dollops of destiny

a master story-teller, a fascinating account of the lives of the people that are part of the canvas of Rohinton Mistry...
what makes this book partcularly unputdownable is the reality of the characters... Dina, Nusswan, Ruby, Maneck, Om, Ishvar, Rajaram, Beggarmaster, Ibrahim, Shankar, Aban, Farokh, Mrs Grewal... all are some or the other person whom we have encountered in our lives... they are all living somewhere in our minds and Mistry just tickles that imagination to make them come alive, go through what they do, shaping their attitudes every single day in neat strokes, almost like that of a painter...
while the 614 pages of the book flies past, what i could not, despite my best efforts, agree on was the climax... while taming of Dina from an independent self to accepting the inevitable dominance of Nusswan is acceptable, why did Ishvar and Om have to end up as beggars? and why did Maneck have to do what he did? was it an attempt on Mistry's part to tell us that idealistic souls just end as Maneck has? that all people just do not accept destiny... i am at a loss to understand whether he killed hope for his readers or made them more realistic...
but read the book you must... for its style, for the weave, for the language, for the intricacies and nuances of how people change and rationalise that change... that is, in essence, the fine balance... possibly it is because Maneck could not rationalise Om and Ishvar's beggarhood or the fatal finish of Avinash and his sisters that prompted him to do what he did... i am mulling this question in my mind as i go about my day, with a faint ache... and am loving it...
once you have read the book, tell me whether you agreed the way the characters matured and eventually ended.