Bakha's Shift

While Bakha from the vey start of the book is critical of the caste system and the rigid roles it categorized life into, he still falls into the mannerisms of the untouchables. When he accidentally brushes into an upperclass citizen on the street, an act of physical contact that is forbidden, he automatically accepts the berating words of the man, cruel words that should not be exchanged between two humans for an act as small as an accidental bump. "He was about to apologise. He had already joined his hands instinctively" (47) describes just how trained Bakha and his fellow outcastes had become to accept their place in the hierarchy. However, once he is slapped in the face by the Lalla who he accidentally brushed against, something powerful awakens in Bakha giving him the strength and courage to develop a rage in the place of submission. "The strength, the power of his giant body glistened with the desire for revenge in his eyes, while horror, rage, indignation swept over his frame" (50) offers a description of change gripping Bakha from the inside out, allowing for his eyes to open to the unjustifiable indignities he has been subjected to all his life for a reason he cannot control. Instead of suffering silently, never questioning a better life, he now has the fire within him to take action to break free. As a side note, it is interesting that the concept of revenge is brought up. Perhaps before Bakha would have relied solely of the Hindu belief of karma to carry out revenge for him.