When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine

As I sip my coffee, and the mist clears from my eyes and mind, I imagine living in the times of Kishore Kumar, partition, hunger, fear and politics. In a time, when the daily monotonies are lost in the chaos of reality. And maybe in a time when you have the luxury to observe and comment on the same from the safe havens of your plush living room.

In her second short story, Jhumpa Lahiri masters the art of a linear story teller. The  first person narrator,Lilia situates the reader “In the Autumn of 1971” in the natural foliage of Boston University. It is a story which grows with its narrator, as she learns of the partition, the civil war, the riots through her dad, the television and an old history textbook on her school library.

The author has paid special attention to time in this short story as compared to the last one,  with Lilia remembering her old days through dates. March 1971 : Dacca is invaded by West Pakistan; Autumn 1971 : Mr Pirzada comes to dine with them; End of Summer 1971 : death toll mounts to 3,00,000 and Mr. Pirzada has become a regular at their home, October 1971 : footage from Dacca heavily censored, December 4 : after 12 days of war, Pakistan army surrenders and in January, Mr. Pirzada leaves for home.

Lahiri paints a black and white picture of the story, the black part being the story of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh; and the white one the story of Lilia. The black begins with Dacca being invaded : “teachers were dragged onto streets and shot, women dragged into barracks and raped” and the white set in the Boston foliage with Lilia’s parents going through the phone directory to increase their circle of Indian friends. The black darkens with Pakistan engaging in civil war: a scarcity of resources, and the white thickens with Lilia’s parents bickering about the shortage of mustard oil (in the local market), no house-calls and no neighbors. There is this particular scene when Lilia’s father takes her into the black, explaining life in India in 1947, while her mother slowly pulls her back into the white with “a safe life, an easy life, a fine education and every opportunity”.

A subtle dig is taken at the US education system here, in which the students are taught about US history, US geography and US political affairs and a lot is said in the few words of Lilia’s teacher when she finds the girl reading a book on Pakistan :

“Is this book a part of your report, Lilia?”

“No, Mrs. Kenyon.”

“Then I see no point to consult it, do you?”

In the end of the political discussion of the story, it’s safe to conclude that the little girl is lost in the amalgamation of life outside and inside her home. Mr. Pirzada is instrumental in the sudden push of the girl into the confusing world of politics, the process of which I will write about soon.