‘Still Lives’: Reshma Ruia’s novel shows how the loss of home sometimes leads to a loss of self
The central character of Ruia’s novel is an Indian family that has lived in Manchester, England for nearly three decades.
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If you too had mandatory art classes in middle school, the term “still life” is likely to evoke images of tables laden with bowls of fruit, pitchers of milk, vases overflowing with flowers, all seemingly benign and suffused with a sense of changelessness. Scratch the surface and what becomes obvious is an artificial abundance, an illusion of permanence, sealed off from decay.
Enduring life abroad
Reshma Ruia’s Still Lives attempts to tell the story of an immigrant family in Manchester in much the same way. PK Malik, an only child of middle-class parents in Bombay, leaves the stability of home for a textile printing scholarship at Delaware. A layover at Manchester turns into a business opportunity, anchoring him to a life of routine and sameness. Soon to turn 55, PK is the obverse of the fairytale immigrant story.
When he started out, he was touted as the “new face of immigration in England – an employer bringing jobs to deprived areas, not a scrounger on social benefits.” Three decades later, the business is past its prime, his aspirations of success remain unfulfilled, and domestic life is a bore. His wife, Geeta, like scores of other women (in fiction and real life), uprooted from home and pushed into an...
