Chapter 4. "the fourth night"

Chapter 4 


Page. 98-145

the fourth night

Summary:

Delhi is the capital of India and they call it “the showcase of the republic”.

Balram  tells about Delhis street system which is confusing and illogical.

Balram remembers and continues his story.
The Mongoose and his brother Mr.Ashok got in some arguments about money,about Mr. Ashoks wife and his American lifestyle.
Mr.Ashoks plan was to stay in Delhi.

In Delhi Balram had to drive his masters to the mall a couple of time.
That’s where he met some other drivers. One of them told him everything he needed to know about Delhi.

At his masters house was a quarter for the servants. The other servents made fun of him and called him “village idiot”.
Balram decided to sleep in a room by himself.

One day Mr. Ashoks told Balram to drop Mukesh of at the train station.
After he dropped Mukesh of he noticed two things about Mr.Ashok:

1. nothing held his attention for long

2. He was weak, helpless,absent-minded, and completely unprotected by the usual instincts that run in the blood of a landlord.


Balram saw a servant trying to go into a mall in Delhi.
Servants were not allowed to go into a mall. Balram tried it as well.

He bought a rich mans t-shirt, a pair of shoes and some toothpaste.
He tried the same thing like the other servant and he walked into a mall for the first time in this life. Nobody noticed that he was a servant.
Balram calls it “his first taste of the fugitives life”.

One night he picked Mr.Ashok and his wife up from a party. They were drunk.
Pinky madame wanted Balram to get out of the car so she could drive by herself.
In that night Pinky Madame drove a girl over and killed her.

The next morning the Mongoose and man in a black coat wanted Balram to sign a paper
which said that the accident was caused by Balram when he was driving the car.

Underneath were the names of the witnesses listed.

Kusum Halwai was one of them.


Personal Part:

Delhi is a very interesting city. Like Balram says on page. 98 “ It’s the capital of our glorious nation.The seat of parliament , of the president, all ministers and prime ministers. The pride of our civic planing. The showcase of the republic.”

Delhi seems to be multicultural. Like Mr.Ashok says on page. 101 Gurgaon, is the most American part of the city. There are malls in Delhi, American restaurants like T.G.I Fridays etc.

On the other hand it seems to be like in any other city in India. There are rich people who live in houge houses, hire servants, drive nice cars etc. and on the other hand there are thousands of homeless people on the streets.

On page. 140

A conversation between Mr. Ashok and Balram.

“Oh, she was one of those people.”

“who live under the flyovers and bridges sir.That’s my guess too.”

“ In that case, will anyone miss her...?”

This is a good example for the class differences in Delhi. Homeless people are treated like animals. The riches don’t care about them. Poor and rich are two different worlds in Delhi.

Links: 

This link is more about the touristside of Delhi

http://www.tourism-delhi.com/sightseeing-in-delhi.html

this link is more for the citizens of Delhi.

http://delhigovt.nic.in/index.asp

This picture shows a slum in Delhi.