by Anosh IraniDoubleday Canada
~ Review in Halifax Herald, August 2010
Over the last centuries, Zoroastrians have fled religious persecution in Iran, many of them to India. The essence of the Zoroastrian religion is that one must actively participate in life, maintaining good thoughts, good words, and good deeds in order to be happy.
Anosh Irani’s latest book, Dahanu Road, focuses on the Irani clan who leave Iran and settle in Dahanu near Bombay. They have prospered in their new land, becoming landowners which gives them wealth and status. Their lives are intrinsically linked with the Warlis, a tribal underclass who work the land without expectation.
Shapur Irani prospers in India, but as a young man he swindles land from Ganpat, a member of the Warlis tribal group. He creates a flourishing plantation of chickoo trees which he badly wants to pass to his grandson. But the past does not go away.
Kusum, Ganpat’s daughter, is married to a drunk who beats her. Zairos, Sanpur’s grandson, becomes obsessed with her, and as their forbidden affair deepens, lives begin to unravel. But all is not as it seems. Zairos’s father and grandfather harbour regrets which keep their souls in torment.
When Ganpat hangs himself, he sets in motion a series of events and remembrances which echo through the generations. Secrets long hidden begin to surface and, regardless of intention, good deeds are coupled heavily with bad.
Anosh Irani moves back and forth through the generations skillfully. His writing is visual and intense, and he creates his flawed characters with humor and compassion as they struggle with changing times and cultural mores, while trying to survive the ghosts of the past. Irani gives us a fascinating and exotic story which takes place within a little known historical context of Iran/Indian history.
