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.’