PRESENTATION OF HORRENDOUS EMERGENCY IN ROHINTON MISTRY’S A FINE BALANCE

Abstract

This Paper is an attempt to explore the horrors of the Emergency depicted in Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance. Published in 1995, the novel is set against the socio-political crisis of India during the Emergency era. The declaration of Emergency by Indira Gandhi is exposed as a means to retain her political power. The novel recounts the lives and struggles of four main characters- Dina Dalal, a Parsi widow, Maneck Kohla, a Parsi Student, and two Chammar turned tailors, Ishvar Darji and Omprakash Darji. The novel opens with a prologue in 1975, in which the lower-caste tailors Ishvar and Om meet Maneck Kohla on the train during their journeys to Dina’s flat for different purposes. During the troubled times of the Emergency, these four characters live together in Dina’s flat and support each other to fulfill their dreams. Besides their constant efforts and struggles, they are exploited and tortured by the crazy laws of the Emergency. Suspension of fundamental rights, force eviction of slum and pavement dwellers, force labour camps, force sterilization, custodial tortures and murders, prohibition of any form of protests, etc., which had occurred during those turbulent years, are realistically presented by Mistry in the novel.  The novel highlights the erosion of Indian democracy during Mrs. Indira Gandhi's reign, exploring the plight of the Indian masses during those tumultuous years. The excesses of the Emergency are narrated from the perspectives of the victims. In fact, the novel vividly records the breakdown of law and order and the uncertainty of human lives during the Emergency.