A Study of Roots, Routes and Ruptures in Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance

This paper offers an analysis of Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance with the aim to examine how diasporic sensibility manifests even in contexts where physical migration is partial, circular or absent. The novel explores internal displacement and social marginality within India during the Emergency. The present paper attempts to explore themes of state violence, minority identity, memory and ethical witnessing to reveal how the novel reconceptualize diaspora as an experiential and relational condition rather than solely a spatial phenomenon. This paper highlights how experiences of internal exile, disrupted belonging and ethical responsibility in narrative form shape a diasporic sensibility characterized by loss, rupture and reconfiguration between home and displacement, thereby extending debates in postcolonial and diaspora studies.