Part Two: If Today Be Sweet by Thrity Umrigar

The entire narrative of this novel revolves around one choice and how a sixty-six year old woman, Tehmina Sethna, comes to make that choice.  She is choosing the place to live out the remainder of her life, whether in Bombay or Mumbai India, by herself in her country of origin, or in Ohio with her son and family and new friends. The book constantly weighs and compares the two places against each other. She "expands the fabric of community in suburban America by stubbornly holding on to her own Indianness" (Umrigar, 2007, p. 9).  Her actions to stay true to her identities is not received well by her family. 

The way our identities shape our major decisions in life is a larger thought-provoking theme for readers. Several moments shape her final decision to go or stay and they all relate back to her identity. One guiding narrative of her life is the Parsi account of how her Zoroastrian Persian ancestors came to India and proved themselves.  

Every Parsi child who had ever drunk at her mother's breast knew the legend of how the small, tired group of Persians fleeing Islamic persecution in Iran had arrived in the small Indian town of Sanjan seeking political refuge.  The Hindu ruler, unable to make this group of Farsi-speaking foreigners understand that he couldn't possibly accommodate any newcomers, had greeted them on the beach with a glass of milk filled to the brim. No vacancy, the full glass was supposed to symbolize.  But the Zoroastrian head priest was a brilliant man. Removing a small quantity of sugar from their supplies, he dissolved the sugar in the glass, careful not to spill a drop of milk. This was his famous answer--the answer that became a source of pride and a blueprint for future generations. Like sugar in milk, our presence will sweeten the flavor of your life, without displacing you or causing you any trouble. And so they were allowed to stay and become the Parsis of India.

The arts around her also bring her words of advice.  Instructed and influenced by the verse-master Omar Khayám, she takes the following lines to heart:

Ah, fill the Cup:--what boots it to repeat

How Time is slipping underneath our Feet:

Unborn TOMORROW and dead YESTERDAY,

Why fret about them if TODAY be sweet! (p. 277)

With her focus on the moment she is within, she is able to work toward her final choice even when those around her impatiently wait for her to make a decision.

 Reference

Umrigar, T. (2008). If today be sweet. NY: Harper Perennial.