Jhumpa Lahiri was born in 1967 in London, England, and raised in Rhode Island. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, she is also the author of a novel, The Namesake. She lives in New York City.
A Temporary Matter is the story of a young couple trying to come to terms with a stillbirth and a shift in their relationship. One day, they receive a notice informing of a temporary matter - for five days their electricity will be cut for one hour, beginning at 8 p.m. Having spent six months avoiding each other, they decide to spend their hours of darkness sharing secrets.
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When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine is about a young girl's window into the Pakistani Civil War. Lilia is a young girl of Indian descent living in America. Her father is a college professor and her mother works part-time at a bank. In the fall of 1971, Mr. Pirzada of Dacca (an area in Eastern Pakistan) is in America on a grant to study the foliage of New England, starts to take his evening meal and watch the news at Lilia's house. Mr. Pirzada has a wife and seven daughters at home in Dacca. After her father gives her a brief history of India, Dacca, Pakistan and the impending war, Lilia begins to contemplate Mr. Pirzada's predicament - being away from his wife and kids during a war and unable to receive communications from them.
-----------------Interpreter of Maladies is about the day Mr. Kapasi, a part-time tour guide and full-time interpreter of maladies, spends taking the Das, an Indian American family, to India's Sun Temple. As an interpreter of maladies, Mr. Kapasi listens to patients who speak Gujarati, a language not spoken by many people, and translates their symptoms so that the doctor can deliver a diagnosis. Mr. Kapasi thinks the family is odd, like a bunch of siblings rather than a mother, father and three kids. Mr. Kapasi finds himself attracted to Mrs. Das after she describes his work as an interpreter of maladies as 'romantic.'
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A Real Durwan is about Boormi Ma, a 64-year-old stairwell sweeper and the poor tenants of the rundown flat-building, where she sweeps stairs in exchange for shelter underneath letterboxes inside the building's gate. Boormi Ma is fond of sharing stories about the losses she suffered with her deportation to Calcutta after partition. Boormi also likes to tell the tenants about the luxurious life she use to lead. "Believe me, don't believe me, such comforts you cannot even dream them," is how Boormi Ma's stories always end. The tennants of the flat-building don't believe most of Boormi Ma's stories, but are happy with her presence because she keeps their stairwell clean and serves as a guard against mischief seekers. Things begin to change when after a promotion, one of the tenants installs two sinks, one in his apartment and the other in the building's hallway.
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Sexy is about infidelity. Miranda is an American woman secretly involved with a married Bengali-American man. At work, Miranda listens to the story of her Indian-American co-worker Lashmi's cousin's husband's betrayal. Lashmi's cousin's husband fell in love with an English woman, half his age, on a flight from Delhi to Montreal, and decided to get off with the woman at Heathrow, abandoning his wife and son. Miranda's perspective on her relationship changes when she spends an afternoon babysitting Lashmi's cousin's son.
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Mrs. Sen's is about an eleven-year-old American boy's relationship with his Indian babysitter. Eliot's mom seeks a sitter to watch Eliot in their home but ends up agreeing to have Mrs. Sen watch Eliot at her own home after Mr. Sen assures her that Mrs. Sen will have her driver's licence by December. Eliot doesn't mind going to Mrs. Sen's after school. He enjoys watching Mrs. Sen chop vegetables and talk about India and Indian traditions. Mrs. Sen also takes Eliot out to practice her driving. During one of these practice sessions Mrs. Sen gets into an accident.
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This Blessed House is about a newly-married Hindu couple's experience moving into a new house that is littered with Christian paraphernalia. The husband is adamant that since they are not Christians they should get rid of the stuff, but his wife finds the items charming and thinks it would be sacrilegious to throw them out. Their different opinions regarding the items leads the husband to wonder if he made a mistake marrying his wife after knowing her only two months.
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The Treatment of Bibi Haldar is about an Indian woman who suffers from epilepsy. Everyone around her, from family and friends to prophets and fools is baffled by her ailment. No one knows how to cure her. Because of her 'ailment' she's never been able to live a normal life or have what she desires most - a husband. One day after one of her seizures, a doctor at a clinic prescribes "relations will calm her blood." Bibi is delighted and throws herself into preparing for her wedding. There's only one problem, no one has come forward to propose marriage.
The Third and Final Content is about an Indian expatriate's experience in England and the United States.
5/5
Hi Mohit! Thanks for your comment. I hope you'll take some time to read some of my other reviews.
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