Seasons of Friendship by Perveen Nadirshaw Tayabali. Published in 2023 by the author, 14, Hauxton Road, Little Shelford, Cambridge, CB22 5HJ, United Kingdom. Pp: 253. Price: Not mentioned.
Perveen Nadirshaw Tayabali’s (pictured) debut novel Seasons of Friendship is set in Bombay and deals with two families bound together by strong threads of friendship. In her novel, Cambridge-based painter Tayabali traces the relationship between the members of these families over a period of nearly 40 years. The children grow, marry, procreate; Tayabali skillfully weaves these friendships with their ups and downs, their laughter and tears, falling in and out of love. As an artist it is evident that Tayabali’s skills are not restricted to painting alone. With her words, she paints this equally beautiful and sensitive novel.
Though most of the events Tayabali describes in the novel take place in the Bombay of the 1980s, Seasons of Friendship begins on an innocuous note in November 1943 with two friends, Hirjee Dhanjibhoy, aged 12, and Rustam Cooper, aged nine.
Tayabali sets out the characters of these two boys at the very start. Rustam is fun-loving, easygoing, mischievous; the novel begins with his putting salt into his sister Daulat’s tea while she is entertaining her beau. He does this to exact revenge for having his mouth organ confiscated by his mother after Daulat complained he was playing the instrument to annoy her and her boyfriend. He affectionately calls his friend "Boka” as Hirjee prefers to read rather than play "catch” on the beach. Hirjee is shy and withdrawn but faithful and constant. The story moves more than 40 years later, when both the lads have grown into men and raised families.
Rustam suffers from a heart attack very early in the novel. The first person Rustam’s wife Marina instructs her daughter Amy to call (after the doctor) is Hirjee who arrives post haste with his son Rayomand. Once again, Tayabali quickly reinforces the affection between the two friends as Hirjee cannot even wait for the lift at the Breach Candy Hospital and clambers up the two floors panting.
Rustam remains irresponsible and callous till the very end. He is unfaithful to his wife; makes foolish investments without consulting her and against the better counsel of Hirjee which leaves the family in penury.
Hirjee, true to his character as seen when a boy, remains steadfast and responsible. He took care of Perin, his wife, when she was dying and now takes on the responsibility of the Coopers once Rustam is no more. He pays for Marina’s treatment in hospital when she suffers from pneumonia. He is always there for Marina — whom he has loved since the first time they met — and hopes that they will have a future together.
Once again Tayabali creates a convincingly complex portrait of Hirjee’s son Rayomand who confuses sexual attraction for love and has a tempestuous relationship with a beautiful but shallow and promiscuous film star, Anjali. But there is a softer and more rational aspect to Rayomand’s nature as well. He is very protective of the Coopers, and especially of Amy who is very much in love with him despite the eight-year difference in their ages. Though in his saner moments he sees what a wonderful person Amy is and how well they get on together, his obsession with Anjali is overpowering and self-destructive.
Tayabali tells a gripping tale centered round these two families. The plot is tightly woven and the writing flawless. She uses her skills as an artist to conjure landscapes which are so evocatively described that the reader feels he/she is actually witnessing the scenery and is immersed in the location. However, her greatest skill is in the creation of her characters. Hints which are given early in the novel are gradually developed.
Though the novel is so skillfully written and narrated, it would have been even more readable had Tayabali managed to weave the back stories into the plot without the use of italics, which occasionally seems obtrusive. Also, she could have explained the Gujarati words in the text itself, rather than providing them by way of a glossary. It is strange she decided to put the list of characters at the end of the book rather than the beginning as usually is the case.
Though Tayabali may not have visited Bombay often after her departure for England, her memories of the city are very vivid and lively and never strike a false note. We hope that this will be the first of several more novels in the future.
FIRDAUS GANDAVIA
Gandavia holds a doctorate in English literature and is a retired chartered accountant. He is a compulsive reader of fiction.