Twist in the tales

adultery and other stories by Farrukh Dhondy. Published in 2011 by HarperCollins Publishers, A-53, Sector 57, Noida 201301. Pp: 265. Price: Rs 299.

In adultery and other stories Farrukh Dhondy returns to a genre of which he is a master. One fondly remembers the finely etched characters of his collection of short stories, Poona Company.

The novel, as a genre, began in the 1740s with the pathbreaking work of Samuel Richardson and Tobias Smollet where the plot progressed through a series of letters which the characters exchanged. In this collection, Dhondy updates and modernizes the epistolary technique and in three of his stories the events unfold through the exchange of e-mails. In "bollox” as the title suggests, Gajan corresponds with Mr Cruikshank. Gajan’s cousin has decided to donate his testes to Mr Cruikshank who has lost his in an unfortunate accident; this would enable the latter to procreate with his second wife, Carolyn. The idea of organ donation where the East provides a market for the West has been stunningly portrayed in a play by Manjula Padmanabhan called Harvest. However, in Dhondy’s hands this grim theme is treated in a light vein. Gajan extracts large sums of money from the recipient for donating the "seat of all energy and procreation...(and) the life making organ” of his cousin. The correspondence starts from a rediffmail account with the tongue-in-cheek address of Gajan69. The name of Mr Cruikshank, to whom these e-mails are addressed, is suggestively misspelt as ‘Crookshag’ ‘Crookshark’ ‘Cruukskunk’ and ‘Crutchshake.’ The e-mails which are formal at first gradually become more personal as the correspondence ensues. Gajan extracts this money under several pretexts: they have paid large amounts to discover the identity of the potential recipient, they have to travel to Delhi for the visa, the sign of Taurus under which Mr Cruikshank is born is ‘inauspicious’ and his birth certificate needs to be altered and so on. Once the operation is complete, Mr Cruikshank shows that he is not the fool Gajan expected him to be and wants to take the latter to court; but Dhondy creates great suspense as to who will finally win in this battle of wits.

In "e-mailwallas” there are two strands of correspondence: one, in the form of letters Shyamalam writes to his father and the second, a series of e-mails between Dilip Dilawar Singh alias Bunty, an Indian bookseller who runs a fleet of young men — a regular feature at traffic signals to flog books — and Sandy Beech who sends him suitable titles from the UK. Shyamalam has come to the great metropolis of Bombay in search of a job and hopefully a large salary which he can send to his parents for the marriage of the "jewel” of their family, Sitambari. The two narratives combine when Shyamalam gets a job with Bunty and sells pirated copies of Harry Potter amongst other books and magazines.

Farrukh Dhondy: suspense and sensitivity

In "jig jigolo” an American, Patsy Kornilovski who has spent 12 glorious days in London 20 years ago, tracks down Suresh Khanna, whose travel agency in New Delhi is on the verge of bankruptcy. She wants to meet him again and offers to send him a ticket to enable him to travel to New York or, in the alternative, she is willing to come to Delhi. She writes with great nostalgia of the time when she had come to London after the death of her husband and was "derelict and lonely” with a great and unquenchable "thirst for love.” He had rescued her and was her knight in shining armor; he was kind, polite and affectionate in her time of need. Suresh writes back an affectionate e-mail but it is clear that his motives are not genuine and he is hoping to touch her for a large sum of money which will appease his creditors. He makes the trip to New York and waits patiently for her and when she does not keep the appointment he returns to India frustrated and penniless. The reason why she does not appear, or rather appears incognito as well as the final twist in the story is extremely touching and shows Dhondy’s ability to get under the skin of his characters and to portray warmth and compassion with great dexterity.

In another battle of wits between the rich and the underdog which takes place in "say cheese,” Dhondy once again sensitively portrays a teacher who runs a maths class where none of his students have ever failed; hence, his nickname is Cent per Cent Balkar. Mr Balkar is summoned by the rich and powerful Ms Gunwala to coach her nephew. As the tuition takes place in the early morning, Cent per Cent often breakfasts at the Gunwalas and acquires a great fondness for Kraft cheese. When the smugglers stop the import of Kraft cheese both the protagonists see no reason why they should not manufacture it themselves. Dhondy once again shows his ability to fuse the ludicrous and the sympathetic in his portrayal of Cent per Cent.

In "adultery,” poet and song-writer Sufi composes a verse at the end of the story:

"Love may be but a breeze of spring

That carries a seed and lets it grow

The bird of youth is on the wing,

Where shall the birds of winter go.”

It is the "birds of winter” and marriages of middle-aged people where the spouses have ceased to love but merely tolerate each other which Dhondy describes very effectively. In fact, the very first line of "boogoo,” the first story, is the sentence "Yes, she was bored with me…” and a little later "we had furious arguments.” In "adultery,” Sufi detests his wife Joanna’s incurable warts and when his hands run over them in the dark his "passion dies.” His disgust with his spouse can be seen by his description of her as "thin as a rat’s tail” and with "sagging skin.” When Sufi is a schoolboy, the priest tells his students that there are only nine commandments and carefully omits: "Thou shalt not commit adultery.” When the teacher is forced to admit that there is, in fact, a seventh commandment and asked to explain the term "adultery,” he merely mentions, "It’s when milkmen pour water into their milk...” Sufi has an adulterous though brief affair with Lotus but finally realizes his mistake: he was not the milkman "nor was meant to be.”

An equally short and summarily aborted affair takes place in "short stem judas.” Madhu Devdar of Rajasthan who is married with a family has an affair with Virginia who has come to preach against the evils of genetically modified food. After a brief affair, Madhu is distraught and wants to return to his wife. In a central episode in "adultery,” Joanna, while visiting India finds a bird seller and buys all the caged birds he has. She immediately sets them free and tries to destroy the cage. However, while she leaves she notices the birdman and some urchins picking up the cage and whistling at the multicolored songbirds in the branches above with a view to capture them. Adultery seems to be a brief interlude in marriage, more suited to delinquent schoolboys than the first line of a verse Sufi composes "Adultery is what adults do.”

One expects literary allusions in "adultery” as the central character is a poet but in other short stories as well Dhondy uses these very economically and effectively. In "e-mailwallas,” Bunty says, "God is in his internet heaven and all’s well with the web” and later confesses to Sandy that "One gets old and wears the bottom of one’s trousers rolled.” In "jig jigolo” Patsy echoes Eliot when she sadly confesses: "Memory revives gratitude and old desires like dull roots with spring rain” and justifies her actions by quoting Portia: "To do a great right, do a little wrong.” It is gentle touches like these and his sensitive portrayal of human nature which makes these short stories a pleasure to read.

FIRDAUS GANDAVIA