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God on Every Wind by Farhad Sorabjee. Published in 2012 by Parthian, The Old Surgery, Napier Street, Cardigan, SA43 1ED, UK. Pp: 273. Price: £ 8.99.

The novel by the corporate lawyer-playwright starts on a somber note. We meet the protagonist, Philomena Avan DaCruz, an elderly lady, sitting facing a window, as if waiting for a visitor who will probably never arrive. Her immediate possessions are a small box given to her by her Parsi mother, Tehmina, which contains a photograph, some letters, a newspaper clipping and more importantly a broken silver necklace with a silver pendant representing a fishing dhow — apparently trivial items — all of which gather an overwhelming and poignant significance towards the end of the novel. Even the "murmuring television" which plays continually is not a means to ward off loneliness but a desperate search for news of a loved one whom she will probably never see.

The language is replete with startling metaphor and vivid images: angry clouds "prowled the horizon," the sun was "sucking solace from ponds" and "white hot lanes…shimmered." It is this quality to the prose that makes the novel a visual treat especially in Sorabjee’s descriptions of landscapes in Bombay and Africa. The novel is peppered with caustic comments. When, during the broadcast of Nehru’s freedom speech Philomena pulls the plug and causes a short circuit, Sorabjee wryly wonders what had transpired while the house was plunged into darkness: "An empire had been lost…A border appeared…Religion bloodied a country forever… Wise men hailed the birth of a nation. Others mourned the murder of it." Narayan Kenkre, a minister, who is the chief guest at a college social and who waxes eloquent about upholding the moral and social fabric of the country is exposed in the Press "grinding his ample bosom against a half naked lady." He is asked to resign and Sorabjee dryly comments that these were the halcyon days "when ministers actually resigned or were instructed to."

Not all is hunky-dory after Independence. Philomena’s father, Edson, who owned Timotio and Sons, Purveyors of Fine Timber and who conducted a very successful business prior to India’s independence is marginalized once the British leave. Under the new regime he has to beg for favors and offer bribes to a railway official whom he had once reported to the British for accepting bribes. His business is almost bankrupt and he now has sufficient money to take a taxi from the restaurant where he has entertained this corrupt official to Churchgate Station and walk from Bandra station to his residence or vice versa. Edson is not the only person who has suffered from the departure of the British. Sorabjee gives us a humorous account of Hamidbhai who cooks the biryani for Tehmina’s "Freedom Party." Hamidbhai takes the preparation of biryani very seriously indeed and Sorabjee describes in a light-hearted manner how the rice has to be tempered with the right amount of spices and the appropriate quality of potatoes used. However, this entertaining account is followed by the touching letter Hamidbhai addresses to Tehmina where he mentions that he has been threatened and is being forced to abandon Bombay which has always been his home. Sorabjee depicts the painful paradox this decent human being faces: he "has left home to go home."

Philomena is born blind but miraculously gets her sight when she is taken by a servant to visit Zubaidaji. At first, this sounds a bit farfetched and over the top but as one proceeds further into the novel one realizes that the blindness is not just literal but also metaphoric. Philomena was born to be a rebel. Whatever she wants, she gets — whether it is a Noddy book, or sex with multiple partners — and once she is satiated she will discard the interest of the moment. She disobeys her parents and flouts her sexuality much to the discomfort of her mother. She believes "seeing is feeling. Experiencing is feeling," nothing else matters. Her attitude to life is bohemian, "honest, natural and without compromise."

The relationship between Nestor (who is born in Africa and who has come to study in India) and Philomena matures in time and the light-hearted physical attraction gets transformed into something more serious. When Nestor returns to Africa, Philomena decides to follow him. However, at this stage, one is not clear whether she does this as her parents are immigrating to Hong Kong and she has no wish to accompany them; or whether she is merely in search of a new experience; or whether she follows Nestor out of love for him. That she has a great capacity to love is evident from her sorrow when Hilla, who looks after Philomena when she is a child, dies suddenly and being a non-Parsi Philomena is neither allowed so see Hilla’s face nor touch her body. It is in Africa that Philomena bears a son and learns what it is to be a mother and how much she had taken her own mother’s affection for granted. Sorabjee handles Philomena’s grief on hearing about the death of Tehmina with great sensitivity without allowing the scene to descend into melodrama.

In Africa, Nestor reunites with his childhood friend Milton and joins the rebels. Milton, as his name suggests, is blind in his love for and his loyalty to his friend. He firmly believes that "nothing beautiful was ever created out of hatred" and is quick to realize that what holds the rebels together is their unified hatred for the government which will disintegrate once their goal is achieved. As Nestor gets more involved with the rebels and, as a consequence, neglects Philomena, she craves for his affection. Her isolation is complete when her son Christopher leaves her behind and goes for further studies.

There are some fleeting cameos of recognizable personalities. Most readers will identify the 85-year-old "Minoo Masalawalla, the sprightly old editor of Voice, a tabloid at the lower and more entertaining end of the spectrum." Some, who have studied at Elphinstone College may recognize Miss Wadia, (erroneously once referred to as Mrs Wadia), an English professor who has returned from Oxford in 1940 and is still obsessed with "the sordid saga of the Oxford Student Union’s dastardly efforts to hound her by sending an ambulance all the way to Bombay to spy on her."

The title has been borrowed from William Blake’s The Four Zoas. Blake believes it is an easy thing "to see a god on every wind and a blessing on every blast." Experience which results in wisdom is to be highly valued as "it is bought with the price / Of all that a man hath, his house, his wife, his children." How true this is of Philomena’s journey through life.