Book : Family Matters - Rohiton Mistry

Pg 221.

"Everyone underestimates their own life. Funny thing is, in the end, all our stories - your life, my life, they are the same. In fact, no matter where you go in the world, there is only one important story: of youth, and loss, and yearning for redemption. So we tell the same story, over and over. Just the details are different."

Pg 347.

"What folly made young people, even those in their middle age, think they were immortal? How much better, their lives, if they could remember the end. Carrying your death with you everyday would make it hard to waste time on unkindness and anger and bitterness, on anything petty. That was the secret : remembering your dying time, in order to keep the stupid and ugly out of your living time."

The two quotes above sum up what Family Matters is about. It's an ordinary story of love , happiness , sorrow and wealth. It is the story of Nariman's death and his life.The book reminded me of some ways of the Death of Vishnu. The common element between the two books is the element of Mumbai and death. Both the protagonists in the books are lying on their deathbed as the vague images of their life move in front of them. The background in the book is the romanticized images of Mumbai. The difference between the two is that while Family Matters revolves around Nariman's Family , there is no family at all so to say for Vishnu.

It's far less complicated than A fine Balanace by Rohiton Mistry but still as engaging and interesting. There are the dark elements to the entire book and it is depressing nevertheless but one thing that I love about Mistry's book , is that there is no end. It has a very slice of life feel to it and that is where the reader, I guess, connects to him. It does challenge love , religion and wealth all three together.

Jal , Coomy , Edul , Roxana , Yezda , Jehangir , Murad, Vikram and of course Nariman , all characters are so well defined, flesh and blood as the cliche goes and so humane that its hard not to relate. I particularly loved the scene when Nariman is about to die and violin is played by Daisy aunty.

It is not the most entertaining book , far from it, but nevertheless it is engaging and interesting! I would surely recommend this one but a word of caution about the depressing setting. Memoirs from a man on deathbed suffering from Parkinson's and in capable of ablutions is not essentially pleasant. But so is life, not always pleasant!