Haunting Bombay - Book Review

The essence of karma and the insistence of properness is the focus of “Haunting Bombay” [Shilpa Argawal, Soho Press, 359 pgs] which combines the element of a modern ghost story with the specific nature of the ancient rituals of the Indian people. While inherently buried in the routine and breakdown of the sacrifices of the gods, the story does create a universal modality in its parallel modes of unrequited love. At the center of the story is an outsider, Pinky, a young girl whose mother died. She was taken in by a powerful matriarch (and her grandmother) Maji who heads the powerful Mirrital household. While there is a basis for this family's claim to power, the one aspect that is missing from the story is the structured feeling of this right to power. Granted the intimacy of the situations plays to the aspect of the story but at many times, it is the interactions on the actual streets of the city that have much more impact.Once set up, the bulk of the story over about 60 pages truly captures the feeling of what book could be: an Indian version of “Poltergeist”. The resolution and inherent meaning of the story in its final moments is poignant to be sure and circles around on an earlier moral perforation but nonetheless is a very specific one in terms of its placement in Indian society. Having met more and more colleagues who live and exist in Mumbai as well as outlying areas around it, the perspective of that world, which is alien to many Americans, in terms of the private innerworkings of family and values of certain long held standards, is brought to show an interesting itiration of the evolution of technology as well as gender roles.These thoughts are played in tandem and are the heart of the book. Despite Pinky's central role, it is Maji who is the major force of the book much like Miss Mingott in the “The Age Of Innocence”. But it is also Maji's undeniable force of nature that ultimately causes her downfall. The book is an examination of the circle of life which is not always in the straight line. It is an interesting view into a world but suitably balanced with a progressing fiction. Out of 5, I give “Haunting Bombay” a 2 1/2.