What Is Socio-Political Consciousness In Family Matters By Rohinton Mistry

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SOCIO-POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN ROHINTONMISTRY’S FICTION WITH

SPECIAL REFERENCE TO FAMILY MATTERS

RESHU SINGH

Research Scholar, Department of English, Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar, Uttrakhand, India

ABSTRACT

The present work, ‘Socio-political Consciousness in RohintonMistry’s Fiction with Special Reference to Family

Matters as the title itself unfolds, emphasizes on the consciousness of social, political, economic, moral, cultural and intellectual background.

In fact, his novel Family Matters is a social document pregnant with political and historical flavour. The project unfolds how Mistry has delineated these features by using various devices. The novel is a literary presentation of facts, both historical

Economic conditions also constitute the fabric of

Mistry’s works.

Rohinton Mistry is very well aware of the fact that the sub-system of society and therefore, economic activities of the individuals of the society are governed by rules and procedures down by the society itself. “Economic conditions of the inhabitants of the society have great impact on their social behavior and thus provide a kind of marker in the course of their lives”(Aziz 184). Set in Bombay in the mid -1990s, Family Matters (2002) tells a story of familial love and obligation, of personal and political corruption, of the demand of tradition and the possibilities of compassion. In cultural and social life, the event or social event refers to a social gathering or activity, such as musical festival, marriage ceremony, sports competition, birthday party and meetings.

NarimanVakeel, the widowed patriarch of an extended family lives with his stepdaughter Coomy and stepson Jal in a large flat in politically corrupted city Bombay. His gradually debilitating Parkinson’s disease and a broken ankle cause him to need Coomy and Jal’s help for nearly everything. NarimanVakeel is celebrating his seventy-nine birthday.

He accepts that

“corruption in the air we breathe, this nation specializes in turning honest people into crooks. Right chief?”(Mistry31).

Mistry’s novel, also gives inner view of the Shiv Sena which was in important phenomena in regional politics of that time. Novel also shows that corruption has found roots in virtually every aspects of society. There is also one important factor in the fiction of Mistry that he does not paint a good picture of Indira Gandhi and her family. He describes the one sided reality according to the minority prospective. He criticized the decision of Indira Gandhi for the nationalization of Banks. It was fact that the party community is the one group who got loss after the nationalization of banks. But it was good decision for the peoples, government and the country also.

Mistry in the novel presents the fear caused by the activities of the Senapati of the Shiv Sena. Yezad unmasks this fear by unfolding Senapati’s are reaction to the minorities, who says “South Indians are anti – Bombay, valentine’s Day is anti- Hindustan, film star born before 1947 in the Pakistani part of Punjab are traitors to the country”.(Mistry