Page 9-22

Part1

In the beginning of this reading Balram talks about his life three years ago, when he started to get a person of national importance, a lot of people saw him on the police poster. They were searching for him.


As a child he got named Balram by his teacher because his mother was to sick and his father to busy working as a rickshaw-puller, so he didn’t have time either.

Balram was born and raised in Laxmangarh, in the darkness of India where the country is full of rise and wheat fields with ponds choked with lotuses and water lilies in the middle. The India of light is close to the ocean because he brings the light to the country.

Everywhere where the Ganges flouts is the darkness. For Balram it’s the river of death which is full with rich, sticky, dark mud. In the age of 8 he went to the holiest spot at the river for his mothers’ funeral. The smell of decaying flesh was so intensive that Balram smelled the river before he actually saw him. In the end he saw his mothers’ body sinking into the mud.

Laxmangarh is not at all a tropical paradise. The electricity poles are defunct, the water pat broken and the children to skinny. The village has one street, a market with 3 almost identical shops and a tall temple. Water Buffalos are important for the family because when they have enough milk the women can sell some. It’s why it’s important to take care of the buffalo.

Like I said earlier Mr. Vikram Halwai, Balrams’ father was rickshaw-puller. He never crouched when the others did because he was a poor man with honor and courage. In Laxmngarh are 4 landlords. There is the buffalo owns the rickshaws and roads so every one who pass has to pay one third of his earned money, the stork who owns the river and get money from each fisherman and every boatman who crosses the river than his brother the wild boar owns all good agricultural land. He gets his money from his workers. The Raven owns the worst land. It’s dry and rocky so he gets his money from the goatherds which are crossing his land.

All four landlords, or animals live in huge mansions with there family and show of their money in the village since one child got kidnapped by the Naxals. So they send their children to Dhanbad or Delhi.

Each year every man in town meets at the bus station to get out of town to Delhi, Calcutta and Dhanbad for work to earn money. On month before the rains the men came back. That day the woman were waiting and hiding in the house to attack there man like wildcats to get some money. Vikram survived the city each time but during the attack from the women he lost all his money to them.



Part2

Pg 18: “ Sometimes, would you believe, I almost miss that time."
In my opinion this sentence is contrary to how he talks about his childhood and memories. He talked about that his parents didn’t even care what his name was because they were sick and busy working. I would understand if he feels upset and disappointed about it because it shows that his family connection and way of life was bad and sad, without any harmony. The family life seems cold and reserved. I believe it’s a really important fact of my childhood that I grow up with love harmony and fun. It makes me start thinking about how good the life is in Germany. We have good electricity, water, food, busses on time. We don’t really have 2 sides of our county like Balram explained. I could imagine that it’s really tough getting out of this area and start being on your one in a bigger city. Who would believe a poor country guy?
So far I really like the book, it’s interesting and I like how Aravind Adiga describes, for example on pg 22 “A moths before the rains, the men came back from Dhanbad an Delhi and Calcutta, leaner, darker, angrier, but with money in their pockets. The women were waiting for them. They hid behind the door, and as soon as the men walked in, the pounced, like wildcats on a slab of flesh. There was fighting and wailing and shrieking.”
I would say his descriptions are really detailed and he is sometimes using metaphors. I love that because I always try to imagine in my head what and how it is going on. On page 5 from the first reading I really liked the part with the chandelier. It talks randomly about the chandelier and goes over to how it looks the same in the best disco of Bangalore. I just really like how he descripts that part.



Part3

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_india-has-two-sides-developed-and-underdeveloped-says-rahul-gandhi_1315442

http://www.globalgateway.org.uk/default.aspx?page=1734