The supporting household cast — the cook, a driver, and two servants — are as essential and fiercely independent (as well as fully fleshed out) as the main family. The descriptions of Kanj’s mealtime preparations are crisply written, not too overdone. His bride Parvati and her sister are the servants, and end up as central figures in the mystery of the ectoplasmic guest.
The plot moves along fairly slow, until Pinky takes off one evening with her neighbor, Lovely. This sets the household, the city in fact, into an uproar that drives the story like a freight train. Pinky’s disappearance, and subsequent search by her family, introduces a set of new characters as vivid and detailed as the Mittal family itself. There’s Pascal, a corrupt police chief with a nose for lies as well as a fondness for money. There are assorted underworld kingpins, Indian ‘frat’ boys, and street urchins, some that only appear for a page or two. Here the book fully explores the dual nature of Bombay. The exotic locale coupled with the humdrum realities of life in a stifling hot, overcrowded city snake a thread throughout the story.
Pinky’s ultimate fate, and the fate of the Mittal family is unfolded throughout this latter half of the book, and though you may know how the ghost got to be in her situation, it’s not till the very end that you find out why. The surprise sneaks up enough to make you step back for a second, but it’s not overblown.
Article comments
1 - Dree
Good review, it made me think some more. Great book.