STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL: REVISITING INDIAN HISTORY THROUGH ROHINTON MISTRY’SA FINE BALANCE

Abstract

The present paper aims to investigate the inevitable and continuous struggle for survival in the historical, political, economical and cultural background. RohintonMistry a Bombay (now Mumbai) born Indian-Canadian author is known for his great success in the field of Literature. His second novel A Fine Balance (1996) strengthened Mistry as a successful and effective writer by getting Giller Prize, the Los Angeles Times' award for fiction and the Royal Society of Literature's Winifred Holtby Prize. A Fine Balance (1995) is a story of four main characters namely Om Prakash, Ishvar, Maneck and Dina Dalal whose lives come together during a time of political turmoil after the State of Internal Emergency in India. The novel exposes India’s socio-cultural aspects of caste system, poverty, inequity and exploitation of common man especially those who are treated as untouchables. Mistry’s characters battle against the cruel system of landlords and discrimination to balance their life. The novel deals with the human efforts for dignity during the period of internal
emergency and how people struggle to sustain a balance amidst social discrimination and humiliation of an aggressive milieu.