, Boori Ma.  In exchange for minimal shelter in this building, she sweeps the stairs and does some chores.  As one character moves up the economic ladder, the whole building tries to one up each other with displays of wealth.  The story is told in a simple and straight forward way, while giving the reader deep impressions of Boori Ma and the building.  That’s a lot to do in a short story.  But, it’s not a new story, there are even children’s tales about something like this, it’s how she tells the story that sets it apart.  Boori Ma is brought to life through her past, she talks about how her life used to be.  In this way the reader gets a good dose of her back story through her rants, “…we ate goat twice a week.” (Lahiri 71) and, “Not a delicacy was spared.” (Lahiri 71).  The author also connects us to the character through Boori Ma’s body.  In the second paragraph we feel the, “…knee that swelled…” (Lahiri 70) while she goes up the stairs.  From the very beginning we feel Boori Ma’s aches and pains, how much effort she has to put in to cleaning, sweeping, and walking.  This makes us sympathize strongly with her.  We know she’s doing her best for the building because she’s hurting herself for them.  We get mad at the Dalal’s failure to give her new bedding, because she know how much her hips are aching from sleeping on the ground.  We are so outraged at the building’s tenants for throwing her out because we know how innocent and caring she is because her body cannot lie about this.  The author doesn’t do this by telling us this, or reminding us over and over again, or by giving Boori Ma an alibi, she instead gives us the character’s physical experience and lets the reader decide who is wrong and who is right.  The choice is obvious, but the author does this with such skill, that we feel sad for Boori Ma, we wonder what she will do next, where she will sleep.  This could have been a bland moral tale, but the author makes the experience with Boori Ma a close one. 

            In This Blessed House two very different people start their marriage together.  Twinkle’s obsession with the Christian objects found in the home becomes the battle ground for the couple’s different sensibilities.  Slowly, throughout the story, we see how Sanjeev’s ideal home is contrasted with Twinkle’s way of living.  In the beginning the reader doesn’t know much about the couple, we assume they’ve known each other for a long time and are now building their dream of a life together.  But then we learn that they’ve only known each other for a few months.  We learn about Sanjeev’s loneliness, and that Twinkle’s last relationship ended badly and not that long ago.  Over the course of the story, the marriage seems to be arcing towards destruction.  They don’t understand each other, Sanjeev is confused by Twinkle’s reading.  Twinkle doesn’t understand why Sanjeev wants everything cleaned all the time.  As the pages go by the reader has to question what brought them together in the first place.  Sanjeev thinks fondly about their time dating.  But, once they’re married, her idiosyncrasies start to drive him crazy and disgust him a little.  Just as it feels like the relationship can only fail, during the party there’s a deep divide been Sanjeev and Twinkle’s behavior, it’s reassured that they will stay together.  Sanjeev seems to be disillusioned by Twinkle’s beauty, considers locking her in the attic, and generally feels emotionally abandoned by her.  But just as these feelings are reaching a peek, he feels a surge of affection for her, “It was the same pang he used to feel before they were married…” (Lahiri 156).  Sanjeev is decided in his disapproval of her, but also in the survival of their marriage, “Most of all he hated it because he knew that Twinkle loved it.” (Lahiri 157) and, “For the rest of their days together…” (Lahiri 157) implies that they will stay married.  Angry and divided, but married.  I had complex feelings for the characters in this story.  I sympathized with Sanjeev, his desire to be loved and have a family was a very sweet aspiration.  But, I don’t think I would like this character in person.  I would probably find him controlling and brittle.  In this story I couldn’t find it within me to like Twinkle, but she really wasn’t doing much harm.  She lived her live, ignored her chores, and had a strange collection, but it was hard to justify condemning her.  It felt a little strange identifying with Sanjeev’s aspirations and parts of Twinkle’s characters, but I think that is the mark of good writing and well developed characters.     

-Iris Keenan