Page 130 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Indian Writings in Literature

Notes wants to go back to America. After they have eaten at the Stork’s mansion Balram’s family arrives
and takes a look at “his” car, the Honda City, with pride.
Later at home his grandmother wants him to marry even though he isn’t ready yet. He imagines
they are eating his brother, therefore he runs out to a hill desperately. When he comes down the
hill Mr. Ashok and Pinky Madam wait for him at the car at the Stork’s mansion because they had
wondered where he has been. Pinky Madam asks about New York again but regarding India’s
development and the servants who are part of the family already, Mr. Ashok would rather stay in
India.
The Fourth Morning: The chapter starts with Balram’s explanation how he got his date of birth.
An uniformed man came to school for the up coming election to write down the pupils ages. Due
to the fact that Balram does not know his age the man says he is eighteen and able to vote from
now on and this day is his birthday. Another day Balram watches a deal between the opponents
of the great socialist party and the communists which has to do with the politics in Laxmangarh.
During his work in the tea-shop he eavesdrops a dialogue saying a man was killed who was
disturbing the official celebration of the socilialist election-win. After it Balram talks about the
visit of the great socialist and Vijay Laxmangarh’s new deputy who is the former bus conducter.
At his master’s - Mr. Ashok - home Balram finds out that the other driver Ram, who his servant
number one, is a Muslim. The Storks disapproves of this religion and thinks that Ram is a Hindu,
Balram threatens Ram. Finally Ram is afraid to be discovered and leaves Mr. Ashok’s home.
Balram becomes the servant number one.
The Fourth Night: The fourth chapter opens with Balram continuing his story by mentioning how
weird and confusing Delhi is. He explains that the names and numbers of the several streets do
not follow any system of logic, which serves as a transition to his duties as a driver. Whilst driving
Mr. Ashok, Mukesh Sir and Pinky Madam around the city to drop them off at a mall, Balram gets
constantly mocked by Mukesh Sir for getting lost all the time and immediately protected by Mr.
Ashok who feels pity for him.
Since Balram can’t enter the mall like all servants he waits among the other drivers in front of the
mall. He notices a magazine called “Murder Weekly” that features violent stories about fictional
murders in detail that seem to fascinate most of the servants. After driving his masters home,
further mockery from Mukesh Sir and cleaning the car Balram returns to the servants’ quarter in
the basement of the building his masters are living in. There he gets mocked and abused by the
other servants until he decides to move in a little room where he can be alone even though it is in
horrible shape and full of roaches. The next day Balram gets to drive Mr. Ashok and Mukesh Sir
to the headquarters of the Congress Party where he has to wait for two hours after dropping them
off. While he suspects his masters to be bribing some politician he is impressed by his surroundings,
such as the Presidents house, and feels a strong need to belong to the upper part of the city. Whilst
continuing his duties Balram suspects a crisis in the relationship of Mr. Ashok and Pinky Madam
and has to face further abuse from Mukesh Sir until he has to drop him off at the railway one day
leaving Ashok as his only master. Throughout the time he gets yelled by Pinky Madam for his low
hygiene Balram feels a strange attraction towards her which he suppresses since the tension
between her and Mr. Ashok seems to be growing. They bond once again over mocking Balram
together on another trip to the mall where Balram rejoins the other drivers waiting in front of it.
While the other drivers are busy reading the newest edition of “Murder Weekly” Balram notices
that servants are being kept out of the mall and that the bouncers are identifying them by their
clothing. Therefore he figures that he has to buy proper clothing in order to get into the mall
himself, which he does later on after having bought new shoes, clothes and toothpaste. Apart of
this exciting new experience Balram has to face further humiliation by Pinky Madam and Mr.
Ashok who make him dress up as a maharaja for their own amusement and having him drive
them to a party where he has to wait with the other drivers once again. On the way back an

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