Page 90 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Indian Writings in Literature

Notes The astonishing thing is that Ramchand's family expected him to support himself fully and to live
independently from age 15 on--and he did without any further contact from his family apparently.
The action of The Sari Shop opens when Ramchand is 26 and he has been living and working in
the same place since he was 15. Through his work at the Sari Shop, Ramchand becomes acquainted
with the absolute wealthiest famlies in town and even arranges a quick and dirty invitation to the
wedding of one of Amritsar's wealthiest daughters.
There is a lot of description of the different kinds of saris available at the shop. They are divided
by fabric, by design--by type of border, by type of skirt; there are saris and salwar kameezs, and
each garmet can have a head piece called by various names such as pallu or chunni. The colors are
vividly described e.g. "bottle green."
Ramchand learns from his friends at the Sari House, particularly Chander, that one of the wealthiest
families in Amritsar withheld temporarily, then permanenetly, three months of regular wages
from a significant number of workers. Ramchand tries talking calmly to the factory owner and is
firmly told that the profit margins don't allow the wages to be paid.
Ramchand also learns that Chander's wife is the victim of "persuasion" outside the law for
demanding her husband's wages. She is drunk, arrested, raped, then sexually assaulted by the
police using a lathi or night stick. In a different incident, Chander's wife Kamla threw a sharp
object at another of the rich family heads, Ravinder Kapoor. This time the reaction was catastrophic.
Kapoor --no doubt off the record--hired goons to break all of Kamla's bones, parade her naked
through the slum neighborhood, and burn down her slum house with Kamla inside.
This systematic destruction of Kamla's life creates a moral crisis for Ramchand. The families
responsible are the same ones who buy the most expensive saris. The other shop boys do not see
the overall implications. Ramchand stays home two weeks without authorization trying to figure
out what to do.

The book has a lot of comical elements that ride on the gossip of the ladies from the
different families as they browse the saris. There is real color in the book as the descriptions
of the fabrics jump off the page.

For me one of the most charming threads in the story is Ramchand's desire to learn English. Bajwa
really makes it clear how lack of context makes it so hard to span the words, when one word can
have so many meanings. Ramchand needs the "tuition" that the rich boys are getting. He also
deserves it. Yet Ramchand is making real progress.

10.2 Sari Shop—Detailed Study of the Text

Rupa Bajwa’s “The Sari Shop” set in the little city of Amritsar captures evocatively, the social
atmosphere of small-town India. Her narrative encapsulates the spirit of the sari-shop environment
with its spirited, intimate, interaction between shop personnel and regular patrons. In the
background, the rustling silk, soft cotton and shiny synthetic saris reach out to us so realistically
that we long to hold and caress them in our hands. Apart from that, the unplumbed pathos of
Ramchand, an assistant in Sevak Sari Shop, whose world revolves around selling saris to the
women customers, deadens our heart with sorrow. Ramchand’s life and his isolation in the
indifferent world are effortlessly carved out in fine detail. Is it surprising then, we are drawn to
empathize with his empty, monotonous existence?
Ramachand’s loss of his doting parents at a tender age is very moving. He is forced into menial
work by his uncle who grabbed his inheritance. His desire to master English language is noteworthy,

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