The Tragic Status of the Parsis in Post-Independence India as Reflected in Rohinton Mistry’s Such a Long Journey.

Abstract

In this paper, an attempt is made to discuss the traumatized lives of the Parsis and their struggles to overcome the challenges they face in independent India as revealed in Rohinton Mistry’s novel, Such a Long Journey.  Set in Bombay against the backdrop of the 1971 Indo-Pak war, the novel delves into portraying the fear, anger, frustration, and sense of loss experienced by the minority Parsi community amidst the chaotic socio-political and economic conditions of post-independence India.  As an Indian expatriate Parsi writer, he can feel the pain and anger of his community in India and the West, and his works foreground the deep-rooted mental trauma of the Parsis in independent India.  Due to their Western lifestyles and exalted positions they enjoyed during the colonial era, they suffer a lot in independent India, unable to adjust to the much-reduced status as a marginalised minority community. Parsis’ contributions in developing India and especially Bombay city, are underestimated in independent India, and they are neglected and suppressed by the successive governments. Unable to cope with the current scenarios, many of the Parsis opted for migration to seek greater opportunities.  Apart from these external challenges, the community is facing a lot of internal conflicts that affect the community’s progress. All these issues and challenges encountered by the Parsi community are realistically explored in the novel.