Page 92 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Indian Writings in Literature

Notes does that. Kudos to Bajwa for her sensitive effort...Geetha Kariappa is a research scholar with her
area of interest being “Feminist Criticism.” She is actively involved in the field of Education and
Softskills as a teacher and a trainer. She loves reading fiction, short stories and books on travel.
She has written literary articles for many literary journals.
Ramchand, a shop assistant in Sevak Sari House in Amritsar, spends his days patiently showing
yards of fabric to the women of “status families” and to the giggling girls who dream of dressing
up in silk but can only afford cotton. When Ramchand is sent to a new part of the city to show
wares to a wealthy family preparing for their daughter’s wedding, he is jolted out of the rhythm
of his narrow daily life. His glimpse into a different world gives him an urgent sense of possibility.
He begins to see himself, his life, and his future more clearly. And so he attempts to recapture the
hope that his childhood had promised, arming himself with two battered English grammar books,
a fresh pair of socks, and a bar of Lifebuoy soap. But soon these efforts turn his life upside down,
bringing him face to face with the cruelties on which his very existence depends.
Bajwa dramatically illustrates the class gap in contemporary India in her debut novel, focusing on
the fortunes of Ramchand, a lowly, disaffected clerk in a popular sari shop. The novel opens with
Ramchand happily going about his duties serving the shop’s mostly upper-class clients. Opportunity
for advancement comes from an unlikely source when he attracts the attention of the beautiful,
literate Rina Kapoor, whose family hires the shop to provide saris for her upcoming wedding.
Inspired by his foray into a wider world (“there were cars and flowerpots and frosted glass trays
with peacocks on them”), Ramchand embarks on a half-baked self-improvement effort that includes
a reading program and some unintentionally comic attempts to learn English. Shortly afterwards,
though, Ramchand sees the other side of Indian life when the wife of one of his co-workers, a
woman named Kamla, descends into public drunkenness. Ramchand is a tenderly drawn character,
reminiscent of Naipaul’s innocent strivers, and the rest of the cast is vividly sketched. There are
several typical first-novel flaws: the narrative is slow in the first half, and Bajwa’s transitions
between her character-driven subplots are occasionally uneven and erratic. But Bajwa’s loving
attention to detail—Ramchand washing his feet with lemon juice before he visits the Kapoors, the
malicious chatter of the sari-shopping ladies—paints a compelling, acerbic picture of urban India.
The Sevak Sari House in Bajwa’s resonant first novel is a microcosm of its surrounding town,
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

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