Multiculturalism in Rohinton

Mistry’s “Swimming Lessons”

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
When you finish reading “Swimming Lessons”
surely there will be a smile on your mouth.
The story itself is enjoyable on its own. But
let’s analyse it from the multicultural point of
view and you will discover new meanings that
perhaps you hadn’t noticed.

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
The way to take advantage of this presentation
is reading the story first.
I will ask you some questions; try to answer
them before clicking to read my own answer.
As this is postmodernism, more than one
answer is possible, whenever it is well
founded!

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
Let’s start

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
If we speak about “multiculturalism”, it means
that we will find different cultures involved.
Could you name them? I have seen three
directly related to the narrator!
Great! Indian, Parsi and Canadian.

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
So we have the narrator (named Kersi), of Parsi
origin, who was born in India, and who
emigrated to Canada.
Do you know who the Parsi people were?
If you read the ANA (p. 1072), “Parsis are
Zoroastrians who, centuries ago, immigrated to India
from Persia (now Iran) to escape persecution.”

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
 Knowing that the narrator belongs to the
Zoroastrian religion, could you find any
examples of it in the story?
Very clearly:
(His mother to his father, p. 1079): “Remind him he is a
Zoroastrian; (…) and tell him to say prayers and
do kusti at least twice a day.”
.

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
That “kusti” she refers to is a ritual which must be practised
twice a day, as follows:
The Kushti or Nirang-i Kushti, or girdle formula, is a religious rite
which a Zoroastrian man or woman ought to perform every time
the hands have been washed, whether for the sake of cleanliness,
or in preparation for prayer.
After that, they continue with an ablution, or Padyab, which
consists of washing the exposed parts of the skin while
reciting a chant. You can check the whole ritual at
https://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Religions/iranian/Zarathusht
rian/kushti_ritual.htm

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
Do you think that Kersi follows the Zoroastrian
religion in Canada?
Well, his mother makes a very specific reference to it:
”when she had asked him if he needed new sudras he said not
to take any trouble because the Zoroastrian Society of Ontario
imported them from Bombay for their members, and this
sounded like a story he was making up.” (p. 1079)

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
We know that sudra is a special shirt of nine
seams worn just next to the skin made of
cotton and white in colour. On such a sudra
round the waist is girded the kusti.
If you wish to know more about the ZSO this is
their website:
https://zso.org/

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
Then, in the chronological line, the story
starts with a little boy (the first-person
narrator), living in India, but belonging to the
Parsi community.
Do you think they were integrated in Indian
society? Can you find instances of it in the
story?

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
 “Most Indians swim like fish. I’m an exception to the rule.” (p.
1077)

“Then there was Coconut Day, which was never as popular as

Ganesh Chaturthi. From a bystander’s viewpoint, coconut
chucked into the sea provide as much as a spectacle.” (p.
1078)

He speaks about himself as a “bystander”.

I wouldn’t say they were integrated!

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
How is the sea of Chaupatty beach in Bombay
described?
Mainly, as “filthy”.
Let’s go further!
Usually, water is a metaphor for purification
and rebirth.

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
Here you are a photo of the Chaupatty beach
at the time:

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
What is the conclusion we can draw from the
fact that he was unsuccessful to learn to swim
in that dirty sea, from a multicultural point of
view?

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
Good for you! You have drawn your own
conclusion.
Mine is that Chaupatty Sea represents Indian
society. He was unable to assimilate that
culture, and that culture didn’t accept him,
either.

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
Now we have Kersi in Canada.
Could you say he is assimilated to the new
culture? Try to find examples!

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
A clue!
What about the two women who are wearing
bikinis in the swimming pool? Is it something
which usually happens in India?
Not at all! Kersi spies them, like a teenager:
“I pray that the heat and haze make her forget, when it’s time
to turn over, that the straps are undone.” (p. 1076)

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
And what’s the image Kersi wants to project in
his fantasy before the first lesson, when he is
trying on the swimming-trunks?
“(…) a gorgeous woman in the class for non-swimmers, at
whose sight I will be instantly aroused, and she, spying the
shape of my desire, will look me straight in the eye with her
intentions; she will come home with me, to taste the pleasures
of my delectable Asian brown body (…)” (p. 1078)

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
And very clearly, what’s the attitude of the
three boys before Kersi starts the swimming
lessons?
Racist:
“One of them holds his nose. The second begins to hum,
under his breath: Paki, Paki, smell like curry. The third says to
the first two: pretty soon all the water’s to taste of curry.” (p.
1080)

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
Summing up, in these three examples we
discover Kersi having such a different sexual
education from the Canadian culture; he
himself trying to take sexual advantage of his
image of a “sexy” brown Asian (different from
those pale Canadians), and finally, a racist
attitude against East immigrants.

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
Would you say, then, that Kersi is integrated
into the new culture?
I wouldn’t! He wants to keep his difference
and the new culture doesn’t completely
accept him. The same as before!

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
Then, from a multicultural perspective, what’s
the meaning of the fact that Kersi failed in his
attempt to swim in the swimming pool?
Great! Another failure in being accepted in
another culture.
“The swimming pool, like Chaupatty beach, has produced a
stillbirth.” (p 1082)

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
But finally, after dropping out the lessons,
when spring comes, he decides to clean his
tub.
(Italics are mine). Can you see the metaphors?
“I’ve never used the tub as yet; besides, it would be too much
like Chaupatty or the swimming pool, wallowing in my own
dirt. Still, it must be cleaned.” (p. 1087)

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
What’s the meaning of Yes! A new life.
spring?

What does clean True! To purify

convey? something which was
dirty.

And the tub? Water again! But this

time, at his home.

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
Once cleaned, Kersi decides to swim in his tub.
First, he submerges his head. The second time,
he opens his eyes, and then he says:
“The world outside the water I have seen a lot of, it is now
time to see what is inside.” (p.1088)

What’s the true meaning of this sentence? It is

the conclusion of the whole story!

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
This is my interpretation:
Now, he knows both worlds, inside and
outside; the west and the east. So the
boundaries which maintained them separated
have disappeared. Now he belongs to both
levels. He has been reborn at his home. His
home has something of both worlds.
What’s your interpretation?

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
His world is also surrounded by other cultures
(multiculturalism in a wider sense), such as
the Portuguese Woman, or Berthe, the
Yugoslavian superintendent in his block of
appartments. But also by native Canadians,
like Ron, the swimming instructor.
Integration is possible. If there is isolation, it
must be for other reasons.

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
I hope you have enjoyed the story from this
multiculturalism point of view. Perhaps it will
help you discover more details you hadn’t paid
attention to before.

If you want to know more on the topic, I will

provide you with the readings I have searched.

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus
 Further readings
- Abdullah, Md Abu Shahid. Construction of Home, Nation and Identity in Rohinton Mistry's Tales from
Firozsha Baag.,Shanlax International Journal of English,
www.shanlaxjournals.in/journals/index.php/english/article/view/626.
- “Interpretation.” 'Swimming Lessons', 26 July 2012, mistrypresentation.wordpress.com/interpretation/.
“Kushti.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Nov. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushti.
- Mistry, Rohinton, “Swimming Lessons”, A New Anthology of Canadian Literature in English. Ed Donna
Bennett and Brown Russell. 2nd ed. Toronto: OUP, 2002. 1072-1089.
-Malieckal, Bindu. “Parsis, Emigration, and Immigration in Rohinton Mistry’s Swimming Lessons and Other
Stories from Firozsha Baag.” Papers on Language & Literature, vol. 42, no. 4, Fall 2006, pp. 360–
83._'Swimming_Lessons_and_Other_Stories_from_Firozsha_Baag'.
- “R/India - This Was Chowpatty Beach in Mumbai Today Morning.” Reddit,
https://www.reddit.com/r/india/comments/4uupra/this_was_chowpatty_beach_in_mumbai_today_morni
ng/.
- Short Stories for Students. Encyclopedia.com. 8 Jan. 2024 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>.
-“Significance of Sudra.” AHURAMAZDA.COM - ZOROASTRIAN WEBSITE,
https://www.ahuramazda.com/pages/sudreh_.html#:~:text=Its%20significance%20is%20to%20attain,the
%20arms%20uptil%20the%20elbow.
-The Kushti Ritual (Cais), https://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Religions/iranian/Zarathushtrian/kushti_ritual.htm

Paloma Tros de Ilarduya Fernández.

Tutora Intercampus