made to feel no better than a starving dog that tries
to ingratiate itself to her; she feels inferior even to
crows who can scavenge without begging. Lajwanti
considers maiming her child deliberately in the
hope that a disabled infant will attract more char-
ity than an able-bodied one. Although she does
not execute this macabre plan, we are left with the
impression that extreme poverty can inspire such
inhumane brutality.
In “Lost in the U.S.A.,” the urban middle classes
are also seen to be intolerant of poor people. This
time, though, the story underlines the difference
in culture between America and India. Pramila, a
middle-aged woman who lives in Bombay, visits
her son in America. Underestimating the problems
of language, Pramila attempts a foolhardy journey
on a bus only to get onto a wrong vehicle and be-
come, indeed, “Lost in the U.S.A.” A middle-class
couple do bring her home, but their charity is
given through gritted teeth. Pramila thinks that
the couple are her “new friends,” but they depart
from her as soon as is possible. Impromptu social
gatherings may be common in Pramila’s Bombay,
but she must learn that friends cannot be made so
easily in the individualistic milieu of America, es-
pecially not when barriers of class and race further
impair the chances of sympathetic comradeship.
Several stories in Dear Paramount Pictures ad-
dress the age-old theme of incomprehension
between generations. In “Mango Season,” a self-
righteous old Bombay man, Aman Lal, is treated
with contempt by a telephone company. His plan
to bribe a relevant official runs into difficulties
when it emerges that his shoddy teaching practices
in the past have hindered the now bitter man’s
education and subsequent development. When he
was teaching, Aman Lal did not comprehend the
negative effects that his pedagogical inadequacies
had on some children. In “Bombay Talkies,” one
of a number of stories that allude to India’s huge
movie-making industry, an ineffective, middle-
aged Muslim man, Hakim Khan, fights desper-
ately to protect the innocence of his 18-year-old
daughter, Salima. Angrily, Khan attacks the “ruf-
fians” and “swine” who deliberately bump against
his daughter on a busy bus. He tells Salima that
“dirty” Bombay is “far too wicked for someone
like” her. This is hugely ironic because, in fact, Sa-
lima is aroused by the attention of the men and
seeks erotic pleasure from the tactile contact with
insalubrious male strangers. The daughter’s bur-
geoning sexuality is not even imagined by her un-
comprehending father.
Several stories also feature loveless marriages.
Arranged for other family members’ convenience,
these marriages result in miserable, sometimes
brutally violent conjunctions between frustrated
men and frustrated women. In “Ramadan,” a de-
vout Muslim woman, Bilquis, and her humiliated
son, Farid, must deal with the trauma caused by
her husband’s regular philandering—and by his
willful ignoring of sacrifices important during Is-
lam’s Ramadan period. Pittalwala is careful to paint
a background here of a Bombay marred by pollu-
tion, sectarian rioting between Muslims and Hin-
dus, and harsh working and living conditions—six
taxi drivers live in a one-bedroom property. The
disastrous marriage, then, becomes a microcosm
of corruption and squalor throughout the city.
The final story “House of Cards,” features another
loveless marriage, this time set in California. Here,
Khalida, a woman effectively bought by her hus-
band by mail order from Pakistan, deals with the
revelation that her husband will not make love to
her because he is gay—he pursues homosexual
affairs, shaming her. Although Khalida’s homo-
phobic rants against her husband may cause un-
ease for the liberal reader, her decision to leave her
dishonest, unfaithful husband seems appropriate,
necessary even.
Although distracted by a newfound motiva-
tion to write short stories, Pittalwala completed
his Ph.D. He is an accomplished scientist and has
worked as a campus communications officer for
science and engineering for the University of Cali-
fornia, Riverside. He has also acquired an M.F.A. in
creative writing from the Writers’ Workshop at the
University of Iowa.
In 2004 Pittalwala won $1,000 in a short-story
competition run by Gival Press. The winning story,
“Legacy,” returns to themes explored in “House of
Cards.” The children of Indian immigrants in Cali-
fornia squabble over inheritance issues after their
father marries his gay lover in San Francisco—aPittalwala, Iqbal 245