Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri

Interpreter of Maladies is the first book by Jhumpa Lahiri, that I’ve read of her’s  and as I later discovered, her first book. Despite the repeat nudges by like minded readers that I should read Lahiri ASAP, I somehow kept postponing reading her, like I have been doing with Nadine Gordimer. Nowadays, I make it a point to read at least one Alice Munro book per year. I am tempted to give the same "annual read" status to Ms. Lahiri too. But am digressing; to get to the meat of the book...

This is a nine story, collection of short stories and a perfect one at that. It had won the Pulitzer award in 1999, and it deserves  whatever recognition which had come its way. Lahiri, whose roots are from West Bengal, has traces of it in all her nine stories. In fact, it can safely be guessed that most of the accounts found here, have some roots in the experiences of her family.

The short story, "The Third and Final Continent", has supposedly taken shape with  her father, as a basis. The dilemmas, the doubts, that a new arrival to a new land ( here, from Bengal, India, to London, and then to the U.S.) faces are captured in all its pristine. While the emotions are never spelled out, her style carries the reader along the mood of the narration. When a twist occurs, she (i.e. the reader ) almost feels that she was party to this experience. Here, the rawness that the immigrant feels is complimented, when the wife, an even  bigger alien to the setting joins the just settling husband. The wife, is usually a stranger to the husband as their cultural background usually insists, "Breaking of  the ice",  is usually over a chance, and at first glance trivial ( not so, from that point onwards undoubtedly ) but a double layer - that of the uneasiness of the husband, and  the strange cultural setting. The reader, in spite of herself is almost glad, that things work out, for the prospect of the union to succeed was starting to look bleak, just half a page ago. For, it doesn't work out all the time (e.g. "Mrs. Sen's" ). In Mrs. Sen’s there is a subtle portraying of how a typical American single mother, treats her daughter, and it is from the point of view of the daughter which makes the tale that much more convincing.

It is not only recent immigrants that the tales are about. There are at least two stories of the second generation of the immigrants, at home in their setting, bursting with confidence and success. Here too, the conservative nature of one party - a trait that can usually be attributed  to their cultural upbringing - and the relative outgoing nature of the other, requires one party conceding to the other and accepting the other for who he or she is. "This Blessed House", is a wonderful narrative on this line. Yet, there are times when things don't work out, despite the fact that in the outside world everything is going right for them. The story "A Temporary Matter", easily the most touching story in this collection, is proof of how a person whom you love so much, could be hurt out of spite, simply because the other person has hurt you too.
"... and he promised himself that day that he would never tell Shoba, because he still loved her then, and it was the one thing in her life that she had wanted to be a secret.

...

They wept together, for the things they now knew."

Politics in India is one thing that Jhumpa appears to have a lesser interest in. It features in the short story "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine", but the politics serve only as a background. It is the personal feelings that are always in focus, in these short stories, and it is that which makes the reader love this book, short story after short story.

"Though I had not seen him for months, it was only then that I felt Mr. Pirzada's absence. It was only then, raising my water glass in his name, that I knew what it meant to miss someone who was so many miles and hours away, just as he had missed his wife and daughters for so many months."

The short story titled "Interpreter of Maladies" is a tale that of an Indian in India, and a family with Indian roots holidaying in India. While the root of Mrs. Das' pain could be attributed to an inability that her husband had of understanding her feelings, Mr. Kapasi  “the interpreter” had his bubble burst as all his day dreams come to an insulting end. Jhumpa has successfully presented the concealed lack of respect someone could have for the other, while he or she leads the other person up for his or her, temporary usefulness. This is possibly a trait common in tourists, as the locals go out of their way to win their hearts.

"She turned to him and glared, mustard oil thick on her frosty pink lips. She opened her mouth to say something, but as she glared at Mr. Kapasi some certain knowledge seemed to pass before her eyes, and she stopped. It crushed him; he knew at that moment that he was not even important enough to be properly insulted."

“Sexy” is possibly the most different story here, as an American girl becomes a mistress of an Indian man, as he manages his fling, while being careful to safeguard his marriage. Here the girl, Miranda,  sees light in the unintended definition of "sexy" - "It means loving someone you don't know" ; without intending the "unknown" that the child talks about is possibly what attracts Miranda to Das, and vice versa.

The rest of the stories are based in India proper, usually portraying the pitiable state of some downtrodden individuals. Both Boori Ma ( i.e. "A Real Durwan ) and  ( i.e. "The Treatment o Bibi Haldar ), are individuals, with no close relations, or with relations  for whom they are burdens. In one way, it could be said that it shows the cruelness of the human heart; yet in another way, one fears to think of the fate that would meet these kind of helpless individuals in a western country. It is said that this book was not as warmly received in India, as it was the USA. But then neither was White Tiger. It is only these two short stories which show the real India, on how the lower income and lower classes get by. And if the circumstances are against you in such a climate, if you are without next of kin, it is indeed a sad plight. Having said that both Boori Ma and Bibi were not without friends, genuine friends who didn't mind spending time with them, in contrast to availing a few materialistic needs, in a climate of pure isolation.

This book is easily a masterpiece, an obvious one that doesn't need to be argued upon to prove why it is one. It is an easy read, and there is not an instance that the reader feels, that the author had to labour to write this down ( although am sure she had to put in a lot of effort to write something with so much finesse ), and all her narrations are totally convincing. Am not competent enough to point out as to what makes a work of art “convincing” or otherwise – but it is easily detectable to the reader. I brought up this subject since am reading another collection of Sinhala short stories, and there the author when taken out from his strengths ( where he does excel no doubt ), doesn’t quite convince me as a reader.