Takingthe easyroad

New anthology ofshort stories presents nuances ofbehaviour within Australia's Indian community

The most strikingaspect mAvijit Sarkar'scollection of short stories,A Tume Eumts, isthe fundamentally flawed nature of the charactersthatinhibit the shorestories.

A T11mef Eve11tsisAvijit'sfirstcollection of short storiestbatreinforce migrant ethnography. But beneaththe veneer of the migrant experienceis the w1derlyingnamre oftbe characters -andat its core, the base elementswhichmake us human.

So each of the shorestories,even with a rnristat the end,highlights the lackof the higher roadthat the characterscouldhave chosen torake,andindoingso,eachof the charactersbecome each ofus.Real,deeply flawed,andconvincing

Forexample,in'A Doctor in The Making',we readof adutiful daughter, who despite her own ambitions,takes the easyroadandgives into her parents' expectationsand emotional blackmailto srudymedicine,onlyatthe end,to mrn around and advise themthat sbe was not goingto practise medicine and instead will studymathematics. Had shetaken the initial,more difficultroadof tryingto convince herparentswhytheirexpectations did notalignwith hers, she could have saved herself yearsofeffort,the financial resources spent,and the place she would haverakenfrom someoneelseto study somethingshe had no intentionofusing. While thisisa fan.1.iliarstoryamongIndian households,it does not reveal the farrarer experience of loftier idealsof parents understandingtheirchildrenbetter,or children acceptingthe chal.lenge of being more forthcomingabouttheirdreams.

Similarly,in 'The HealthyMan'weread of awomanandher parentswbo keep her di'lbetesfromher potentialhusband, ahealth-obsessed suitor,who does not see beyond the here andno,1, Gi.rda.r(the groom) demonstratesincredible selfcentredness inself-righteouslysendingbis diabetic andpregnant wife back tOLidiaonlytOget hiscomeuppance whenbe dies ofa heart attack. Girdarchoosesto be a kh11dgarz1 S11Jartheezaaii111, when the higher road wouldhavebeen to live andlet live, andaccept the fact that hisparentsallowed the dowryto guide theiractions.Everyone in this storyis egua.l.lyculpable,withthe true innocent victim beingthebabywhois yettobe born.

The characters in each of the stories demonstrate the range of human namre - jealousy,envy,resentment, judgemem,abuse,pettiness,spite,betrayal, manipulation. At the endofeach scory there is atwist thatrakesplacewhid1 shapesthe characters'lives. Bur even then, there isno indicationthat the characterhas evolved or learnt fromtheire.,:perience. One justimaginesthat each characterconti.nuesto live their life,i.nthe same incmious, unevolved skin they inhabitedat the beginningof the story.

The storieswouldhave been more compelling- by beinglesspredictable - had the authorchosento portray characters through actions of aloftier nature Characters that took the higher .road, and transcended theirbase naturesin theprocesswould have added complexity, interest andintrigue to the stories. Additionally, it wouldhavegiven the reader foodfor thought, and more importantly, provideda canvason whichto fran1e theirown behaviour and character.

Thenthe thoughtoccurs to the reader that the charactersarcno different from tl1e people we know. \Y/e selvesto shape our actions.And in failing to do so,the charactersinA TurnOf BtJenfs are simplyareAectioninamirror we hold to our faces. all continuallyfail to take the road less travel.led.Wedon'talwaysallow onr higher SalmaShah