A Real Durwan

SUMMARY
Boori Ma, an increasingly frail 64-year-old woman, is the durwan (live-in doorkeeper) to an
apartment building of Calcutta. Each day, she trudges up the stairs, lugging her reed broom
and flimsy mattress behind her. As she sweeps, her raspy voice details the losses she has
suffered because of Partition. She was separated from her husband, two daughters, and home.
Tied to the end of her sari is a set of skeleton keys belonging to coffer boxes that housed her
valuables. She chronicles the easier times in her life, the feasts and servants and marble floor
of her home. Each litany ends with the same phrase, Believe me, dont believe me.
The details of her journey across the border shift in each retelling. But her tales were so
impassioned that no one could dismiss her outright. Each resident of the building had a
different interpretation of her tales. Mr. Dalal of the third floor cant fathom how a landowner
ends up sweeping stairs, wives think she is the victim of changing times, Mr. Chatterjee
believes she simply mourns her family and wraps herself in illusion. Nevertheless, her tales
harmed no one and she was entertaining. Best of all, she kept the stairs spotlessly clean and
the outside world at bay. She routed away any suspicious person with a few slaps of her
broom. Though there was nothing to steal from the apartments, the residents were comforted
by her presence.
Boori Ma suffers from sleepless nights. Mrs. Dalal, who has a soft spot for Boori Ma, comes
to the roof to dry lemon peels. Boori Ma asks her to inspect her back for the mites she
assumes torment her in her sleep. Mrs. Dalal finds nothing. Boori Ma talks again about her
lost comforts such comforts Mrs. Dalal cant dream of. The women commiserate and Mrs.
Dalal offers to buy the woman new bedding. Later rains turn Boori Mas mattress into yogurt,
so she focuses on the offer of new bedding.
Boori Ma is allowed to wander in and out of the apartments, offered tea and crackers for help
with cleaning of childrens activities. She knows better than to sit on the furniture, so she
crouches in doorways and takes in life from a distance. She visits The Dalals. Mr. Dalal asks
her to help tote basins to his apartment. Mrs. Dalal is not pleased. A basin does not make up
for not having a phone or a fridge, or other amenities promised but not delivered. The
argument rings through the building and Boori Ma does not ask about bedding. She sleeps on
newspaper that night.
Mr. Dalal installs one basin the first of the building in his home and another in the foyer
for all of his neighbors to use. Instead of being moved by the gesture, the residents of the
building are awash in resentment. Why did they have to share, why were the Dalals the only
ones who could improve the building, why couldnt they buy their own basins? To appease
his wife after their argument, it is rumored that Mr. Dalal purchased lavish shawls and soaps.
He takes her away for ten days and Mrs. Dalal assures Boori Ma that she has not forgotten
her promise of renewed bedding.
While the Dalals are away, the other wives plan renovations and the stairs become choked by
workmen. Unable to sweep, Boori Ma keeps to her roof, keeping an eye on her dwindling set
of newspapers and wondering when she had her last glass of tea. When she grows restless of
the roof, she wanders around the town spending her lifes savings on treats. She feels a tug at

the end of her sari and finds her purse and skeleton keys gone. When she returns to the
building, she finds the basin has been torn out of the wall.
The residents carry her up to the roof and accuse her of telling robbers about the new basin.
She tries to convince them, but after all of her lies, they say, how can they believe her now?
The residents seek the advice of Mr. Chatterjee. He comes to the conclusion that the building
needs a real durwan to keep their valuables safe. They toss Boori Ma out of on the street
muttering, as her figure recedes, believe me, believe me.
ANALYSIS
A Real Durwan is primarily a story about class and the resentment it can inspire. Boori Ma, a
poor woman forced to sweep stairwells in her old age, comforts herself with tales of her
previous riches. Whether or not these anecdotes are true, they have the same effect. They are
an oasis for her, a way to escape the reality of her life for just a moment. When the Dalals
install the basins in the building, their neighbors react with jealousy instead of gratitude. They
rail against the Dalals for trying to show up the rest of the building. Mrs. Dalal, it is rumored,
doesnt think the basin is classy enough. At the end, Boori Ma is cast out of the building,
blamed for the theft. Mr. Chatterjee says that they need a real durwan for their building; his
desire to promote the illusion of the building's upward mobility is a fatal punishment for
Boori Ma. She is a reminder of their true place in the social structure, and she is a reminder
that her fate can await any of them. Casting her out is casting out the truth of their meager
lives. Dismissing her means they can never be her.
Partition again is a theme here. In the exile of Hindus from Muslim lands and vice versa,
millions of people were left homeless. Boori Ma, though she may be lying about her previous
wealth, is proven to be a refugee by her accent. As in When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine,
Partition feels arbitrary. By focusing in on the life of one person affected by the treaty, the
reader can glean the human toll. Though the caste system the stratification of Indians into
ethnic or class categorizations and its notion of untouchables was banned in 1950, class and
race made Boori Ma untouchable.
The structure of this story is built upon irony. Almost as if in an O. Henry story, Boori Ma is
promised new bedding on the precise day that Mr. Dalal brings home the basin, and the
precise day that her old bedding is ruined. The basin and the ensuing fight between Mr. and
Mrs. Dalal pushes Boori Mas needs to the side. Mrs. Dalal says that she has not forgotten
about her bedding before she leaves for her vacation but she does not arrive home in time to
save Boori Ma, let alone to provide new bedding. Yes, Mrs. Dalal is considered flaky, but
Boori Ma is cast out when she is out of town and unable to protect her. The irony here less a
dramatic device than a comment on the fickle nature of life.
Rumor and gossip also shape the story. Boori Mas insistence that she is telling the truth,
despite the details she changes at will, is at first a source of comedy for the residents. They
think that she is entertaining even though the tales are sorrowful. When the Dalals buy the
basin, their neighbors gossip about the fights that take place behind closed doors. Rumor
becomes fact when the Dalals leave for vacation. This blurring of lines between truth and
gossip can be blamed for Boori Mas punishment at the end. Since the wisest man in the
building, Mr. Chatterjee, has not picked up a newspaper in decades, word of mouth and
hearsay are taken as gospel. In a way, this is a reflection of society as the truth is often
elusive.

Objects take on important meaning in A Real Durwan. The basin becomes a symbol of both
wealth and resentment. The skeleton keys tied to the end of Boori Mas sari are both
remembrances of her past life and a totem of her strength. They reassure her. When they are
stolen, she is thrown out shortly thereafter. Boori Mas bedding, she believes, is full of mites
that keep her up at night. Though the mites are a figment of her imagination and a
manifestation of her worries, the bedding can be read as her livelihood. Once destroyed, her
life slips away.