This story by Anita Desai uses dark humor to highlight themes of loneliness, pet love, tolerance, alienation, conformity and fulfillment. A puppy of “indecipherable” breed brought home by a conservative Indian public servant causes havoc in his home and neighborhood as it grows into an almost uncontrollable, ferocious badmash. Mr Das, who has a secure job and is seemingly happily married, is clearly missing something in life. Although his obsession with the dog fills this gap and brings about a kind of second childhood, it leads to condemnation and ridicule from his wife and colleagues, and anger from the community.
The story could be viewed as a satire of the sterile, unfulfilling home environment of the Indian upper-class, and the expectations that come with living in a housing estate built for government officials of a certain cadre where propriety, decorum (and) standards of behaviour had to be maintained. Romping with Diamond provides Das with an escape from both of these.
The “tragedy” in the title may not only refer to the fatal ending, but also to the pitiful state Das was reduced to in his searches when his beloved dog went badmashi:
He was observed walking the dusty streets in the livid heat of June, hatless, abject, crying, ‘Diamond! Diamond! Diamond!’ over garden walls and down empty alleys, in the filthy outskirts of the marketplace, and even along the reeking canal where disease lurked and no sensible person strayed.
and later in the story:
The nights were chilly. With a woollen cap pulled down over his ears, and his tight short jacket buttoned up, Mr Das did his rounds in the dark, calling hoarsely till his throat rasped. He felt he was coming down with the flu, but he would not give up, he would not leave Diamond to the dire fate Mrs Das daily prophesied for him.
Original Text / PDF (4,400 words)