A Fine Balance

Indian-born Canadian writer Rohinton Mistry’s 1995 novel A Fine Balance is the story of four characters from diverse backgrounds whose paths converge in 1975 India. Maneck Kohlah, a college student, has rented a room in the city. On his way to inspect the apartment of Dina Dalal, he meets two tailors, Ishvar Darji and his nephew Omprakash (Om) Darji, also on their way to Dina’s to find sewing jobs.

Dina hires the tailors to work from patterns provided by Au Revoir Exports even though she isn’t supposed to run a business from her rent-controlled apartment. Dina, a widow, wants to maintain her financial independence so that she won’t have to move back in with her brother, Nusswan Shroff, who treats her like an unpaid servant. Meanwhile, the landlord is looking for an excuse to evict her and get a higher paying tenant.

The Darjis belong to the “untouchable” caste. By learning the sewing trade, they have escaped their village, where the upper castes oppress the lower ones, and where a local landholder named Thakur Dharamsi killed the rest of the Darji family because Ishvar’s brother got above his station.