Once upon a time the Raja of Savatthi called his servant and said: “Go and gather together in one place all the men of the capital who were born blind and show them an elephant”. The servant did as he was told. To one blind man he presented one ear of the elephant, to anther its trunk, to another a foreleg, to the other three either the belly, the tail or the tuft of the tail. When the six blind men had felt the elephant, the Raja asked each of them: “Tell me, what sort of thing is an elephant?” Thereupon the man who was still holding the ear answered: “Sir, an elephant is like a fan”. The others said that the elephant was like a tube, a pillar, a wall, a rope or a brush. Now illuminated, the blind men no longer needed to beg. With such specialised knowledge they were qualified to establish a school of elephantology. The whole world would beat a path. But how to present to that world the arcane laws of elephantology? A fan, a tube, a pillar, a wall, a rope, a brush? They meditated, they discussed. Chaos resulted. Cooperation was impossible.

Based on the idea of the Canadian writer, Patricia Kathleen Page, this is a new version of an old Buddhist canon about human ignorance. Each of the sight-challenged experts, mistakes the parts for the whole, just as today adherents of different elephant management practices, students of different scientific disciplines engaged with the life of captive elephants or representatives of animal welfare organisations claim a firm hold on truth, while disparaging or ignoring other findings and opinions.

MISA or the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (1971) was created on the grounds that it gave the government enhanced power to deal with threats posed to national security owing to relations between India and Pakistan, but was also deployed to curb the Naxalbari movement at that time. It was revamped during the 1975–77 Emergency to allow the government to arrest individuals without declaring charges. Tens of thousands of politicians from the oposition were arrested under the Defense of India Rules and the MISA. Efforts at controlling public resistance included moves against factory unionism through laws such as ESMA. The Essential Services Maintenance Act of 1981 or ESMA allowed the government to ban strikes and lockouts in sixteen economic sectors that provide critical goods and services.

Musth Bulls

Both the Asian and African elephants possess a skin gland in their temples, just above the cheekbone between the eye and external ear opening. This temporal gland is periodically active in males and females. In female Asian elephants temporal gland is active for a very short period of a few hours during mating and during parturition (Kurt, 1992). In adult Asian elephant bulls, musth is considered as a period during which testes and temporal gland are extremely enlarged (Chandrasekharan et al., 1992), testosterone level highly raised (e.g. Jainudeen et al., 1972; Cooper et al., 1990; Lincoln and Ratnasooriya, 1996), and sexual behaviour including regular masturbations, olfactory marking and aggression towards other bulls very pronounced (e.g. Kurt, 1974, 1992, 1995; Rasmussen and Schulte, 1998). The physiological changes during musth include blood acidosis, increased lipid catalysis and fluctuating, often greatly elevated serum, androgen and ketone concentrations. These alterations are characterised in the changed chemical compositions of breath, urine and secretions from the temporal gland (Rasmussen & Krishnamurthy, 2002). The chemical composition continually changes throughout the musth period. Musth is progressively assessed by increased amount of foul smelling, 2 nonanone. In young bulls the first musth periods are characterized by sporadic episodes of aggressive behaviour and fluctuating levels of serum testosterone and dihydrotestosterone, and the secretion of their temporal gland is composed of sweet smelling alcohols, ketones and esters (Rasmussen & Riddle, 2002).

This chapter provides an overview of Rohinton Mistry's fiction. It maps aspects of plot and theme as they evolve within the texts, while indicating continuities – of theme and concerns – from one text to the other.

Tales from Firozsha Baag

This short-story collection was published in 1987. It consists of twelve short stories, each dealing with aspects of the lives of the residents of Firozsha Baag, an apartment complex where Parsis are in the majority.

Most of the stories in this volume are marked by the use of dialogic narrative modes as they introduce the voices, tones and rhythms of the community's language and its social practices. These multi-voiced and dialogic narrative modes enable multiple perspectives within each of the stories, thus effecting a potentially post-modernist explosion.

Some of the themes in the collection are:

• Tradition and memory

• Nostalgia for the past

• Faith

• Minority rights

• The old

• The dilemmas of the young

• Migration

Each story in this collection is complete in itself. However, the stories also form a pattern of inter-references that creates an impression of familiarity as the reader gradually gets a sense of a close-knit community. The limits of the Khodadad Building are physical boundaries symbolizing the cultural barriers woven around the Parsi community because of their ritualistic beliefs and their beliefs about the self as it fits into the community.

1983 First prize, Hart House literary contest, ‘One Sunday’ from Tales from Firozsha Baag

1984 First prize, Hart House literary contest, ‘Auspicious Occasions’ from Tales from Firozsha Baag

1985 Annual Contributors' Prize, Canadian Fiction Magazine

1991 Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlisted), Such a Long Journey

1991 Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction (Canada), Such a Long Journey

1992 Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book), Such a Long Journey

1992 Smithbooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award, Such a Long Journey

1995 Giller Prize (Canada), A Fine Balance

1996 Booker Prize (shortlisted), A Fine Balance

1996 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, A Fine Balance

1996 Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book), A Fine Balance

1997 Irish Times International Fiction Prize (shortlisted), Family Matters

2002 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction (shortlisted), Family Matters

2002 Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize (joint winner with Pascal Khoo Thwe), Family Matters

2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlisted), Family Matters

2004 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Festival (shortlisted), Family Matters

Contemporary Indian Writers in English (CIWE) presents critical commentaries on some of the best-known names in the genre. With the high visibility of Indian writing in English in academic, critical, pedagogic and readerly circles, there is a perceivable demand for lucid yet rigorous introductions to several of its authors and genres. Indian Writing in English, in each of its genres – fiction, poetry, non-fiction and drama – has a diversity of themes, forms and styles. CIWE titles explore precisely this rich diversity. Attention to the narrative form of the novels or poems is accompanied by a detailed reading of the central themes in the author's works. The plan of the series is to provide as complete a survey of an author's oeuvre as possible, within a manageable length.

CIWE seeks to strike a balance between providing an introductory study and a critical appraisal of the writer's work. The former serves the informed, non-specialist reader, while the latter suits the academic essay/seminar/assignment in literature classrooms. The theoretical approaches are wide-ranging – from structural analysis of the narrative to feminist literary criticism. The entire oeuvre of the author is examined, so that every text in the series can be used as a comprehensive introduction to the author as a whole. Every text in the series provides biographical information, close textual analysis, a survey of the author's chief thematic concerns, bibliographic information for the ones who wish to pursue further reading, and a comprehensive list of topics for discussion. The last is meant to aid further reflection on the author or text, and is indicative of the potential every author in the Indian Writing in English ‘canon’ possesses.

According to recent estimates about 15,000 Asian elephants live in captivity. Their high number represents a quarter to a third of the total population of Elephas maximus according to the prevailing estimates of the number of surviving wild conspecifics. About 14,000 captive Asian elephants live in the countries of origin and the rest in western zoos and circuses.

Numerous reports have considered captive Asian elephants as ‘domesticated’ animals. However, most of the elephants living in captivity have been wild caught and a large number of elephants that have been bred in the range countries are offsprings of mating between captive females and wild males. Although captive elephants have existed since 3,500 years in close contact with man, they have never been the subject of sustained captive breeding programmes, nor have they been selected for particular characteristics as it was, and still is, the case with truly domesticated animals such as cattle, horses or dogs. The genetic make up of all timber and temple elephants, zoo and circus elephants has therefore not been changed and they are wild animals in captivity and should be treated accordingly.

For numerous animal welfare organisations the suffering of captive elephants has become the main subject for their campaigns, and sophisticated minds conclude that ‘elephants do not belong to captivity’, well knowing that 15,000 elephants cannot be set free and brought back to the remaining pockets of jungle, where the last wild elephants survive in habitats which have become increasingly smaller due to encroachment by a fast growing human population.

It is impossible for anyone to read Mistry's fiction and not be aware of the depth to which it is embedded in the political background of post-Independence India. One can even say that his novels constitute rare fictional explorations of important political events that contributed to the shaping of the nation after it attained independence in 1947. However, it is important to stress that although politics influence the direction of the narrative in all three novels, they do not dominate the telling. The author is more concerned with the repercussions of these political conditions on the people.

Politics form an important subtext to the main action of all three novels. This preoccupation moves increasingly closer to contemporary times as Mistry tackles first, in Such a Long Journey, the Bangladeshi war with Pakistan, second, Indira Gandhi's declaration of a State of Emergency which affects the livelihood of the tailors of A Fine Balance and finally, in –Family Matters, the impact Hindu fundamentalist agitation and the post-Babri Masjid riots had on the life of the ordinary Indian.

There are two ways to read politics: first, in the sense of state and national politics and the second, in terms of cultural politics which focus on the role of the individual within the family, the community and the nation. This chapter intends to highlight both the national politics that form the background to Mistry's fiction and his cultural politics.

In addition to politics and alterity, Mistry's fiction foregrounds numerous other themes.

• Tradition and memory

• The public realm

• Age

• Women, family and society

This chapter explores these recurrent themes in his work.

Tradition and Memory

Nostalgia is a recurrent theme in Mistry's fiction. This nostalgia is generally for a past way of life, forever lost to the main characters. It is occasionally manifest in the idealization of religious rituals which are seen as a way to preserve the past and prevent the disintegration of the family and the community. It also takes the form of reminiscing about childhood which is seen as a more stable and reassuring world than the present. These reminiscences, presented in the stories of various characters in both the short stories and the novels, are linked to the changed circumstances of the Parsi community following Independence. This politico-cultural nostalgia helps to create a sense of loss about the changed circumstances of the characters in both domestic and public spheres.

The nostalgia for bygone days is echoed by many characters in the novels. We first see it in Tehmina from ‘One Sunday’ in Tales from Firozsha Baag. However, it seems that at this stage in his writing, Mistry is still ironical about this ‘lost Eden’ attitude. Though Tehmina is presented as a victim of circumstances, she is also a political caricature with her cataract, her sloppy duster-coat and her irrational fears.

The Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage and its Elephants

The Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage is situated in the Kegalle District, some 80 km northeast of Colombo, north of the city of Kegalle, or about half-way between Colombo, the present capital of Sri Lanka, and Kandy, the last of several historical capitals of the country. The orphanage was established in 1975 with the aim to give young orphaned elephants, which are found on the island, a safe home. In 1978 the orphanage was taken over by the National Zoological Gardens from the Department of Wildlife Conservation. The orphanage encompasses an area of about 9 ha of mainly coconut plantations. With a population of 70 captive elephants in 2002 the Pinnawela herd is one of the largest permanent concentrations of captive Asian elephants in the world next to the camp of Maesa in Thailand's Chang Mai Province with 85 elephants in 2000 (Tipprasert, 2002) and the Temple of Guruvajoor in Kerala with about 65 elephants in 2002.

Population and population fluctuation

In 1975 the Pinnawela population consisted of 10 elephants, in 1986 there were 32 elephants, 53 in 1993, 56 in 1997, 64 elephants in 1998 (Kurt, 2001a), and 70 in 2002 (Rajapaksa et al., 2002). Between 1983 and 2003, 22 elephants were born at Pinnawela by 8 orphaned and 3 captive born females. One of the males was born in the Dehiwala Zoo in 1991.

Tuskers and Tuskless Bulls in Asian Elephants

History and population genetics of a man-made phenomenon

In Asian elephants tuskless bulls or maknas (called ‘aliyas’ or ‘pussas’ in Sri Lanka) are generally rare and their frequency hardly exceeded 10% of the sub-adult and adult male population in the nineteenth century. The only exception is Sri Lanka, where between 90% to 95% of the subadult and adult bulls have been reported to be maknas since the late sixteenth century. In his Manual of the Mammals of Sri Lanka, Major W.W.A. Phillips has put forward three hypotheses to explain this phenomenon: (1) Tuskers and maknas belong to two different races present in Sri Lanka (2) Elephants from Sri Lanka and those on the Indian subcontinent belong to different races or subspecies. According to this hypothesis, all tuskers in Sri Lanka are supposed to be descendants of escaped or liberated tuskers imported from the Asian mainland. (3) The high frequency of maknas in Sri Lanka is a result of massive capture of tusk bearing bulls.

Modern studies have proven the first hypothesis to be invalid. In Sri Lanka there exists, if at all, only one separate subspecies, namely Elephas maximus. The second hypothesis that tuskers were introduced by man into a population originally characterised by a natural lack of tuskers is highly questionable. Tuskers from Myanmar and the Indian subcontinent have been donated to Sri Lankan kings and temples at least since the third century BC (e.g. Geiger, 1973; Digby, 1971).