In "Auspicious Occasion," Rustomji "the Curmudgeon" is a successful but hot-tempered Bombay lawyer now in his fifties, who lives with wife Mehroo, 20 years his junior, in Block A of the Firozsha Baag apartment complex. He alone refuses to contribute to communal maintenance efforts led by Nariman Hansotia, leading to a life-long enmity. Catholic-educated at St. Xavier's School, has lost his youthful idealism and believes India is merciless. He lusts after buxom housekeeper Gajra, hiding behind the newspaper lest Mehroo catch him.
Mehroo is 20 years younger and an observant orthodox Parsi, unhappy at being married off before completing high school to a man who is now toothless. She rushes through preparations for the Behram roje celebration and hurries to prayers at her childhood fire temple where she continues to worship. There she.....
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