Harsimran Kaur ON July 26, 2023, IN BOOK REVIEW, THE MISTRESS OF BHATIA HOUSE BY SUJATA MASSEY-FICTION
Rating: 3.5/5
The book ‘The Mistress of Bhatia House’ by Sujata Massey is a concatenation of the interspersed vibrancy of life at one end and the inequities surrounding the destitute as a cul-de-sac. Set in the backdrop of 1920s’ covering the exquisite magnanimity of the ‘City of Bombay’, the book talks about an era where the cumulonimbus thunders of patriarchy left women in a state of perpetual self-loathing; the impoverished basking under a debatable comeuppance and the preferable elite living in denial.
The case opens when Sunanda is arrested by the Police on charges of ‘preferred abortion’. A conscientious worker at the ‘Bhatia House’, she is a dutiful ‘aayah’ to Ishaan—the son of Uma and Parvesh Bhatia. Forlorn and scared after experiencing a contemptible attempt on her dignity, she is helped by the head servant of house to drink a herbal tea that possibly causes a heavy flow of the monthly flow-out. The concomitant rude behavior of the Bhatia’s leads her all the way to prison to be fortuitously saved by Perveen Mistry – a thick-skinned solicitor at her father’s law firm.
How do I introduce Perveen Mistry to you all?
Sagacious and Savoir Faire, Perveen is a chip of an old block. Under her father, Jamshed Mistry’s tutelage, she has gradually learnt the tricks of the trade serrating the ambiguities with sangfroid attention. It’s not during the trail that she meets Sunanda for the first time. Her nonchalant entry at the ‘Bhatia House’ for a high-tea organized to collect funds for a women hospital is the first fit-in experience. Perveen is impressed by her dedication when Sunanda blankets Ishaan to save him from the burgeoning flames.
And this makes me think about the plight of a woman. When does this thought leave me? Never! Her sacrifices bear no results as is the case of Sunanda. For the likes of her and many who still get to lead a privileged life, a ‘pusillanimous beast’ she is called and then the scurried extrapolations by the demurred men label her as a ‘venomous pluck’ if she tries to cut-off the indigenous paradoxes. The saga thus begins of schismatic pondering.
Sujata Massey is crisp and convincing in her composition of theories and assessments. The ‘Parsi’ perplexity is easily refuted by candid explanation to ‘why Parsi women drink more’—the so called ‘modernized bohrium’. The sanctimonious ‘fire’ has reference not as an understatement but dawdle to keep the scurrilous temptations at bay. She too handles her lover interest ‘Colin Sandringham’ with a sonorous elegance, though her relationship with her sister-in-law is a cacophony of rebuttals.
Perveen Mistry, the audacious solicitor embarks on a rather inexplicable journey to save Sunanda from the chasten imbroglio. Her percipient battleaxes towards men she feels could be the casus belli for Sunanda’s feeble condition is peremptorily fastened bringing on a caterwaul of innuendoes and an incessant blame game. Who falls in the rabbit hole is to be seen? If the inevitable calumnies are a wretched pathogen niggling the soul of a woman or there is a profound sanctity left in the infinitum lamprey of men out on a femme fatale hunting expedition.
The other characters in the book, ‘The Mistress of Bhatia House’ by Sujata Massey are in search of something. The incantation of their profound expertise to hide in the long bushes maybe to covet something invasive is frisked by the confident solicitor not leaving any logjam.
The lascivious ‘Nawab’ is a squint in the eye of Perveen Mistry. She does not want Sunanda’s life to be discarded like an empty wrapper. Her perspicacious outlook to resolve the case brings many others like the vibrant businessman ‘Malcolm Stowe’ and ‘Inspector Prescott’ into the black hole. It takes her to be quite instinctive in her predispositions to crack open the scrupulous minds. The story though runs its course of investigations and evidences, the author could have been more assiduous to give each character more precision of their actions and motives.
The book is not only a hard-boiled thriller but also looks at the deep-rooted fermentation of women issues that are brushed under the carpet—an impasto of shades thickly brushed on top of the surface of dejection and disparagement. Sunanda and Perveen flock from different backgrounds; one fretted with dust as a kicking ball and the other waved off as an ‘infra dig damsel’. What brings them together is an affirmation of their perpetual desire to live with dignity.