Summary:
Balram starts telling in this chapter with talking about a main difference between rich and poor human: rich want to be thin and poor want to get fat. Because of that, Ashok walks around the block to lose some calories like many rich people do. Balram is waiting with a towel and water for him. Vitiligo-lips waits for his master a few metres beside for his master. Balram asks him, if he get him a blonde whore and he answers that it will cost 6500 rupies. Balram hasn't that much yet, so he need to earn some extra money.
The next two weeks, he does some things he's still ashamed to admit, because he cheats his employer. He went to a corrupt mechanic and he picks up some paying customers/ uses his masters car as taxi. Finally he gets enough money and goes to a hotel with the other driver. He has to pay 300 rupies more because of being a servant, but he gets a blonde girl. They talk about life and then he says: "... time to get started.". He lets his hand run through her golden hair, but then he shriekes: the hair is dyed. Balram says he wants his money back, but ten minutes later he is back on the street with a scratched and bruised face. He loses about 7000 rupies and wants to cry. Coming back to the apartment block, his master is waiting for him in his room. Vitiligo-lips told him, that Balram was at the temple for praying to keep him out of trouble. Ashok promises to get him a new room because of Balrams bad living conditions. He talks about being sick of life and wanting to change it, so he goes with Balram to a tea shop to eat. Although the food is cheap, he likes it.
Mukesh visits them once again and while driving home from train station, Mukesh gives Ashok a bag full of money (the reason of his visit) for giving it to the fat man. While being in a traffic jam, Balram opens up the window to give a rupee to a beggar, which causes that Mukesh shouts at him. Both brothers are now arguing about money. Mukesh stays only for one night.
The next day, Balram has to wait for Ashok with the bag at the car. While driving him to the minister's building again, he can't keep his eyes off the bag and thinks about stealing it. He has an inner conflict: on the one hand he thinks his situtation is good (thinking positive) and on the other hand he thinks his situation could be better (thinking negative).
At a Sunday he takes Ashoks permission to go out and takes a bus to Qutub. First he visits the red-light-district, but because he doesn't like it there and he goes further into Old Delhi (Qutub is a part of it).
Slide-in: Describtion of his location
Gurgaon (where Ashok lives): bright, modern end of Delhi
Old Delhi including Qutub: poor place with rickshaws and old stone buildings
His destination is a very large seconhand book market. He isn't buying a book, but flips through them until the booksellers ask him to buy them. He keeps looting bookseller after bookseller all evening long until he stops at a booth with muslim books. The man on the booth tells him something about poetry.
Instead of going to the bus after this conversation, he wanders further into Old Delhi. A buffalo pulling a large cart behind him with no human sitting on, comes down the road. The cart is full of buffalo skulls and Balram walks along with that animal, looking at the cart. Balram says the buffalo turns his face to him and blaims him for the death of his family and as the cart passes by, he sees the faces of his family lying on it (he fantasizes).
The next morning, as Ashok enters the car, Balram wants to tell him something very important, but Ashok doesn't seem to be very interested. He thinks that Balram wants to marry and gives him a little money. Coming out of the building the morning after that, he goes to some malls, but they haven't opened yet. He follows some paw prints and stops in front of a slum. He goes further in it and fantasizes again, this time he thinks his masters cheating him. As he goes back he visits the mall to wash himself. He takes an iron wrench to his room ready to kill his master.
But he is interrupted: there is a boy waiting for him send by his grandmother with a letter. In it it says Balram hasn't send any money home for the last 11 months and his grandmother has picket a wife for him. The new kid is called Dharam and Balram should teach him to be a driver. Balram introduces him to Ashok as a helper and he welcomes that.
As Balram visits a tea shop with the new kid, vitiligo-lips shows up and wants 500 rupees from Balram for not saying anything.
At day of election, a new set of parties has come to power. A problem is, that Ashoks family has only given bribes to one of the losing parties. Balram has to drive him to an expensive hotel to meet some people. As he leaves the hotel with two politicians, he advices Balram to drive them wherever they want to go, Ashok takes a taxi home. The politicians talk about taking a lot of money from his master and how important Bangalore might be in the future and Balram has to drive them all night long. He's more and more thinkin about killing his master.
One morning he takes permission to leave for visiting the zoo with Dharam. As they arrive at a cage with a white tiger inside, Balram loses control over his body and faints for the third time.
In the evening he makes Dharam writing a letter to their granny and said, that Dharam should post it after Balram is leaving with Ashok next morning.
He said goodbye to Dharam as he is called up to drive Ashok. He has to drive him to some banks to fill the red bag once again. While driving to the destination, Balrams stops the car, leaves it and makes Ashok leaving the car, too.
Looking at a alleged disfunctional tire, Mr. Ashok gets killed by Balram. He places him in bushes and drives to the railway station. Waiting for the train he sees a child playing with water and decides to go back and pick up Dharam to protect him.
My opinion:
Balrams hate on Mr. Ashok must be grown really large, because (as seen on tv shows like CSI) if people kill other people this way, it must be something very personal. Normally they try to kill these people more unpersonally, for example shooting them with a gun or giving poison to them.
This homicide was a result of many influences:
1. Balram had always the dream to be rich, now he has the possibility
2. The job for Mr. Ashok might not last that long, Balram supposes that he's is already talking to other drivers
3. The two times he fantasises made him be mistrustful
4. He wants to get out of the rooster coop
5. He feels cheated by Mr. Ashok
6. Mr. Ashok just gave him 100 rupees for his wedding, although they had such a good relationship
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