Das neighbours: Alis and Misras

What attracted Tara was the contrast their home provided to hers. Even externally there were such obvious differences–at the Misras’ no attempt was made, as at Tara’s house, to ‘keep up appearances.’ They were so sure of their solid, middle-class bourgeos position that ~t never occurred to them to prove it or substantiate it by curtains at the windows. Carpets on the floors, solid pieces of funiture placed at regular intervals, plates that matched each other on the table, white uniforms for the house servants and other such appurtenances considered indispensable by Tara’s parents. (P 137)

It is through the Misra sisters and their various visits to the Roshanara Club, that Tara meets Bakul, her future husband. When she introduces him to Bim for the first time she says, “This is Bakul.. . . ‘The Misras–the Misras–‘ she stammered, ‘took us to the Roshonara Club. There was a dance’ (P. 63).