Interpreter of Maladies Summary and

Analysis of A Real Durwan

SUMMARY

Boori Ma, an increasingly frail 64-year-old woman, is the durwan (live-in

doorkeeper) to an apartment building of Calcutta. Each day, she trudges up

the stairs, lugging her reed broom and flimsy mattress behind her. As she
sweeps, her raspy voice details the losses she has suffered because of
Partition. She was separated from her husband, two daughters, and home.
Tied to the end of her sari is a set of skeleton keys belonging to coffer boxes
that housed her valuables. She chronicles the easier times in her life, the
feasts and servants and marble floor of her home. Each litany ends with the
same phrase, Believe me, dont believe me.
The details of her journey across the border shift in each retelling. But her
tales were so impassioned that no one could dismiss her outright. Each
resident of the building had a different interpretation of her tales. Mr.
Dalal of the third floor cant fathom how a landowner ends up sweeping
stairs, wives think she is the victim of changing times, Mr.
Chatterjee believes she simply mourns her family and wraps herself in
illusion. Nevertheless, her tales harmed no one and she was entertaining.
Best of all, she kept the stairs spotlessly clean and the outside world at bay.
She routed away any suspicious person with a few slaps of her broom.
Though there was nothing to steal from the apartments, the residents were
comforted by her presence.
Boori Ma suffers from sleepless nights. Mrs. Dalal, who has a soft spot for
Boori Ma, comes to the roof to dry lemon peels. Boori Ma asks her to inspect
her back for the mites she assumes torment her in her sleep. Mrs. Dalal finds
nothing. Boori Ma talks again about her lost comforts such comforts Mrs.
Dalal cant dream of. The women commiserate and Mrs. Dalal offers to buy
the woman new bedding. Later rains turn Boori Mas mattress into yogurt, so
she focuses on the offer of new bedding.
Boori Ma is allowed to wander in and out of the apartments, offered tea and
crackers for help with cleaning of childrens activities. She knows better than
to sit on the furniture, so she crouches in doorways and takes in life from a
distance. She visits The Dalals. Mr. Dalal asks her to help tote basins to his
apartment. Mrs. Dalal is not pleased. A basin does not make up for not
having a phone or a fridge, or other amenities promised but not delivered.
The argument rings through the building and Boori Ma does not ask about
bedding. She sleeps on newspaper that night.
Mr. Dalal installs one basin the first of the building in his home and
another in the foyer for all of his neighbors to use. Instead of being moved by

the gesture, the residents of the building are awash in resentment. Why did
they have to share, why were the Dalals the only ones who could improve
the building, why couldnt they buy their own basins? To appease his wife
after their argument, it is rumored that Mr. Dalal purchased lavish shawls and
soaps. He takes her away for ten days and Mrs. Dalal assures Boori Ma that
she has not forgotten her promise of renewed bedding.
While the Dalals are away, the other wives plan renovations and the stairs
become choked by workmen. Unable to sweep, Boori Ma keeps to her roof,
keeping an eye on her dwindling set of newspapers and wondering when she
had her last glass of tea. When she grows restless of the roof, she wanders
around the town spending her lifes savings on treats. She feels a tug at the
end of her sari and finds her purse and skeleton keys gone. When she returns
to the building, she finds the basin has been torn out of the wall.
The residents carry her up to the roof and accuse her of telling robbers about
the new basin. She tries to convince them, but after all of her lies, they say,
how can they believe her now? The residents seek the advice of Mr.
Chatterjee. He comes to the conclusion that the building needs a real durwan
to keep their valuables safe. They toss Boori Ma out of on the street
muttering, as her figure recedes, believe me, believe me.
ANALYSIS
A Real Durwan is primarily a story about class and the resentment it can
inspire. Boori Ma, a poor woman forced to sweep stairwells in her old age,
comforts herself with tales of her previous riches. Whether or not these
anecdotes are true, they have the same effect. They are an oasis for her, a
way to escape the reality of her life for just a moment. When the Dalals
install the basins in the building, their neighbors react with jealousy instead
of gratitude. They rail against the Dalals for trying to show up the rest of the
building. Mrs. Dalal, it is rumored, doesnt think the basin is classy enough.
At the end, Boori Ma is cast out of the building, blamed for the theft. Mr.
Chatterjee says that they need a real durwan for their building; his desire to
promote the illusion of the building's upward mobility is a fatal punishment
for Boori Ma. She is a reminder of their true place in the social structure, and
she is a reminder that her fate can await any of them. Casting her out is
casting out the truth of their meager lives. Dismissing her means they can
never be her.
Partition again is a theme here. In the exile of Hindus from Muslim lands and
vice versa, millions of people were left homeless. Boori Ma, though she may
be lying about her previous wealth, is proven to be a refugee by her accent.
As in When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine, Partition feels arbitrary. By focusing
in on the life of one person affected by the treaty, the reader can glean the
human toll. Though the caste system the stratification of Indians into ethnic

or class categorizations and its notion of untouchables was banned in 1950,

class and race made Boori Ma untouchable.
The structure of this story is built upon irony. Almost as if in an O. Henry
story, Boori Ma is promised new bedding on the precise day that Mr. Dalal
brings home the basin, and the precise day that her old bedding is ruined.
The basin and the ensuing fight between Mr. and Mrs. Dalal pushes Boori
Mas needs to the side. Mrs. Dalal says that she has not forgotten about her
bedding before she leaves for her vacation but she does not arrive home in
time to save Boori Ma, let alone to provide new bedding. Yes, Mrs. Dalal is
considered flaky, but Boori Ma is cast out when she is out of town and unable
to protect her. The irony here less a dramatic device than a comment on the
fickle nature of life.
Rumor and gossip also shape the story. Boori Mas insistence that she is
telling the truth, despite the details she changes at will, is at first a source of
comedy for the residents. They think that she is entertaining even though
the tales are sorrowful. When the Dalals buy the basin, their neighbors
gossip about the fights that take place behind closed doors. Rumor becomes
fact when the Dalals leave for vacation. This blurring of lines between truth
and gossip can be blamed for Boori Mas punishment at the end. Since the
wisest man in the building, Mr. Chatterjee, has not picked up a newspaper in
decades, word of mouth and hearsay are taken as gospel. In a way, this is a
reflection of society as the truth is often elusive.
Objects take on important meaning in A Real Durwan. The basin becomes a
symbol of both wealth and resentment. The skeleton keys tied to the end of
Boori Mas sari are both remembrances of her past life and a totem of her
strength. They reassure her. When they are stolen, she is thrown out shortly
thereafter. Boori Mas bedding, she believes, is full of mites that keep her up
at night. Though the mites are a figment of her imagination and a
manifestation of her worries, the bedding can be read as her livelihood. Once
destroyed, her life slips away.

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Interpreter of Maladies Summary
Character List
Glossary
Themes
Quotes and Analysis
Summary And Analysis
A Temporary Matter
When Mr. Pirzada Came To Dine
Interpreter of Maladies
A Real Durwan
Sexy
Mrs. Sen's
This Blessed House
The Treatment of Bibi Haldar
The Third and Final Continent
The Partition of India, 1947
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