Acquainting Myself with Cultures through Quotations: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (by Marci)

               I have been copying quotes from books since 2006.  When I first began choosing quotes, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to record; plus, I had a small journal, about 4” by 6,” so I had to be discerning.

                Perhaps if I went back and read some of the books over again, I would record more.  As it is, I only recorded three quotes from that first book, The Devil in the White City, a book of nearly 400 pages.

                I am currently reading The Warmth of Other Suns, which is nearly 600 pages long.  I’m about half-way through and I’ve already recorded 18 passages.  However, there are books that I never quote from: the language is ordinary; the author never voices anything in a unique way.

                In 2011 I bought a larger journal.  Its pages are about 5” x 7”.  I felt like I needed more room and once I had space, I may have went a little crazy--or maybe I became more inclusive.

My two quote journals.

                One problem with recording a quote is that I have to stop reading and copy it down or take the risk of forgetting where it is.  Sometimes, I book mark it for later. Often, when I go back to the passage, I decide it isn’t what I really wanted.

                In June 2010 I read A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (©1995, 603 pages).  What follows is my reaction to it:

                Now that I’ve read about this India, I would like to read more.  I want to understand India from a personal point of view.  Sure, this book is fictional, but it seems too strange and depressing to not contain some truth.  I want to read some nonfiction.  Maybe I can find a book like Kaffir Boy, written by someone who grew up in India during the 60s and 70s.   It’s such a different life than that experienced by Americans.

                It’s terrible to think about living like Omprakash and Ishvar.  They were helpful to those in need and ended up living sad lives.  You wonder why anyone would try to stay alive if life is just one terrible event after another.  Om and Ishvar have peace for a short time and then a lot of pain and sadness.

                Aunty Dina and Menack also have difficult times, but have something to fall back on.  Om and Ishvar only have each other. 

                This is a book professors should use for discussions about why bad stuff happens to good people.  How could anyone living in these situations think there’s a God who cares about them and answers prayers?  It’s easy to believe in God when you have most of your needs met, but once you begin losing everything, it’s more difficult.   Om and Ishvar are in the same situation as Job:

What Dina sees from the bus exemplifies this India:

                One evening, while the slow local waited for a signal change, she gazed at the railway fence where a stream of black sewer sludge spilled from an underground drain.  Men were hauling on a rope that disappeared into the ground.  Their arms were dark to the elbows, the black slime dripping from hands and rope.  In the slum behind them, cooking fires smoldered, with smoke smudging the air. The workers were trying to unblock the drain.

                Then a boy emerged out of the earth, clinging to the end of the rope.   He was covered in the slippery sludge, and when he stood up, he shone and shimmered in the sun with a terrible beauty, his hair stiffened by the muck, flared from his head like a crown of black flames.  Behind him, the slum smoke curled to the sky, and the hellishness of the place was complete.  (pg. 67)