BSE : Bhoot, Shaadi aur Entertainment by Rashmi Irani. Published in 2020 by Notion Press, No. 8, 3rd Cross Street, CIT Colony, Mylapore, Madras, 600004. Pp: 52. Price: Rs 125.
What is striking about Rashmi Irani’s (pictured) BSE : Bhoot, Shaadi aur Entertainment is that she adopts the point of view of her husband, Rayomand; the novella is seen and narrated from the male perspective. Rayomand introduces us to the members of his dysfunctional family: his father, Behram, is a gambler totally oblivious of the fact that he has a family to support; his mother Jer is considered as mentally ill and schizophrenic but Rayomand is convinced she communicates with ghosts; and, finally, a brother, Shavir, aged 25, is a wastrel. A bit of a drifter himself, Rayomand has dabbled with movies, modeling, airlines and the merchant navy. He finally settles down as a representative of the information technology giant IBM and is assigned to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
In a lighthearted manner, Rashmi describes her courtship with Rayomand while studying for her masters in business administration in Poona, the first meeting between their parents and the subsequent marriage. In a similar fashion, she describes Rayomand’s night shift at the BSE where he is convinced he has encountered a ghost.
It is strange that Rashmi should choose to have conversations between Parsi family members in Hindi. This does not ring true. The novel swings from one absurd situation to another. Some of it is realistic and some of it, as the title suggests, a ghost story. The novella is filled with one incident after another. No effort is made to develop characters who are credible. The ending is not built up or convincing and is dismissed in a few pages.
It is rather ambitious to deal with all three themes — bhoot (ghost), shaadi (wedding), and entertainment in a matter of 52 pages. Maybe Rashmi could have concentrated on one of the three elements in the title and made the novella a bit more coherent and convincing. F. G.