"Omprakash looked through the window to determine where they had stopped. Rough shacks stood beyond the railroad fence, alongside a ditch running with raw sewage. Children were playing a game with sticks and stones. An excited puppy danced around them, trying to join in. Nearby, a shirtless man was milking a cow. They could have been anywhere." 
 It cannot be more accurate or totally disparate at the same time. While the backdrop, language and culture may change much of the details remains the same, few kilometers into the city the landscape has a glossy disposition, meander of luxury and indifference at large. 
 Mistry finds a way to write politics into his book without really talking about it. Politics does come up in conversation every now and then, and is mostly spoken with disdain - an annoying prick that disrupts everyday life. 
 In a neatly caste based segregated village, a poor leather worker observes and absolves hypocritical upper caste members. He cries in silent when his wife is raped by a man for picking few oranges. He looks the other way when the women of the said class berates him 
 for bearing sons while they commit female infanticide. He finds himself at odds when he finds no support from any community when he wants to take up a profession that isn't his own. The caste system is so tightly hinged to the society that an authority is established on education, professions, living area and even color of the skin. [An upper caste woman bemoans the fair skinned lower caste boy and revels privately when the boy's cheeks are burnt and his face is disfigured.] 
 This poor man comes across activists who are fighting against the atrocities conducted under the guise of being in upper caste. The country fighting for its independence from British Raj was also fighting against country's oldest villains deep rooted into people consciousness for centuries. Mistry subtly points this out several times during the course of the book; be it in Dina Dalal's decision to separate out two cups for the tailors or the disproportionate response their actions receive. 
 Politically volatile and brutalization of democracy is seen from the perspective of everyday man. An upper middle class woman who runs textile export starts subcontracting the work instead of utilizing laborers who are identified by the unions. Each character take a stand on this issue and Mistry uses the issue as a factor that motivates actions and decisions of these characters. The characters talk about politicians and their motivations in the way it affects everyday life. The politics in itself reflects its ugly face on lives of the four protagonists and we see parallels to their story. 
 As is the case in politics, there is a fight for excessive power and in this fight, people become collateral damage. It wasn't revolution. It wasn't a movement done for the sake of people. Yet everyday man paid the price without understanding why. From communal to politically motivated riots, many died and many more were injured during the turbulent times - the bystanders, street vendors, daily laborers, small business owners. Mistry's characters are directly impacted by the happenstances around them. It shows fragility of life and how awfully helpless we are because of the circumstances around us. 
 The content is powerful and the characters pull you into their world and you find yourself speaking out loud, defending some of them on their behalf. Its saddening how this balance still exist today. The tragedy doesn't seem like tragic but an eventuality that you probably saw it coming. Had it been otherwise, it would be fiction. Mistry's writing will leave you mostly depressed and/or angry. This is the third time I attempted to read this book and the first time I managed to finish it. The depth of depravity was just too much to ignore and brave through the pages. 
 A fine balance exists in the way this world operates. Many strive to ensure this balance exists by reciting misinterpreted scriptures or a tradition that was installed centuries ago. Mistry's characters tests this balance, poke at it, question it, fight it and sometimes even manage to win. Every now and then we find ourselves standing on one of the sides. The question is - do we have it in us to break through the barrier?