How is Mr. Pirzada’s pocket watch different from the watch he wears on his wrist? What does the pocket watch help Lilia understand about Mr.Pirzada and his situation?
How is Mr. Pirzada’s pocket watch different from the watch he wears on his wrist? What does the pocket watch help Lilia understand about Mr.Pirzada and his situation?
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In the short story When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine by Jhumpa Lahiri, Mr. Pirzada used to keep two watches with him, one on his wrist and the other in his pocket. The watch which he kept in his pocket was without a band and plain silver in colour.
While the watch on his hand displayed the time of USA, the other one was set to the local time in Dacca i.e. eleven hours ahead from that of USA. Lilia used to watch him.
Lilia comes to know that he is not an Indian but Bangladeshi and his family is there. It was the time of war between Bangladesh (East Pakistan then) and West Pakistan (Pakistan now). Mr Pirzada used to watch TV every night at Lilia’s home to know what-about of his country.
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