Summary

“The Second Night”, Part 1 - p. 37 – 61. Balram begins the second part of his letter to Premier Jiabao by describing how devoted to Mr. Ashok he was; how physically attractive both Mr. Ashok and his wife, Pinky Madam, were; and how he (Balram) picked up a lot of knowledge, including his knowledge of English, from them. He describes feeling “sentimental” about Mr. Ashok, in spite of having murdered him, and comments on how murdering a man gives someone a uniquely intimate knowledge of him. Balram describes how, after the sudden and humiliating death of his father from tuberculosis, he and his brother Kishan moved to Dhanbad, a town where they could both get work. Balram says he was particularly glad to move because he had developed a reputation in Laxmanarh as more of a snoop and a watcher than a worker. He says he first...