The Fine Line - Published January 2008
"The Space Between Us" by accomplished journalist and novelist Thrity Umrigar is an incomplex story about the lives of women in a society fraught with hierarchy, beliefs and taboos as old as time.
It delves into the lives of Bhima, a poor Hindu servant living in the slums of modern day Mumbai who has spent the last 20 years working for Sera Dubash, a Parsi patrician from an upper-middle class family. These are the two main protagonists and the writing switches back and forth between them easily. The prose tiptoes across the fine line between happiness and misery with grace.
The parallels between Bhima's unwavering loyalty and Sera's cultivated distancing are laid bare and are captivating. From Bhima's honest love and devotion to a family that has given her so much, to Sera's obvious and open affection for Bhima - even though Bhima works in a household that doesn't allow her to eat and drink with the same cups and utensils, nor sit on any furniture. It is a dynamic that is a sensitive topic for many and Feroz, Sera's husband, confirms this : "Treating that woman as if she's a family member. Servants have to be kept in their place, I tell you. One of these days I'll come home to find you waiting on Bhima."
There is also Maya, Bhima's orphaned granddaughter, who's predicament much of the novel centers around. And then there is Dinaz, Sera's daughter. "Dinaz, refusing to eat a chocolate unless she can share it with Bhima; Dinaz, begging Bhima to sit on the furniture with her when the two of them were alone at home; Dinaz, slipping money from her allowance into Bhima's embarrassed hands. Before there was Maya, there was Dinaz who had loved her with an abandon that only a child could muster."
The fact that Bhima has kept all the household secrets is never lost on Sera however, and she in turn becomes Bhima's source of emotional and financial support, even going so far as to pay for Bhima's granddaughter Maya's college tuition fees.
This book explores boundaries and the goings-on of life in a country where the poor are invisible while the rich rule all. It shows us how women can be so easily cast down in the eyes of society for the slightest infringement of what is deemed to be acceptable behavior and that violence can be found anywhere. It also measures the human capacity for euphoria as well as despair.
"The Space Between Us" opens with Bhima struggling with the issue of what to do with Maya who has recently become pregnant and who refuses to reveal the identity of the baby's father. As the sole guardian of Maya, Bhima is unable to deal with this and blames herself for being a poor, illiterate old woman, unable to provide a better life for the girl. Not knowing where to turn, Bhima seeks advice from Sera as the story unfolds : "And Serabai, tall, fair, a sentry who stood at the gates of hell and tried to keep Bhima from being snatched away by the infernal fires."
Bhima's surname is never mentioned or revealed and this seems to suggest unimportance in her family history while her fierce protector Sera Dubash comes from a financially comfortable, educated background. The pitiful yet lovingly careful way that Bhima is described endears the reader even further to her. Someone who has spent her entire life in servitude to other families. Old Bhima with her wrinkled skin, thin, bony fingers and her aching hip: "Bhima jumps to her feet, and as she does, her left hip lets out a loud pop. She stands still for a moment, waiting for the wave of pain that follows the pop, but today is a good day. No pain."
This book addresses prejudices so guttural and difficult it borders on incomprehension, but it is these said prejudices that are still very much alive today. Umrigar's description of the practice of dehumanizing people who are of a lower stature is brutal but is altogether refreshing in it's honesty.The writing flows effortlessly and even though local colloquialisms are thrown in now and again, it is easy for a non-Hindi speaker to understand the gist of what is being said.
"The Space Between Us" by accomplished journalist and novelist Thrity Umrigar is an incomplex story about the lives of women in a society fraught with hierarchy, beliefs and taboos as old as time.
It delves into the lives of Bhima, a poor Hindu servant living in the slums of modern day Mumbai who has spent the last 20 years working for Sera Dubash, a Parsi patrician from an upper-middle class family. These are the two main protagonists and the writing switches back and forth between them easily. The prose tiptoes across the fine line between happiness and misery with grace.
The parallels between Bhima's unwavering loyalty and Sera's cultivated distancing are laid bare and are captivating. From Bhima's honest love and devotion to a family that has given her so much, to Sera's obvious and open affection for Bhima - even though Bhima works in a household that doesn't allow her to eat and drink with the same cups and utensils, nor sit on any furniture. It is a dynamic that is a sensitive topic for many and Feroz, Sera's husband, confirms this : "Treating that woman as if she's a family member. Servants have to be kept in their place, I tell you. One of these days I'll come home to find you waiting on Bhima."
There is also Maya, Bhima's orphaned granddaughter, who's predicament much of the novel centers around. And then there is Dinaz, Sera's daughter. "Dinaz, refusing to eat a chocolate unless she can share it with Bhima; Dinaz, begging Bhima to sit on the furniture with her when the two of them were alone at home; Dinaz, slipping money from her allowance into Bhima's embarrassed hands. Before there was Maya, there was Dinaz who had loved her with an abandon that only a child could muster."
The fact that Bhima has kept all the household secrets is never lost on Sera however, and she in turn becomes Bhima's source of emotional and financial support, even going so far as to pay for Bhima's granddaughter Maya's college tuition fees.
This book explores boundaries and the goings-on of life in a country where the poor are invisible while the rich rule all. It shows us how women can be so easily cast down in the eyes of society for the slightest infringement of what is deemed to be acceptable behavior and that violence can be found anywhere. It also measures the human capacity for euphoria as well as despair.
"The Space Between Us" opens with Bhima struggling with the issue of what to do with Maya who has recently become pregnant and who refuses to reveal the identity of the baby's father. As the sole guardian of Maya, Bhima is unable to deal with this and blames herself for being a poor, illiterate old woman, unable to provide a better life for the girl. Not knowing where to turn, Bhima seeks advice from Sera as the story unfolds : "And Serabai, tall, fair, a sentry who stood at the gates of hell and tried to keep Bhima from being snatched away by the infernal fires."
Bhima's surname is never mentioned or revealed and this seems to suggest unimportance in her family history while her fierce protector Sera Dubash comes from a financially comfortable, educated background. The pitiful yet lovingly careful way that Bhima is described endears the reader even further to her. Someone who has spent her entire life in servitude to other families. Old Bhima with her wrinkled skin, thin, bony fingers and her aching hip: "Bhima jumps to her feet, and as she does, her left hip lets out a loud pop. She stands still for a moment, waiting for the wave of pain that follows the pop, but today is a good day. No pain."
This book addresses prejudices so guttural and difficult it borders on incomprehension, but it is these said prejudices that are still very much alive today. Umrigar's description of the practice of dehumanizing people who are of a lower stature is brutal but is altogether refreshing in it's honesty.The writing flows effortlessly and even though local colloquialisms are thrown in now and again, it is easy for a non-Hindi speaker to understand the gist of what is being said.
This book does not propose to revolutionize the world with any suggestion of great cultural insight but is instead a simple, moving story woven in and around the lives of two women from opposite ends of society who have both experienced great love and immeasurable loss.
"The Space Between Us" sheds light on deep-rooted animosity that Umrigar herself refers to as a polarization of class divisions. But while a lot of the writing suggests desperation and gloom, it also hits home with the concept of the silver lining to every dark cloud.
Umrigar drew from her own wealth of personal experiences when defining the characteristics of both Bhima and Sera. She has likened it to growing up in a household where there was a real Bhima in 'A Conversation With Thrity Umrigar'. "I was an earnest, well-meaning teenager and I loved Bhima
Explains Umrigar, "The Space Between us is an attempt to understand, through the illuminating searchlight of fiction, paradoxes that I could never make sense of in real life. I began the novel in the spring of 2003. But in fact I have been writing this book forever." And the dedication of this book, "for the real Bhima and the millions like her," really does evoke a powerful sense of hope against humiliation, for the wrongly perceived bête noire of the fragile class structure in a country still heavily immersed in tradition gone awry.
Thrity Umrigar is a Mumbai born writer who moved to the United States at the age of 21. Her other novels are "Bombay Time", "First Darling Of The Morning" and "If Today Be Sweet". A journalist for over 17 years, Umrigar has written for the Washington Post as well as Pulitzer-prize winning publication the Akron Beacon Journal. Umrigar won the Nieman Fellowship to Harvard University in 1999 and currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio.
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