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Dina Dalal

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Subhashis Jishu Kundu
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34 views

Dina Dalal

Uploaded by

Subhashis Jishu Kundu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DINA DALAL

Rohinton Mistry depicts the horrible situations of marginalised women through the eyes of a Parsi
woman named Dina Dalal, who lived in India during the onset of the Emergency in 1975. Dina Dalal suffers
greatly as a result of the Internal Emergency and is fighting for her life. She gains some independence, but
her trip is not without difficulties. She loses her apartment and has moved in with her brother. Her brother
treats her as a servant, and their pure relationship comes to an end there. This is how women feel after their
spouses pass away. Some women are not allowed to become independent if they so choose. Many women
who have no other source of income end up working as slaves for their brother or their family.
In this novel, Mistry questions the foundational freedoms guaranteed by the Indian constitution.
Even though India's constitution offers women the same rights as males, they are denied their empowered
identity in the twenty-first century. India's women experience gender identity issues, and they endure
marriage-related humiliation. Numerous innocent women have died as a result of the dowry custom. It is
terrible for poor girls whose parents are unable to provide them with a substantial dowry. Many girls are
forced to live single lives as a result of this depravity, and occasionally this puts their parents in danger.
Three of a poor man's granddaughters flee their house and commit suicide in the novel A Fine Balance,
which is a masterful depiction of the horrors of the dowry system. The poor man has a vasectomy in order to
arrange the dowry for their granddaughters. He, unfortunately, passes away after this procedure. In this way,
Rohinton Mistry questions women's rights and draws attention to the detestable scourge of dowry in Indian
society.
In this novel, Rohinton Mistry presents this struggles through his famous character Dina. Dina grew
up in a wealthy family. Her father was a medical doctor who died when she was twelve. Her mother was
withdrawn and unable to take care of Dina after her father's death, so the job fell to Nusswan, Dina's elder
brother. Nusswan was rather abusive to Dina, forcing her to do all the cooking, cleaning, and drop out of
school, and hitting her when she went against his wishes. Nusswan says: “But the fact remains that your
results are hopeless. I’m not going to waste money on school fees for another year.”
Dina is made to remain silent when she demands her rights. When she reached adulthood, Dina
rebelled against Nusswan and his potential suitors for her. Instead, she discovered her own husband, chemist
Rustom Dalal, at a concert hall. According to Mistry, the male family members decide what happens to
women in the future. Nobody is concerned with a woman's true needs. The decisions made by males are
final. Dina Dalal's career is destroyed by her family's anti-feminist views since she aspires to become a well-
known doctor like her father.
Nusswan and his wife Ruby were happy to allow Dina to wed Rustom and move into his apartment.
After three years of blissful marriage, Rustom passed away on their third wedding anniversary after being
struck by a car while riding his bicycle. Dina was advised by Rustom's surrogate parents to become a tailor
in order to escape living with Nusswan. She chooses to marry an economically unsuccessful Rustom Shroff,
whom she had met at a music concert organized by a local music society. Dina’s happiness is short-lived as
Rustom is killed in an accident. The shock numbs Dina and lets her accept Nusswan’s offer to go back to
live with him and his family. Dina does so, but with the wisdom of the Bombay-born, where real-estate
prices are one of the highest in the world, retains Rustom’s flat. Very soon, her numbness and Nusswan’s
sympathy wear off and the brother and sister indulge in a typical Parsi exchange of invectives and insults:
“Do you know how fortunate you are in our community? Among the unenlightened, widows are thrown
away like garbage. If you were a Hindu, in the old days you would have had to a good little sati and leap
into your husband’s funeral pyre, be roasted with him.” I can always go to the Towers of Silence and let the
vultures eat me up, if that will make you happy”
Dina Dalal becomes quite anxious about the need to somehow maintain her financial freedom in
order to live life on her terms. Either she chooses to do this or continue living as a glorified domestic worker
with her brother's family. This notion is strongly emphasised in the prologue:
“When Maneck left her flat, she began pacing the room, suddenly restless, as though about to embark on a
long voyage. No need now to visit her brother and beg for next month's rent. She took a deep breath. Once
again, her fragile independence was preserved.”
Dina struggles to accept the new arrangement and is resentful towards Nusswan whenever necessary.
Nusswan repeatedly tries to force Dina to comply with his demands, regardless of whether she could get her
hair cut or not. In an effort to gain her respect, he resorts to beating her repeatedly. He leads her to the fire
temple and instructs her on suitable prayer techniques. "Now pray properly ask Dadaji to make you a good
girl, ask him to make you obedient"
Dina has other worries besides dealing with Nusswan and waging small battles and either winning
them or giving up. Even at the fire temple, she needs to consider how she may avoid DustoorFramji's
fingers. "This reputation for squeezing and fondling had earned him the title of DustoorDaab - Chaab..."
"Dina squirmed in his grasp as he patted her head, rubbed her neck, stroked her back and pressed himself
against her He released her just when she had summoned enough courage to tear her trapped body from his
arms."
By and by, Dina devises ways of escaping the Parsi priest's lusty fingers. She merely extends a polite
hand and takes a few steps back. All these acts highlight the injustices done to women, interrogate the
marginalisation of women in the male-dominated society and prove that inequality between the sexes is
caused by the cultural construct of gender. Dina’s life stands ‘The Marginalised Women’ in Rohinton
Mistry’s A Fine Balance as an example of gender disadvantage.

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