The Flat On Malabar Hill by Chitra Kallay

Review by Mayra David

iUniverse, 2009

One family, one story; seven voices, seven lives. In this beautifully written novel, Chitra Kallay explores that great tension between being the individual versus being a part of a whole. It may seem like a single, straightforward idea, but this idea is so well-explored in the the novel that it reveals within it culture clashes, generation gaps, societal inequities, and family – in particular marital – dynamics. It contains the notion that not only are we individuals, but we are always part of a greater entity; our individual actions are always part of a bigger picture. In a word: karma.

The Flat on Malabar Hill is a portrait of a prominent Mumbai family, centered around and headed by Vinod and Shanti. They have two sons, Kishore and Dev, as different from each other as two men can be: one succeeding in all aspects of life, where the other fails. One equally comfortable in India and the United States, the other not even comfortable in his own skin.

The novel switches perspectives between the seven family members, starting with Shanti as she visits Kishore’s home after the birth of her first grandson. Kishore and his wife Anjali have just moved back from the United States to rear their child in India, where his parents are eager to help. To him, this is not only the custom, it is the ideal. So the story begins with the gulf between Shanti and her daughter-in-law Anjali; though they are both Indian, they are two mothers from different times and backgrounds. This, Shanti’s first visit with her grandson, sets the tone for the rest of the novel: expectation, disappointment, unintended cruelty, private humiliation, and strong hope are the constant currents that run throughout the various relationships of this family. And just like the unstable electrical current that powers their houses in Mumbai, their interactions lead to inevitable blow outs.

Though the themes and situations here will certainly resonate with people from any ethnic background, the characters live and breathe their Indian culture. The heat and humidity, the sticky crowds and hot food, the luxurious lifestyles enabled by those in poverty all color as well as drive this novel. Kallay bravely leads the reader into the world of this family, unapologetic for its jarring character and yet ever mindful to explain its customs and scenery. This doesn’t make anything less exotic, but more exciting. The more we know of Mumbai the more intrigued we are by her; however much we get to know the family members, they still surprise us in their thoughts and actions. This continues all the way to the powerful end of the novel which we acutely sense to be neither the beginning nor the end of this family’s story, merely part of their karma.

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