Swimming Lessons by Rohinton Mistry

Swimming Lessons by Rohinton Mistry

Many Americans are under the impression that India is composed of majority Hindus and minority Muslims, with little understanding of the true ethnic diversity that exists in India. The impression that many westerners have of India is based on a partial understanding of the origins of the caste system, some information about Gandhi, and very little information about the interrelationship between British imperialism in Africa and India. In Swimming Lessons, Mistry focuses much of his attention on the Parsis. The Parsis are practitioners of Zoroastrianism. They make up a very small religious minority in India, though they have a much larger presence in some small communities. For example, in Swimming Lessons, many of the main characters that recur in the short stories are Parsis. Furthermore, as one might expect, when some of these characters immigrate to North America, they have a different immigrant experience than Indians from different cultural backgrounds, although the reader is called upon to fill in much of the compare/contrast from his or her own experience.

The title of the book is full of interesting imagery. How one feels about swimming lessons may relate a lot to how one feels about water. A swimming lesson could be a pleasant introduction to a warm and safe sanctuary, or an abrupt life-saving lesson devoid of any joy or comfort. The experiences of the characters in the book, especially those as they move to North America, mirror the idea of swimming lessons. It seems that many of the characters expect a gradual introduction into Western society; to gradually ease into the water and learn how to swim. They take their preconceived notions with them to the West. For example, in India, especially in heavily Parsis communities, the people exhibit a bigoted disdain for non-Parsis people. One character even refuses to use the bathroom in his own temple, and, disgusted by its appearance, convinces himself that non-Parsis must have soiled it, despite the fact that only members of his own community are allowed in the temple. When coming to the West, these people are confronted by racism that is largely based on dark skin color, and which entirely disregards any of the class-based distinctions that they may have believed to be the norm while in India. The same disdain that the darker characters experienced throughout the short stories, which was somewhat mitigated by the influx of darker immigrants from South India, is levied at all immigrants when they come to America. In a sense, these characters are tossed in the water, and given the option of sinking or swimming. Life is not so much a swimming lesson as it is a survival lesson.

Moreover, it is important to read these stories with an understanding of the diaspora that was occurring in the Indian community at that time. First, there was an internal diaspora; Indians were fleeing rural communities for urban communities because of job opportunities. Therefore, many Indians were experiencing an abrupt break with traditional family and community structures. It is also important to understand that this diaspora occurred before the established Indian communities that now thrive in North America. Therefore, early immigrants had to create their own sense of home.