Rohinton Mistry's

A fine balance

biographical information

character information

plot summary

themes

style

At 42, Dina Dalal looks especially good for her age. Widowed just three years into her

marriage to Rustom Dalal, the love of her life, she had shunned the idea of getting

remarried, despite her brother's urgings, and instead made a living for herself as a

tailor. A resourceful woman, when her eyes began to fail, she sought out tailors to fill

orders for an export company, so that she could continue to pay the rent on the flat,

which had been left to her by her late husband. The move was also a risky one by Dina

because if she was found to be carrying on a business out of her flat, she could be

evicted by the landlord. Dina's beloved father had died when she was young, and she

was raised by the heavy hand of her brother. Nusswan, who had denied her a college

education and encouraged her to marry instead.

Dina has a hard exterior, but when it comes to a crunch, she is a real softie. She has a

strong sense of pride, particularly when it comes to her brother, Nusswan. Despite her

dislike for her family while she was growing up, Dina has a strong sense of family,

and after being denied the chance to have her own when Rustom dies, develops her

own 'family' when Ishvar and Om move in with her and Maneck - it is almost like she

and Ishvar are husband and wife, and Om and Maneck are their children.

Despite her tough and headstrong nature, the events of the novel gradually take their

toll on Dina, until at the end she is quiet, subdued and withdrawn.

Badly scarred from an accident back when he was in the field with his father as a

cobbler, one half of Ishvar's face is frozen and shows no emotion. Despite this, Ishvar

is a soft-spoken, easy-going person, and is friendly and conversational. He has a

strong sense of duty but, at the same time, is very humble and respectful.

Once in a comfortable spot, Ishvar is happier to stay there rather than pursue greater

things. After his accident, Ishvar was sent to be an apprentice tailor with Ashraf. After

their training, his brother, Narayan, returned to their village to start his own business,

but Ishvar stayed on with Ashraf, content with working in the shop. This same ability

to be content where he is can be seen when he and Om move in with Dina, and his

house hunting efforts become half hearted.

Another of Ishvar's characteristics is his loyalty. The prime example of this is in his

relationship with Om, whose side he never leaves even when things get rough. This is

done out of both loyalty to Om and loyalty to his family, especially his brother. Other

example of this is his keeping Beggarmaster's secret and not exposing Rajaram, even

when he knew that he had committed murder.

Having lost his father when he was just a teenager, Omprakesh, or Om, is a

hot-headed, surly adolescent, who is clearly trying to find his place in the world. His

father's death is the first of many tragedies to come his way, which he seems to take in

his stride with the help of his uncle. Om always seems to want more for himself; when

working with Dina, Om wanted he and Ishvar to work for themselves, and when living

in the slums, he refused to appear to be happy. Om's way of dealing with situations

where he is not happy is to sulk, a habit which becomes very frustrating for Ishvar.

Om is a typical teenage boy; he finds humour in crass jokes; he is curious about

women and sex and covers this up by joking about it. At such a young age, he does not

understand the importance of marriage and family, or of a good day's. He is also very

untidy and does not pay much attention to his health or grooming, and he has both lice

and worms. Much of Om's problems can be attributed to the absence of a mother

because once Om moves in with Dina, she sees that his health problems are corrected,

and he begins to take better care of himself in the same way that Maneck does.

By the end of the novel, it is clear that Om has matured. His devotion to his uncle is

clear, and he takes on a big responsibility in caring for Ishvar once his legs have been

removed.

Maneck is also a teenage boy, but comes from a vastly different background to Om

and is, thus, a completely different person. While not wealthy, Maneck's family is

quite well-off, and Maneck, in many ways, has been spoiled as a child. His gripe with

his family is due to their sending him away to college; he would have much rather to

stay in the mountains with his family and run the General Store. Through his reactions

to the poverty and living conditions in the city, it is quite clear that he has been

sheltered for most of his life, and therefore finds his new way of life difficult. When

he tries to stay on and complete his degree, the motivation is not to gain more

education, but rather to be around his new-found friends; he does not enjoy going to

college. He even jokes about becoming a tailor, which is a fine example of the fact

that he, too, is trying to find his place in the world.

Maneck is a neatly groomed, attractive young man with good manners and educated

speech. Still a teenage boy, though, he, like Om, makes sexual and crass jokes and is

curious about woman but at the same time has an air of decency about him; for

example, refusing to spy on Dina in the bathroom.

Coming from such a sheltered lifestyle, Maneck finds it difficult to deal with the

tragedy that surrounds him once he moves to the city. The first real example of this is

the death of his friend Avinash, which affects him deeply. When he returns to the city

eight years later, he is unable to deal with all of the heartbreak, which leads him to

commit suicide.

Dina's older brother, Nusswan is a well-educated, man who is very set in his ways.

After his father died when he was just a teenager, he took on the responsibility of

caring for his mother and younger sister, Dina, who he brought up with a heavy hand.

He is a man of tradition, preaching marriage and family to his headstrong sister. A

successful businessman, he is one of the upper class in society and approves of the

reforms that the Emergency is bringing about and has little compassion for the poor,

seeing them as beneath him. But despite his apparent hard heart, Nusswan does have a

soft spot in him, particularly when it comes to his sister.

As the owner of Mumtaz Tailoring, Ashraf takes on Ishvar and Narayan, and later

Omprakesh, as apprentice tailors and teaches them everything he knows about the

business. Ignoring protests from his wife, he becomes more like a father figure to

them, especially because their father, Dukhi, is a close friend of his. A Muslim, Ashraf

does not judge people by their religion and takes Ishvar and Narayan in, regardless of

the fact that they are Parsi. He is patient and kindly and continues to try and help

Ishvar and Om, even when he cannot care for them in his own home anymore.

Om's father and Ishvar's brother, Narayan was the youngest and favoured of the two

sons. He, too, became an apprentice tailor with Ashraf but once qualified returned to

his village, where he started a very successful tailoring business. Oppressed by the

cast system for his entire life, once successful, he takes much delight in ignoring the

boundaries of caste, sending sweets to everybody when Om is born. However, he does

remain true to the traditions of his caste, teaching Om the ways of a cobbler. Narayan

is headstrong, and it is this attribute which ultimately causes his death as he tries to

break out of the unfair caste system and vote for himself.

Father to Ishvar and Narayan, Dukhi is a devoted family man and being brought up in

the caste system, knows his place within it and also the punishments given for

stepping out of it. When tanning work was short, Dukhi had no problems finding work

elsewhere, and his love for his family overcame any pride that he might have. His love

for his children is particularly shown when he risks banishment from his caste and

even death to have his children trained in the tailoring business, but he is constantly

aware of the punishments for breaking out of caste, as he discourages Narayan from

trying to vote.

Having lived in the city all her life, when Aban marries, she moves to the mountains

with her husband, Farokh, and runs the General Store. She is a tidy and orderly person

and manages to raise her son, Maneck, while running the family business. Maneck

being her only son, she devotes all of her time and attention to him, particularly

making sure that he has everything he needs when he goes away. Aban is also a bit of

a social butterfly as well, with many well-respected friends.

Maneck's father, Farokh is a lover of nature and animals and a well-respected man in

the mountains. His Fizzy drink, Kohlah's Cola, is renowned among its towns, and

Farokh relies upon word of mouth for sales of the cola. Farokh is a practical and

old-fashioned man, who, when modernisation comes to the mountains, refuses to be

swept up in the hype of advertising and marketing. He does, however, recognise that

this may see the end of the cola, so he sends Maneck to college to get a degree, not

only for Maneck's sake but also for the sake of the family should their business fail. It

can be said that he put their family's welfare before his relationship with his son.

A school friend of Dina's, Zenobia is a hairdresser working in a beauty salon. She is

very resourceful, mainly because of her upper-class customers, as well as keeping

contact with people she knew from school. She is a good friend of Dina and helps her

out when Dina is in a crisis. A middle-class working woman, Zenobia seems to like to

think of herself as upper class, chiding Dina for having the tailors live with her, as if

they were beggars rather than tailors.

Neighbour to Ishvar and Om in the slums, Rajaram was initially a happy-go-lucky

friendly man, who helped the tailors find their way in their new surroundings. Initially

a barber by trade, he turned to hair collecting because it paid more. After the slums

were flattened, he became a Family Planning Motivator because it was easier to work

on the right side on the law regardless as to whether it was moral or right. But when

things become hard for him, he turns back to barbering and hair collecting, which

eventually is his downfall. Rajaram is opportunistic and obsessive and, despite his

friendly personality, tends to take advantage of his friends' goodwill.

Born to a beggar and then taken away from her for "professional modifications,"

Shankar has no hands and no feet and gets around on a skateboard-type platform given

to him by Beggarmaster. He is, and has always been, a professional beggar that makes

his money by having people feel sorry for him and give him alms. But despite his

apparently bleak circumstances, Shankar is happy with his way of life as it is all that

he has ever known. However, such a life makes it hard for Shankar to find friends, and

his funeral is not as mournful as it should have been.

Beggarmaster is an ironic character, as he demands authority through threats and

violence, and his profession takes advantage of the poor. However, in this novel,

Beggarmaster is a friend of the main characters, and we see his softer side. While also

being a shrewd businessman, he values family, wanting to shower Shankar with gifts

once he discovers that he is his half-brother. He stands by his beggars, investigating

when two are murdered and being with Nosey, a beggar, when she died. It is his love

of money, however, that is his undoing, as his coin bag weighs him down while he is

being attacked.

The rent collector for Dina's apartment, Ibrahim has no family and shares a flat with a

night-shift worker, who sleeps in the apartment during the day. Once he was a

hard-headed employee of the landlord, but Ibrahim gradually grows weary of his job,

until he is unable to be as intimidating as he should be. Although taking many tongue

lashings from Dina, he befriends her in his own way and tries to help her by warning

her of the landlord's intentions.