DAY TWO: THE BUNDER

The beginning of this story was surprisingly grotesque in my opinion; Abbasi sticking his two fingers up his rectum and swirling them in a glass of whiskey. The glass of whiskey was intended for an official from the state Electricity Board who had come to Abbasi’s shirt making factory for tax payment. Even though the official is seen as an evil money-stealing man, nobody should have to suffer such an unhygienic prank. I found it interesting that Abbasi had closed his factory for the sake of female workers eyes. Two women had already gone blind from doing such detailed needlework on the shirts dragon designs. A money-minded person sacrificing their living due to guilt is strange, although he did eventually open up the factory again. He may have feared divine punishment for harming other people through his business but then again, it’s business and it’s money for him. Abbasi stated, after being asked why he reopened his factory, that ‘a man needs to eat, sahib.’ It’s a state and mindset of self-preservation that every person goes through. I find that the author, through the use of the story, is jabbing at India’s government and the corruption that erupts within it. He stated all the different officials and taxmen he’s had to pay off over the last four months and the list is surprisingly long and diverse. Abbasi’s friend Sunil Shetty mentioned that ‘When it comes to three things, black marketing, counterfeiting, and corruption, we (India) are the world champions. If they were included in the Olympic Games, India would always win gold, silver, and bronze in those three.’ It was smart to justify his statement with the mention of those three topics possibly being in the Olympics. I personally liked the moment where Abbasi met those four men at the tea shop. These men were the darker side of Kittur, ‘smugglers, car thieves, thugs and worse’ as Abbasi said. There was a simile used that I found pretty interesting when Abbasi was about to give the two men from the Income Tax Department a glass of whiskey. ‘The thought fell into his mind like a meteor from a purer heaven.’

DAY ONE: THE TRAIN STATION

Throughout this story I had not expected the use of certain words, especially by Indian characters. Words such 'hanky-panky' used by the owner of the Ideal Store and 'whippersnapper' used by the drunkard Thimma. When the characters use these words it gives them more of a personality that's raw and unrefined. The characters are also straightforward toward others, I guess this is a side a of Indian people I've never experienced before probably because I'm a foreigner. When reading this story I really got a vivid mental picture of an Indian person's everyday life. It was the life of a young Muslim boy and what he had to go through to make a living for himself. I was surprised that there was something less than rupee, a paisa. Another factor of the story that surprised me was the discrimination of the Muslims by the Hindus. It had given me more insight on how the two religious groups held each other in spite. The term 'you son of a bald woman' seems to be a common insult throughout the book and I found it somewhat peculiar because it was the first time I've ever heard it. When Ziauddin came back from his 4 months with his family he had developed vitiligo. I found out that vitiligo is a condition in which pigment is lost from areas of the skin and I tend to see quite a few Indian people around who have vitiligo. There are differences that I've seen between Indian culture and Western culture. When Ramana, the tea shop owner, forced Ziauddin to the ground and beat him up for the possibility of theft I had realized that such things don't happen in Western culture. Although in Western culture people could sue others and such. The other boys who worked at the shop had just stood by to the side and watched a boy just like them get beat up. In Western culture there would most likely be retaliation and even the thought of someone beating up a minor is slightly taboo. When Ziauddin was fired from his job, he eventually turned up with a job transporting canisters of milk via cart. Jobs such as working in a teashop or carting milk aren’t common in Western society. The scene where the Pathan chooses Ziauddin over the other porters by the fact that he isn’t publicly nude is interesting. The others were keeping clean whereas Zia was wallowing in his own dirt, but he had clothes on at the right time. If I were the Pathan I would have done the exact same thing. Also when Zia takes the Pathan to the first hotel choice for some extra cash shows the honesty of a young local trying to fool the foreigner. When out shopping for fruits and such here in India, the fruit sellers see a foreigner and jack up the prices. Although when my driver or my maid finds out how much we spend on these fruits it’s seen as outrageous. This is just how things are for foreigners when it comes to third world countries and finding fair proprietors is just tough.