A Fine Balance - Arpit, Sharadha, Gorab, Aparna

[[deleted user]]

Congrats Gorab for finishing this!
You deserve an applause 👏👏

Thanks! I'll start from the beginning again.

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Thank u thank u!

We'l discuss it as you go... lots of interesting (and debatable) stuff about Indira Gandhi and Emergency :)

[Parikhit]

I have been reading this book. Half way through. I have to add I am so furious at our political leaders, especially the self-proclaimed self-aggrandizing monarchical Gandhi family

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Yuhooo... this thread is back to life :)

You are furious may be because the author has shown all these incidences in a derogatory way. Not surprisingly, many people hated quite a lot of things forced by our honourable PM Indira ji :)

Hope you are enjoying this journey.
Half way through means you must be at the part where the tailors are staying with him and his aunt?

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Oops... i forgot all of their names. Let me recall... Rustom? Mama and Abdul Rashid?

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Ah how this thread helped recall all that

Dina Dayal; Maneck; Om;

And Parikhit... you must be on the chapter titled "On the Move" :)

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Arpit wrote: "Thanks Gorab for putting your thoughts for every chapter!
Will discuss them once I reach there :)"

"once" = if ever!

[Parikhit]

I finished Beautification in the morning. It is unputdownable. I read Such a Long Journey earlier which was good but A Fine Balance is a gem.

I kept wondering is Rohinton Mistry involved in any form of social activity for the writing seems so very passionate.

[Parikhit]

I am honestly surprised that my grandfather was a staunch Congress and Indira Gandhi supporter! Apparently he wept like a baby when she was assassinated.

If he were alive I would asked him to read this book :)

Now I cannot wait to finish this book and start Mark Tully's Amritsar which has been lying in my bookshelf for a couple of months now.

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Beautification!
:)
This was my first book by him. The only other book i read was Tales from Firozsha Baag and immensely enjoyed that too.
No doubt AFBalance is at another level altogether :)

[Gorab, TheGunman]

I'll pick one among Such a long journey and Family Matters as his next book. Want to read all his works.

[Parikhit]

I have Family Matters as well. Need to get a copy of Tales from Firozsha Bagh and break my solemn promise of not getting any books this year. (Although Kindle is allowable :D)

[Gorab, TheGunman]

ha ha ha :D

[Sharadha]

Woop woop, been long since this thread was rekindled. I hope it stays so until I pick it up :) Buddy, we NEED to pick this up soon!

Up to where I've read at least, I haven't encountered politics that you two are discussing. And because I am politically retarded, I'd probably skip on taking a stand on the way the author has portrayed the political climate and just read it as a story :D

[[deleted user]]

Gorab wrote: "Arpit wrote: "Thanks Gorab for putting your thoughts for every chapter!
Will discuss them once I reach there :)"

"once" = if ever!"

I feel personally attacked by this post :(

[[deleted user]]

BUMPing old thread shouldn't be allowed anymore...
I'm calling the mods...

[[deleted user]]

Sharadha wrote: "Woop woop, been long since this thread was rekindled. I hope it stays so until I pick it up :) Buddy, we NEED to pick this up soon!

Up to where I've read at least, I haven't encountered politics ..."

COMING SOON!
STAY TUNED (or not, upto them ``\_(*_*)_/``)

[[deleted user]]

Sharadha wrote: "And because I am politically retarded, I'd probably skip on taking a stand on the way the author has portrayed the political climate and just read it as a story :D "

Same. Not much into politics ;)

[Sharadha]

Arpit wrote: "BUMPing old thread shouldn't be allowed anymore...
I'm calling the mods..."

😂😂😂

[Parikhit]

I finished 'Sailing Under One Flag' and that brought the much needed smile in the otherwise gory tale.

(view spoiler)[Wasn't it amazing how their lives came together. I loved the part where Ishwar makes pakodas. Four mismatched individuals sewn together into one beautiful tapestry. I kept wondering that the quilt that Dina had been sewing with salvaged and mismatched remnants of fabric is allegorical. Does anybody feel that way? (hide spoiler)]

[Gorab, TheGunman]

That quilt thing is so very apt! Didn't realise it.
I remember more heart wrenching content than smile inducing from this book :'(

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Arpit wrote: "Same. Not much into politics ;) "

Ye dekho drama! (And not just in this comment of Arpit :P)

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Arpit wrote: "Gorab wrote: "Arpit wrote: "Thanks Gorab for putting your thoughts for every chapter!
Will discuss them once I reach there :)"

"once" = if ever!"

I feel personally attacked by this post :(
"

LOL!
How do you manage to get those super funny memes!

[Parikhit]

I am so glad for the discussions! Isn't this the best thing. To have your feels resonate with that of other readers.

@Gorab, I kept thinking why does Mistry keep bringing the quilt and then it hit me! May be it is my understanding. I am curious to know what others think.

[Parikhit]

And I finished the book. I could not think for a while. A sense of emptiness, dizziness, melancholy all rushed through me at the same time. I had goose pimples!

Why did it have to end this way?

[Gorab, TheGunman]

Glad that you gave it 5 stars too... not surpirisng though :)

The Ending
(view spoiler)[That acknowledgement by Om, Ishwar and Maneck was heart wrenching! This is the saddest ending i've ever read. Too brutal to handle.
Just imagine, this is a work of fiction.... but there would have been many incidences of suffering like this. Thinking about it makes me go numb!
(hide spoiler)]

[Parikhit]

I kept wondering what if (view spoiler)[ Maneck had not ended his life. What if he made a happy home in the hills? Helped out Om and Ishwar in some way as well as Dina? Why does it always have to end bad. Look at Rajaram, a big saint now and Shankar was killed for a crime he hadn't committed. It is heart-wrenching. (hide spoiler)]

[Sharadha]

Ugh, all these spoilers weaken me 😩 But some or the other book keeps coming in between me and AFB 😒

[Parikhit]

Sharadha wrote: "Ugh, all these spoilers weaken me 😩 But some or the other book keeps coming in between me and AFB 😒"

You better pick it up soon Sharadha. I am telling you its unputdownable. I am planning to read Family Matters next

[Sharadha]

Parikhit wrote: "You better pick it up soon Sharadha. I am telling you its unputdownable. I am planning to read Family Matters next"

Haan, I will 😣

Hope you too enjoy Family Matters, Parikhit :)

[[deleted user]]

Gorab wrote: "Arpit wrote: "I didn't open any of these spoilers, I'm improving :)"
Attaboy!
Now I'm worried if you'll EVER open them!"

Gorab wrote: "Arpit wrote: "Thanks Gorab for putting your thoughts for every chapter!
Will discuss them once I reach there :)"

"once" = if ever!"

I DID open all the spoilers JUST NOW!!

[[deleted user]]

You should've believed in me :(

[Gorab, TheGunman]

aha... glad you did :) Can't believe you opened these spoilers ONLY when they were supposed to!

[Sharadha]

Read all the spoilers and agree with ALL of them. Buddy rated it 4, Parikhit, Gor, and me 5 😌

I'm really glad I read this book. Think it's my first serious Indian literature and it couldn't have started on a better footing. My kind of story. Will read many more Mistrys in future :)