Summary

Tochi was seventeen and had worked in the Indian state of Panjab for four years. He told the owner of the household where he was a hired hand that he must resign because his father was ill and had lost both his arms. He rode the bus all day and slept in a hotel at night. While waiting for the next bus, he played cards with a little boy, whose mother took him away when Tochi said his full name, revealing that he was a ‘chamaar.’ After several bus rides, Tochi arrived home and found his father sleeping on the floor of their one-room house. He walked up the lane and found Kishen, the tailor, who told him there was no available work in the village or the surrounding area. Then he saw his fourteen-year-old brother, Dalbir, walking down the street carrying grain and...