The Delhi Dirge

IN A WORLD THAT IS struggling with intolerance, in societies where hate is more predominant than friendship, comes this soothing read of a novel about the beauty of a time that has passed us by. Bhaichand Patel’s Across the River is a warm novel that also carries an urgent and necessary message. It reminds us of stories that centre around co-existence and camaraderie between religions, the way it was for generations who have lived in a part of Delhi known for its distinct character and ethos.

Across the River is as much a novel about Delhi as it is about the friendship between Madhu and Seema and their ensuing journeys. It essentially focusses on Seema Choudhury, a young, diligent burqa wearing Muslim woman who grapples with the tragedy of losing her father just as she graduates. Seema and Madhu have families who are rooted in their traditions but this is never a point of contention in their friendship. They inhabit the lively Old Delhi sharing a common identity as they negotiate the world outside the walled city. Therein lies the heart of the novel, one that is a reminder that difference and tolerance have always been the fabric of everyday ordinary Indian lives.

The novel’s central character apart from the three families is also Chandni Chowk, its history and cultural make up. The novel captures not just the bustle but also the stories of crumbling mansions, changing tides and fortunes through generations.

Patel writes, “This was then. The family fortune declined over the centuries and by the time the last emperor was exiled to Rangoon, their glory days were long over. They could no longer afford the haveli. It was sold to the British army for a pittance and later demolished to make way for a housing estate for officers and their families.”

The narrative is punctuated by nuggets of history that reside in dilapidated houses and informs the way the central characters go about their choices and desires. The story is as much a coming of age for Seema as it is for the metropolis that is continually expanding.

Seema, who is hired for her neutral name, as she hides her burqa and her religious identity, finds a job at a factory. Here she meets Mohan, the son of the business owner Kantabhai. Mohan and Seema’s relationship is not an easy one for either of them to reconcile, as it lays bare their anxieties even as they acknowledge their religious differences. The novel triumphs in its faith in acceptance and friendship, and in a city that allows connections between the disparate and diverse.

And while it is a novel broadly capturing Delhi between 1958 and 2007, it also takes us through the exuberance and the neglect of the walled city and how it remains a unique world in itself. Patel writes, “However the glory days of mohalla living were fast becoming a thing of the past. For many years this hadn’t been a fashionable place to live. Its reputation fell even lower after new cars and gadgets, cable TV and international fast-food chains began to arrive in India in the 1990s. Every few years when a family prospered or needed more space, it moved out, at the urging of children.”

Across the River is a story about the other city and how the other side is always lurking, always hiding, unless it is scraped out of the past of families. Written in clear, precise, simple prose the novel evokes a sense of warmth towards its characters; people who evolve and hange, questioning age-old systems and probing the meaning of their cultural identity.

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