Page 107 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Unit 12: Rupa Bajwa: Sari Shop—Characterisation and Plot Construction

The Sevak Sari House in Bajwa’s resonant first novel is a microcosm of its surrounding town, Notes
Amritsar, and perhaps of all of India. Ramchand, a shop assistant, seems content selling saris to
wealthy matrons and their daughters. But when he is sent to the opulent home of the Kapoors
with stacks of saris for them to scrutinize, he experiences his first hints of discontent. Vowing to
educate himself to better his place in society, Ramchand purchases some used grammar books and
a dictionary, through which he plods in his off hours. He is brought back to reality when he is
again sent outside the shop, this time to a co-worker’s shack. Stunned by the poverty and
degradation he finds there, Ramchand plunges into a deep depression over the world’s inequities.
After a brief and courageous outburst aimed at his higher-ups, he retreats to his old compliant
self, stuck in a rut that is at least secure. Biting humor, perceptive social commentary, and the
poetic telling of a poignant tale combine for an exceptional debut.
Ramchand has obediently worked as a clerk at the Sevak Sari House in the city of Amritsar, India
for eleven years; alternating his time between the Sari shop located in the city’s old bazaar and his
one room apartment with minimal possessions. His simple life, however, takes a drastic turn
when he is ordered to take a selection of saris by bicycle to a prosperous family who is preparing
for their eldest daughter’s wedding. Upon entering this strange new world of extravagant
automobiles, air conditioning, servants, and wall-to-wall plush carpet Ramchand’s mind goes in
a tailspin. He has never encountered such luxury before and is deeply affected.
From this point forward Ramchand’s consciousness is awakened to the issues of class that surround
him in his everyday life. He becomes interested in the lives of the various woman who visit the
sari shop and listen to their conversations revealing their affluent life-styles and snobbery attitudes
towards others. At the same time, and also at the other end of the class spectrum, he becomes
acquainted with the dire situation of his co-worker and his wife who reside in a tin shack in a poor
section of the city. Ramchand’s experiences quickly led him into a dizzying philosophical journey
with potential serious ramifications for many.
While The Sari Shop contains an engaging and highly entertaining plot, Rupa Bajwa’s prose is
often uneven and lacks a clear direction, especially towards the middle, that can possibly attributed
to this being her debut novel. Hopefully her writing skills will improve and she will continue to
publish thought-provoking books with memorable characters in the near future. Recommended,
especially for those who enjoy Indian literature.
Longlisted for Britain’s Orange Prize for Fiction in 2004, Rupa Bajwa’s The Sari Shop turns the
world of a small shop in Amritsar, India, into a microcosm of the society, allowing the author to
explore big ideas within an intimate environment. Exploring the lives of ordinary shop salesmen,
both at home and at work, as they struggle to make ends meet, she juxtaposes them against some
of their wealthy clients, highlighting dramatically the economic contrasts in their lives and the
differences in their expectations. From her opening description of the raucous awakening of a
small neighborhood, she presents the kinds of homely details which make the setting easy to
visualize, despite the cultural differences. Ramchand, now twenty-six, has been working as an
assistant at the Sevak Sari House since he was fifteen, doing the same job day after day, going to
a small dhaba with some of the other assistants for something to eat at night and sometimes to the
movies. He has little hope of improving his station and, with his parents dead and no family in the
city, little opportunity to meet a marriageable young woman or change his lonely life. Through
flashbacks, the reader learns about Ramchand’s family background and how he came to live alone
in Amritsar. As Bajwa slowly draws the reader into the lives of other characters, the reader
empathizes with them. Kamla, the wife of Chander, another of the shop assistants, is an especially
pathetic case, a young woman who has been victimized by society, her husband, and her husband’s
former employers. Rina Kapoor, daughter of the wealthiest man in Amritsar, however, is also, in
some ways, a victim of her economic situation, as are the women for whom shopping for saris is
a primary activity. Only a few women here seek independent lives, these being women for whom

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