When Mr. Pirzada Came To Dine

In the short story, When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine, Lilia symbolizes Lahiri’s own cultural barrier growing up as child. Lilia is about ten years old and lives with her family just north of Boston despite having a Hindu background. For the past year, Mr. Pirzada, an ‘Indian’ man from Dacca, has been coming over to their home every night for dinner. Lilia’s father explains to her that Mr. Pirzada is in fact not Indian, but is Bengali and Muslim since the partition. Before Mr. Pirzada came to visit, Lilia never questioned her cultural background; she grew up in America and did relatively American things. When her father tells her that Mr. Pirzada is not Indian she is confused since “ Mr. Pirzada and [her] parents spoke the same language, laughed

Pirzada is no longer Indian, she studies him and his actions for clues of difference. This follows her own relationship with her father, who worries that her American education is taking away from her Indian background. However, America allows for Mr. Pirzada and Lilia’s father to dine together, and share their feeling of the war taking place. By listening to these things, she is learning more about her own culture. When writing The Interpreter of Maladies, Lahiri was “ for the first time, conveying that intimate Bengali of [her] upbringing… dwell in two separate worlds” (Heaven 4) and connecting the emotions felt by Lilia to her own upbringing. She is a second generation immigrant whose life is very Americanized compared to her parents, and she often finds herself at a cultural divide. Similar to Lilia, her parents wanted her to learn more about India, and connect with her cultural background despite living in the United States. This story was a way for her to express her childhood through the eyes of a child, as a way to mitigate the heavy topic and better convey the overarching theme. When Mr Pirzada Came to Dine “is a metaphor to share cultures… something that will allow them/us to share, instead of dividing, what is on either side” (Voices 2) (Voices - Jaydeep Sarangi