Respond to every 20 pages (there are no chapters in the book)

Prompts
● Talk about the author’s craft and word choices
● Connect a portion of the writing to your life
● Talk about whether you agree or disagree with the author’s perspective
● Respond to a certain passage talk about why you found it interesting
● Write a summary
● What were the main ideas
● Talk about a cultural difference
● Look into a concept, value, object, etc. from the book that you do not understand the
meaning of or simply what it is. Explain your learning.
● Choose a passage and respond to anything within the passage

Pages 1-20
Prompt: ​Look into a concept, value, object, etc. from the book that you do not understand the
meaning of or simply what it is. Explain your learning.

“I urge you not to dip in the Ganga, unless you want your mouth full of faeces, straw, soggy
parts of human bodies, buffalo carrion, and several different kinds of industrial acids.” (15)

The Ganga is the holiest river in India. It flows in the north-western part of the country.
Due to this many religious ceremonies are performed there. One of which is the cremation of a
person next to the river. The author goes on to talk about Balram’s (the main character)
experience with the cremation of his mother's body at the ganga river. The cremation is called
shmashana in sanskrit. This happens on the 13th day after the death usually. Prior to this on the
third day after the person has passed, the body is bathed in purified water and dressed in
clothes. If the person was a man or child these clothes will be white, and if they are a married
women they will be red or yellow depending on if they were a follower of Lord Vishnu or Lord
Shiva. Drops of holy water from the ganga will be placed in their mouth and tulsi leaves will be
put on the right side of the body. Bhasma or sandalwood paste will be placed on the person’s
forehead. The body is placed so that the head is facing the south.
During the shmashana the feet are facing southwards. Usually the eldest sin will take
any jewelry off the body and place ghee on it before the cremation. He also begins the
cremation. During this process the cremation the mourners return home.

Pages 20-40
Prompt: ​Talk about a cultural difference ​and ​Connect a portion of the writing to your life

On pages 36-38 Balram’s cousin gets married, since his family is the girls family they
must provide a dowry. The dowry was so high that he had to quit school to work in a tea shop in
order for his family to pay it. His older brother had done the same thing before he had for
another one of their cousins. Particularly in more rural parts of India it’s common for people to
not complete their education or not get one at all. Often due to their families debts.
 A dowry is an extremely rare thing to come across in the US. In India and the US, things
are moving further and further away from the traditional ways. The US is just moving away at a
much faster pace than India is from these traditions. American traditions surrounding marriage
are also less extreme of things. In India marriage is such an integral part of life that even now if
you reach a certain age and haven’t had a love marriage it is common to have an arranged
marriage. Where as in the US you can be any age and unmarried without it being a major
cultural issue.
Reading the newspaper here has shown me a lot about culture and law enforcement. In
1961 the dowry prohibition act made dowries no longer legal in India. However, I have seen
cases of abuse or even murders for not giving a sufficient dowry in the newspaper. I feel like
here there is a lot of complexity to things particularly as newer ideas mix with older traditions.

Pages 40-100
Prompt: ​Connect a portion of the writing to your life

When I told people I was going to India one thing that often came up was caste. The caste
system is a system which gives everyone a place in society. You are born into a, “destiny”
based on your caste. This can be told by your last name. “Halwai, my name, means
‘sweet-maker.’ That’s my caste - my destiny. Everyone in the darkness who hears my name
knows all about me at once.”(63) Halwai refers to rural areas of India as, “the darkness.” The
caste system was abolished in the constitution after the partition in 1950. As hindus believe in
reincarnation the thought process around this is that if you do well in life, and have good karma
in your next life you will be born into a higher caste. Eventually you will reach
nirvana/samadhi/enlightenment/moksha and be released from the cycle. Since arriving here I
have heard very little baut caste as I live in a city where it isn’t talked about as often. My family
is Patel, which means farmer. People here know this and they know what part of India that
family is from. They are always excited that I have a gujarati family, and ask about how I like the
food. I don’t really notice any discrimination on caste, I’ve seen it simply as a way to know more
about the person.

Pages 100-150
Prompt: ​Talk about a cultural difference

Balram recalls a memory from when he was younger of his father saying, “I’ve seen
twelve elections - five general, five state, two local - and someone else has voted for me twelve
times.” (100) This passage shows the corruption of the Indian voting system. In the last US
election there was potentially input from Russia that messed up the election. Both are elections
that have been played with in the interest of a particular party, how they have been played with
is the difference.

Pages 150-200
Prompt:​Look into a concept, value, object, etc. from the book that you do not understand the
meaning of or simply what it is. Explain your learning.
“I touched the stickers of goddess Kali, with her long red tongue, for good luck” (151)

Pages 200-250
Prompt: ​Author’s Craft
The book opens with the main character, Balram Halwai, writing a letter to a Chinese
man. This letter becomes the story. I find the author’s craft around this very interesting. For
example the author leaves and comes back, “Pardon me, Your excellency, for the long
intermission. It’s now 6:20, so I’ve been gone five hours.” What else I find interesting is that here
he pardons himself. If you were writing a letter to a person they would have no idea if you left it
for five hours, so I find it curious that he mentions this.
The letter is telling a story of how the main character killed his boss. What I do not yet
understand is why he is telling someone this? Why is he writing to an important chinese man
about this?

Pages 250-320
Prompt: ​Final Thoughts on the books as a whole
The book ends with Balram killing Mr. Ashok, and then starting a taxi business in
Bangalore after running away from the police in Delhi. I’m still confused though on why he killed
his boss? I mean obviously he hated the man and that was his primary motive. But why kill him?
I have a feeling he couldn’t quit his job because of the amount of time he had worked for Mr.
Ashok. However, he could have just done terrible at his job until Mr. Ashok fired him. He did
take a large sum of money from Mr.Ashok after he killed him to start his business with. Earlier in
the book he stole small amounts over time to acquire the large amount which he needed. I don’t
know why he wouldn’t just do this again. I feel that he had many options other than killing
Mr.Ashok, but it wouldn’t have been as interesting of a book had he let him live.