Page. 38-60
The second night
Summary:
The second chapter is mostly about Mr.Ashok Belrams exemployer.
Belrams starts telling about Mr. Ashok and his wife Pinky Madame and how he killed him.
Even though he killed his employer he protects his good name.
He also tells how his father died on TBC and how he, his brother Kishna and his cousin Dilip left to go Dahnbad. They found work in a tea shop.
They fired him at the teap shop in his village because he spied on the custumers to educate himself. No one in Laxmangarh would hire him.
In Dahnbad he took driving lessons to become a driver. His grandma paied for the driving classes but Belrams had to pay everything back once he got rich.
Belrams tells about his first time and how he became a man.
After he got his driverlicence he walked from house to house and asked the rich people if anyone needed a driver. He got rejected by every houseowner. Until he came to the storks house. The stork was one of the landowners in Laxmangarh. He bagged the Stork for work.
He and his sons asked him some questions about ist family etc. just to make sure that they can trust him.
Belram tells about his life as a driver and about all the other work he had to do around the house.
He also tells about all the conversations about religion and politics he got to listen to during his stay at the storks house.
Another major topic in this chapter is the cast system. Belram explains the prime minister about the system before 1947 and afterwards.
Before the british left everybody belonged to a cast and everybody did what they were supposed to do. These days there are just two castes left: Men with big bellies and Men with small bellies. The ones with the big bellies eat and the others get eaten up.
Belrams last name is “Halwai” which means something like sweet-maker.
Personal Part:
The cast system is something I found particulary interesting.
I'll start with a little explanation about the caste system.
The caste system is like a religious social standing system. The population is divided in higher and lower groups.
The four main castes are Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vashaya and Shudra. They are called "Varnas". There are also some subgroups of the castes. The Jati- they depend on the profession of the people.
Once you are born in a cast there is no way to reach a higher cast. The Hindus believe in reincarnation.
I knew about the cast system before but I’ve never realized how much it affects the life in India and how much it changed after the british left India in 1947.
It was interessting to hear about the cast system from the view of an Indian.
The way he discribed the castsystem today made it clear how the society in India is divided.
Even though the cast system is abolished in India people still care about the castes.
A good example is the Stork. He aked Belram about his cast before he hires him .
Belram explains how his cast is his destiny. When people know his name they know everything about his life.
Links:
http://internet.cybermesa.com/~rotto/caste.htmlhttp://www.friesian.com/caste.htm
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