Bombay Time

by Thrity Umrigar

At the wedding of a young man from a middle-class apartment building in Bombay, the men and women of this unique community gather together and look back on their youthful, idealistic selves and consider the changes the years have wrought. The lives of the Parsi men and women who grew up together in Wadi Baug are revealed in all their complicated humanity: Adi Patel's disintegration into alcoholism; Dosamai's gossiping tongue; and Soli Contractor's betrayal and heartbreak. And observing it all is Rusi Bilimoria, a disillusioned businessman who struggles to make sense of his life and hold together a fraying community.

Genres: India, Fiction, Asia, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Indian Literature, International

271 pages, Paperback

First published July 6, 2001

About the author

A journalist for seventeen years, Thrity Umrigar has written for the Washington Post, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and other national newspapers, and contributes regularly to the Boston Globe's book pages. Thrity is the winner of the Cleveland Arts Prize, a Lambda Literary award and the Seth Rosenberg prize. She teaches creative writing and literature at Case Western Reserve University. The author of The Space Between Us, Bombay Time, and the memoir First Darling of the Morning: Selected Memories of an Indian Childhood, she was a winner of the Nieman Fellowship to Harvard University. She has a Ph.D. in English and lives in Cleveland, Ohio. (from the publisher's website)"

Reviews

[Marcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrity Umrigar continues to be one of my favorite Indian authors! This story takes place in Bombay. A group of "young" Parsi friends gather as "old" friends at the wedding of a son of one friend. Each friend at the wedding has a story that he/she relives at the wedding. The father of the groom left for England as a young man, to be educated, only to come back to Bombay as a lawyer, to become a big fish in a small sea, feeling comfortable being Indian only in India. This same friend lived his dream of old, becoming rich with good business sense, married to a wonderful woman he adores and visa versa. One of his friends, when he was young, felt betrayed by a loved one who left Bombay for Israel with her family, leaving her beloved behind, alone with his memories of her, for life. Another friend was killed in a chemical plant, leaving his beloved wife bereft all of her life. Another friend mistrusts his wife and puts up his guard for years when his young, loving wife placed him between her tirades against his loving mother. This same friend used to have dreams of grandeur, but his lack of business sense left his family with a lot less than other friends. Some dreams are realized in life, others are dashed by circumstances unforetold. Most of the heartfelt stories that were relived at this wedding were extremely sad, for both the characters and the reader. Bombay kept these childhood friendships together for life, in sickness, in health, whether they were rich, or poor. Each of the characters' memories of their youth kept them bonded. It took a gift of photo albums to make each friend realize how lucky they were to have each other.

[Neeraja S · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel follows a different style of story-telling. It tells the stories of the different occupants of Wadia Baug, an apartment complex in Bombay, housing a well-knit Parsi community. In the throes of their late middle-age, the members of the community nostalgically look back at their lives and wonder at the early dreams, hopes and happiness their lives held, and the detours and disappoints that fate threw their way to break their wings of hope. Despite the uneven bittersweet journey they traveled, they were grateful for one robust pillar of support - the friendship of the Wadia Baug community. The novel is a seemingly simple story of the importance of community and companionship. But the stories are heavily layered with so many aspects of life, especially of life in Bombay.

This is a character-driven book, as some people would classify. The book teems with interesting characters, reminiscent of people we know, of people we probably are turning into, and of people we have struggled to understand. What I respect and marvel at is Umrigar’s honest and insightful psychological appraisal of these people. Despite the characters’ numerous flaws, she shows us the true person they are at heart. She articulates my hypothesis that people are inherently good, and even, simple. Yet, they become complicated, and sometimes reprehensible, because of the disappointments, tragedies, and painful experiences they are forced to go through. They continue to live life as their vulnerabilities, insecurities, guilt, regrets, and wounds threaten to never heal, and fester just under the surface.

For instance, we admonish and hate the gossipy, old woman in the neighborhood, but have probably never taken a moment to consider how her life had been before she became so; why she seems to unfailingly provide food and help when you need it; and why your parents implicitly trust her with their house keys, despite her petty talk and inquisitiveness. Or why the “apartment board” never fires the inefficient, ill-tempered, weak, watchman. Every person has a story, a reason for why there are they way they are. With a little empathy, and a little consideration, we look into the unsoiled person within them. Although we will continue to resent their flaws, their stunted maturity, their cloistered thinking, their intrusion and comments on your life, we need them just as much to establish a community and rely on their basic (sometimes, well hidden), harmless, good nature. We realize, grudgingly at that, that our quintessential Indian neighborhood does indeed do more good than the secluded islands of the western residential communities.

Digested Thoughts: Although at times I felt there were a tad too many characters and stories to keep track of, Umrigar beautifully unwraps the stories of six different Parsi families, and their connection to the Wadia Baug apartment complex. The stories cannot be more real, and honest, and they each involve the role played by Bombay - its boisterous, harsh, unforgiving part. They also shed light on subtle Indian customs, traditions, and its social and political dynamics that complicate life needlessly. As much as Umrigar emphasizes the benefits of being part of a community, she also brilliantly and subtly shows the flip-side. If we wrap ourselves too very tightly and comfortably in the safe cocoon of our little ethnic community, we remain ignorant, indifferent and callous towards the rest of the world operating around us. Secluding oneself within a community is just as bad as being intolerant of other communities. We all need to realize that we are part of something bigger than just our tiny community. It is important to connect with all of humanity, as being part of one big society. This is especially true of India, where there are a million different sectarian groups, that we tend to see ourselves as total strangers if we so much as move to a different religious neighborhood within the very same city. This feeling of being an alien if we step two streets away from our community, is the cause for communal tension and violence.

Anyway, to wrap up, I enjoyed reading this book, especially the character analysis, and will definitely recommend it. Umrigar's writing is simple, but evocative and insightful.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, I love Umrigar, don't get me wrong. However, this book was definitely a task to get through. In fact, I am not even all the way done, but I am just exhausted.[return][return]What exhausts me? Well, the overabundance of names, for one. It seemed as if on each page five new characters were introduced. Then, when Umrigar began to finally settle down on a couple of characters, they would flashback and therefore a slew of other characters would be dragged up.[return][return]When Umrigar did settle into a narrative, it was interesting and captivating. She writes with such poetic license.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have come to truly love and appreciate Thrity Umrigar's novels. With an unparalelled ability to create well-drawn characters who seem to come to life on the page, and story lines that speak the truth about life and living as a Parsi in India, Umrigar is a rare talent that everyone should read.

In "Bombay Time" we are introduced to the Parsi residents of an apartment house in Bombay. Rusi Bilimoria is one of the residents who made some unfortunate choices early in his life and he must now live with the consequences of those decisions. He realizes his marriage his falling apart after the residents of the building celebrate one of the other tenant's sons wedding.

Through Rusi and others in the apartment house we learn about grief, loss, sin, and how sometimes its just impossible to recapture our past, and how we must make plans anew and continue on. Rarely can a novel teach us and impress upon us lessons that we will use in our own lives and our own relationships. So clearly written, at times you will feel embarrased to be barging in on these people's lives and at times you'll be lost in the intimacy of the honour of sharing and being privy to the private conversations, circumstances and lives of this community of people living in an apartment house.

I was immensely saddened when I'd read the last page because I didn't want the story to end. I wanted to hear more so I wouldn't have to say good-bye.

[Mrtruscott · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second by Umrigar, her first. I’m leaning toward a 4.5 (with irrational bias on my part). The many previous reviews detail the book’s specifics.

I particularly liked the structure, with an apartment building as the stage for the many! vivid characters. Reminiscent of Tales of the City (how long ago did I read that?).

The places we live are, or can be, so important in shaping our friendships, memories, and lives. My nomadic family uses the name of the house we lived in as shorthand for time-stamping our stories: “The Pink House,” the oxymoronic “Downtown Leavenworth,” or just the address. I often wonder what it would be like to have grown up in one place.

So yes, the apartment building, its long-time residents, and the Bombay setting was just what I wanted (take me away).

The book’s final chapters, after Umrigar gave us the back story on everyone, also worked for me — a wedding as a gathering, the way weddings have the obligatory proud/worried parents, sad and despairing singles, the “dearly beloved” guests reflecting on their own marriages and the passage of time — the use of photographs (which can seem like cheating) was another perfect stitch in this colorful quilt of a novel.

There were a few breathless passages/romantic subplots that began to induce eye rolling, but I realized that actually, the tone was appropriate for the specific characters and events.

My bias was apparent when a wedding speech, hardly a profound bit of writing, got me. An older man advised the young couple:

“...life moves faster than we do...life is (still) moving, like a river we cannot keep up with...that river just keeps doing what it must. That is the nature of rivers — to flow. So it is important not to waste time, not to waste a day or a minute of a day. Important to put all the time we’ve been given to good use.”

I type this and think, well, okay. I have just spent over a month with “low vision” — a euphemism for blind. Oh, my regrets during that time. My stacks of books — unreadable. I truly couldn’t live in a better time, technologically speaking, for “help” with vision “impairment,” but my love of books...pre-dates my literacy. Happily and inexplicably, my eyes are better.

I saw beads of rain on power lines the other day, during a momentary sun break, and almost sobbed at such beauty.

I read this old and yellowed edition of this novel with immense gratitude that I could see every word on every page, clearly.

So, Bombay Time — maybe my “low vision” scare made me(!) less critical.
But a large, colorful cast of people, just like real friends/neighbors, with the bonus exotic and complex Bombay setting (and also unstintingly realistic, with Bombay’s social/ economic problems woven into the story)...was not a waste of a minute of my time.

It is so amazing to me that the 26 letters of the alphabet can be endlessly strung and re-strung into stories.

I certainly hope I have learned my lesson about wasting time. I’m glad I read fast (usually). I have so many books. On to the next!

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book I've read by Thrity Umrigar. I didn't like "The Weight og Heaven," and I LOVED "The Space Between Us." This book, for me, was very good, but not quite as great as "The Space Between Us." This book reads a bit like a book of short stories, and to be honest, I hate books of short stories. But this book is saved by the fact that all of the stories relate to each other and the charcaters all go in and out of the related stories. The book is a bunch of chapters, or stories, of residents from a building, telling their stories from the present and looking back to their past. I actually loved all of the stories. And the only thing I did not like is that I really wanted MORE from all of the stories. I could have read a book on EACH of the various chapters. But I really loved all of the characters, I didn't want the book to end and I would highly recommend it to others.

[Diane Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Thrity Umrigar's first book. Her characters are very well drawn. I enjoyed learning about their lives and seeing how they all fit together in this tight knit Parsi community.

Friends from Wadi Baug (a middle class apartment building in Bombay) are gathering for a wedding. Throughout the day of the wedding we get to know all of the people through flashbacks. We see them grow and cross paths over about 50 years. Each character is shown through his or her own point of view. I liked some of the characters better than others but they all fit together very well. We also see the motivations for their actions. At the end of the book, which is also the end of the wedding reception, the father of the groom has a very interesting gift for the Wadi Baug residents. I thought the ending was quite good, but of course I won't spoil it!

[Nikhil · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5.

A portrait of the lives of a generation of middle to upper class Parsi apartment building inhabitants in Mumbai. The better of these stories (first three and last three) are poignant and incisive, conveying an entire life in a few pages. The middle third of the text dragged (Coomi, Soli, and Tehhmi’s stories). Adi’s story was particularly good, showing how complicity in violent power structures destroys a man.

The ending was also better than I expected, with its depictions of the beggars outside the feast, and its descriptions of how violence flows down a hierarchy. The ending changes the tenor of the whole novel. It makes it clear that this is an elegy, and not an altogether positive one, of a class and group of people for whom Bombay and India are shifting under their feet; a class of people who prefer to dwell on the past than imagine a future.

[Pamela Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

She remains my current favorite author. This was yet another excellent read, not only in storyline, dialog and her ability to develop each character, but I am also very much enjoying learning about the culture and peoples of India.
This book was different again from the others I've ready by Umrigar. In this book, individuals are developed by-the-each in succession, and the story is woven as their lives intertwine and culminate in the celebration of a wedding. By the end of the book I feel as though I know each of the main characters quite well, sympathize with their points of view, better understand the plight of the different classes, and am sorry to have to close the book.

[Anjum Haz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my fourth book of TU. By now I know Umrigar is the maestro of sketching Bombay and Bombayites in words. Bombay Time only stamped my belief.

The novel starts on a new morning in Mumbai. The city is waking up, its dwellers getting up from bed, preparing for going to school/work. Then the lens narrows down on a Parsi neighborhood, particularly the apartment complex of Wadia Baug. I laughed and loved how Umrigar brought the morning contest that goes on in the middle class city dweller apartments in the pages—get up, make the kids get up, rounds of argument with the doodwallahs, the butchers, the other wallahs.

Later that evening, the neighborhood joins the wedding party of a young couple where each family reminisces about their younger days. All the identical apartments of this complex hold unique stories. All are Parsi, all are Mumbai born/raised, but their stories—so unique from one another—dreamy eyed young man, guilt-ridden teenager, once-ambitious woman… Each story left an impression on me.

Not to mention, Mumbai itself is a character in TU’s novels. And her another signature is—bringing up the populations of both edges of social/economical scale together. Through her novel’s characters she makes alive the dilemma of Mumbai—its staggering contrast between populations.

Reading the book in 2025, I found the neighborhood bond so wholesome. When I was growing up in a small town in Bangladesh, my parents relied on our neighbors to take care of me while they used to stay at work. The relationships we grew with our neighbors are lost in time, and did not reborn when we came to live in this busy city of Dhaka. In this modern age of social media, reading about those relationships of Wadia Baug neighbors, I was missing the old days and feeling we should recreate the relations!

Leaving some beautiful words from the pages I bookmarked—

For a short, precious moment, no boom box blares Hindi film music; no taxis speak in the harsh language of beeps. Just the sounds of their own breathing and of the sighing ocean as it tosses and turns in its sleep.

Now it’s time for breakfast. The women serve the largest portion of the scrambled eggs to their men. Next, they serve their elderly relatives and their children. They keep the least amount for themselves. Usually, they eat directly from the frying pan, using the bread to wipe it clean of grease. One less plate to wash.

City where the golden skyscrapers kissed God in heaven and the black slums found hell on earth.

Even the few among them who were genuinely rich, who could afford to keep their children with them—how could they enjoy their wealth, watched as they were by the accusing eyes of naked and hungry children?

Jimmy knew that many of his less fortunate neighbors masked the sourness of their own puny lives by ridiculing the successful and the powerful. It was their way of coping with the disappointments of their own lives, and Jimmy respected that.

Plainly said, Coomi was determined to marry above herself. It was painfully clear that she could not pull herself out of her lower-middle class origins by the sweat of her own brow; no, she would need to perch a ride on the shoulders of a man who was unafraid to work hard himself.

As usual, custom and tradition triumphed over common sense.

Once a woman has witnessed the human body distorted beyond recognition, once she has smelled the distinct, unmistakable smell of charred flesh from a body that used to smell of rose water and eau de cologne, then that woman has the right to turn away from all things ugly, Tehmi believed.

Suddenly, the enormity of what he had lost, the full price of his disinheritance, hit him. He had lost not only this holy land but also the respect of his father, the bond with his mother. He looked around him and everything felt rooted—the tall trees that had dug their feet solidly into the earth, the vagabond birds who had come home to their nests, the dependable, darkening sky that covered him like a blanket. He alone was rootless, homeless.

But although time takes away a lot, it also leaves you with something.

[Momster2001 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Ms. Umrigar's first book and so I was curious if it would live up to her later book,The Space Between Us, which I adored. Obviously Ms. Umrigar has been a talented author from the beginning. SHe has once again created a world of characters I care about; ones whose lives are complicated by social stratification in India. In Bombay Time we are thrown into the world of several families who live in Wadia Baug, an apartment complex. Each couple is looking back at their youth when they first met each other and searching for why their lives turned out the way they did. What to do with the "wisdom" gained in the process is another question for the characters in this book. Can one change the course of one's life in India where so much is proscribed by caste and family obligations? I found this a thought-provoking and deeply moving book.

[Candice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Thrity Umrigar's first novel but I have read and enjoyed several of her others. This one is a good character sketch of several characters who have inhabited Wadia Baug, an apartment complex in Bombay in the late 80s or early 90s. The residents gather at a wedding and we are privy to their thoughts as they reflect on the years that have passed since they were a group of youngsters in Wadia Baug. Umrigar does not shy away from writing about things that should make most readers uncomfortable - poverty, the distance between the classes, police corruption. Although written almost 25 years ago, the book does not seem outdated. Unfortunately, those same problems still plague Mumbai and many other parts of the world.

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read 80% of Bombay Time, and am not sure if i will finish it. A couple’s son is getting married, and the book describes the lives and personal histories of longtime friends they have invited to the wedding. The first chapters seemed entertaining enough, but now the writer is repeating herself. One of the characters is a neighborhood busybody, and I can almost predict what she will say in a given situation. Also, the author often inserts Hindi words when one of the characters is speaking. While this is understandable, it is somewhat annoying because I'm not entirely sure what the character is saying. I have tried looking up some of the words, but in some cases they don't have a specific definition. The writing itself is veering towards melodrama. If you enjoy human drama and gossip, you may enjoy this book more than I have.

[Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrity Umrigar's "Bombay Time" is a setting and character driven novel that is organized episodically, but still has the power to pull you into its world with gusto and to break your heart more than once. I loved these sad and aging characters who had so much to teach about life, love, loss, and regret. So many of these characters will haunt me, filling my days with their wisdom long after I have finished reading this book.

[Gualtiero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bombay: un gruppo di amici si ritrova ad un matrimonio ed ognuno inizia a riflettere sulla propria vita passata. Questo è il pretesto che usa l'autrice per raccontare una serie di storie che ci fanno conoscere la vita parsi e le abitudini di Bombay.
Personaggi molto interessanti e storie molto varie tra loro fanno divorare il libro. Appena conclusa una storia viene subito voglia di leggere il capitolo successivo per vedere cosa si è inventata l'autrice per il personaggio successivo.
Ovviamente non mancano riflessioni su vita, morte, felicità e povertà.
Questo è uno dei casi in cui mi dispiace che Goodreads non gestisca la mezza stellina: non posso mettere 5 stelle perché le tengo per i capolavori, ma vorrei dare più di 4 stelline perché questo libro è molto bello.
Una piacevole sorpresa per un libro letto quasi per caso.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written saga about a neighborhood and it’s residents. The insight into each person is unequivocally the best I’ve ever read. There are so many lines in the book that resonated with me that I’m going to buy the book to read again and again. This book should be made into a movie!

[Uswa Anjum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interconnected narratives. Stories about ordinary people hanging onto memories. Because memories remind us of our essence sometimes. Detouring back to our essence is something lifesaving.

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the authors debut novel and it has led to 20+ years of illustrious stories. I would have titled this book “The Wedding”, as chapter by chapter we meet the guests at this momentous occasion. You’ll never convince me that these characters are not real live people! I’d love to meet them all in person.

Lots of social issues are addressed as we travel through the streets of Bombay. Lives were not easy or very happy. I’m glad I’d read many of Ms Umrigar’s books before this - while reading those I became aware of the Parsis and their trek from Persia to India, Zoroastrians, the Tower of Silence vs a funeral pyre and the general make up and customs of their community.

Again the ending sends out a plea for another book to continue the story. Towards the end we do meet Bhima and her father, who both play a significant role in the Between Us series. Can’t tout this wonderful writer any higher, she’s the best.

[Marilyn Kriete · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a lucky find from a thrift store for me...published in 2001, it's not likely to be found these days. The title (and a favorite author) caught me because I've been writing my own memoir about living in Bombay, back in the mid-eighties. The building we lived in was also a Parsi building, and most of my neighbors were Parsi. They were friendly, but also kept me at arm's length. I loved reading Umrigar's novel about the long-term neighbors at Wadia Baug, and how she wove their individual life stories into an intriguing tapestry. Each character's story is different and moving. It made me feel like I got to know those former neighbors after all.

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

i absolutely love the books by this author! She brings you into the various lives of Parsi people who live near Bombay and how their lives change with time and circumstances. Then toward the end, many realize the changes in their lives and how they use to be before and therefore strive to return somewhat to the people they really want to be once again. It made me reflect on myself and how life can change or distract me from who i really am and the dreams I once strived for...and to realize it really is not too late to dream and do.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The character studies were excellent. I enjoyed the way each chapter followed one person's life while weaving it into the lives of the other people in the book. I appreciated the way the stories resolved into an ending with a positive future. Unlike "A Fine Balance" where everything got worse and worse this book showed us the light at the end of the tunnel. It was well thought out and well written. It was also interesting to read about the Parsi culture in India.

[Ami · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this will be the last book I read from this author. This last one was actually quite good. She seems to have a recurring theme of focusing on character development in all of her books....and I think she finally accomplished it the way she meant to in this book. It gets a bit confusing since it goes back and forth through so many characters, but it ties together nicely in the end.

[Robbin Melton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poignant and beautifully crafted, this one is set a wedding reception with each chapter focusing on the life story of each of the most important wedding guests, all of whom are from the same neighborhood building. Filled with life's disappointments, joys, heartaches and sorrows, it encapsulates what brings us together as people.

[Marla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered Thrity Umrigar several months ago and love her beautifully written stories about cultural traditions and cross-cultural experiences and conflict. Her stories are often challenging in that they reflect raw reality of centuries old traditions that govern the thoughts and behavior of people and a people.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wedding in Bombay. Diverse Residents of an apartment building with complex relationships to each other are invited. Each chapter devoted to a different family or person. The novel deals with the divide between well to do people and desperately poor people who literally live on a patch of pavement. The ending is a surprise. I am already looking forward to rereading this.

[Megalion · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so enraptured by Thrity's The Story Hour that I just had to read more by her right away!

This was the first one I found and it was also very good. In a way, this one was like a Parsi Maeve Binchy.

The cultural insights and perspectives enhanced the story for me.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I have no desire to visit, I am fascinated by books set in India. This is a favorite novelist of mine about India. Sometimes a little too pat and flowery with a predictable ending, she still captures it for me.

[Lynne Carlton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I loved the brilliant timeline of one day AND whole lifetimes. I loved the characters representing the full gamut of human experience. I loved the universality of lives lived against the tide of time and society. I love Thrity Umrigar’s writing.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bittersweet and memorable.

[Khadeeja Saleem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked it!!!