Would you like to tell me your concern?”įreny looked intently at Perveen. Perveen longed to assist freedom fighters, but she was a solicitor, so her work was mostly contracts. In recent months the famous lawyer Mohandas Gandhi had been gaining adherents with his calls for protest against British rule. We are seeking a legal consultation.”Īctivism was on an uptick throughout Bombay. “Perveen-bai, I am representing Woodburn College’s Student Union. “If you’d like, you may call me Perveen-bai.”įreny nodded. The two women do a song and dance about how best Freny should address Perveen, the eighteen-year-old rejecting ‘Memsahib’ as too British and ‘ma’am,’ in Perveen’s opinion, skewing too old. Mustafa, “the silver-haired giant who served as Mistry Law’s guard, butler, and receptionist,” tells Perveen that Freny was referred to Mistry Law by Alice Hobson-Jones, Perveen’s best friend, a Mathematics instructor at Woodburn College. The predominant but not exclusive religious groups in the city include Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Jains, Christians, Parsis, and Sikhs.Ī young woman, Freny Cuttingmaster, comes to Perveen’s office to ask for a consultation, highly irregular. This dispute reminds readers that Bombay (renamed Mumbai in 1995) is not culturally homogeneous.

Shah that “municipal taxes would rise in the new year,” causing him to reconsider his demands because an empty house won’t garner him a rent check. What is behind these last-minute antics? “Perveen suspected that religious anxiety had infected her Parsi client and made the prospective renter react defensively.” Perveen subtly reminds Mr.

Shah replace a dying mango tree in the garden. Ahmad had crossed that out and written in capital letters that his wife had the right to cut and cook whatever she pleased.

Ahmad is a well-qualified potential tenant.īut suddenly, her client wanted an amendment prohibiting the butchering of meat. Shah is a client who wants to rent out his bungalow. Royal tours aside, a lawyer’s lot is paved with contracts. Why could India not follow a similar path? On July 1 st, 1867, three British colonies merged to form the new, self-governed country of Canada. Many Indians chafe under British colonial rule and yearn for its end. The four-month visit of the British heir apparent is not universally welcomed by the citizens of Bombay. The title of Sujata Massey’s mystery, The Bombay Prince, refers to The Prince of Wales, son of King Edward VII and grandson of Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India, who is about to embark on a tour of India. Perveen Mistry holds a unique status in 1920’s Bombay as India’s sole female solicitor.

The bombay prince by sujata massey