Fascinating Authors

Book Review
by
John H. Manhold

The Flat on Malabar Hill, ISBN 9781440146428, iUniverse, Paperback, 254 pages, $16.95 by Chitra Kallay.

The story follows the closely interwoven lives of the members of three generations of an Indian family through a number of years of life. Shanti and Vinod, are the well-to-do mother and father of two totally different sons. Kishore, the oldest, is a brilliant Mombai (Bombay) businessman who had been an honor student and is a graduate of MIT in the United States. Dev is a drop-out who plays drums in a Night Club, spends his time with wealthy friends consuming alcohol and drugs, and like many young people in many parts of the world today, has assimilated many American-like ways and thought patterns.

When Kishore returns from America he brings Anjali, his wife. She is Indian, but thoroughly Americanized as the daughter of a diplomat to the United States. Anjali does not show the traditional respect for Shanti and friction increases with birth of her son. The friction gradually is lessened but she persuades her husband to take a job in California.

Short years later, Anjali again is pregnant when they move back to Mombai, and things progress a little better. Meanwhile, Dev believes he has found a perfect mate in a singer hired by his band. The subdued remnants of the all-important caste system raises its ugly head and adds another set of problems to the already complicated relationships that have evolved by the subtle clash of cultures.

The story continues through a number of changes in the living conditions of each member of the family and provides a most intimate look at the manner in which the often incompatible, mores of the two societies affect each member as time progresses. The author also brings in to play the subtle changes that take place with aging in the family members, and how these conditions serve to exacerbate the troubling differences of the cultures, as well as between the different needs and thought processes of the different generations.

I am impressed with Chitra Kallay’s astute observations. A few years back, I was in India to check on a research project at the Tata Research Institute. I stayed with an officer who lived on Cumbala Hill overlooking “the queen’s string of pearls” mentioned in this book. Even at that time, I was aware of how the differences in mores already were beginning to present problems for traditionalists. As a result of this experience, I sincerely believe that The Flat on Malabar Hill is more than a timely novel. It provides an enlightened look at a clash of cultures that so typically is taking place throughout much of the world, and simultaneously, it graphically demonstrates an outlook by the younger generations that they may want to examine for their future peace of mind.

This book is a good novel, but, more importantly, should be on a must list for members of the younger generations.