Thirst

The theme of the Compounding Effects of Resource Deprivation culminates in this section as Minni struggles with her growing responsibilities and observes the effects that a lack of resources has had on others. Having temporarily lost her mother to a water-borne illness, Minni’s time is occupied by fulfilling her mother’s economic and domestic roles in the family. As a result, Minni loses access to her education. Unable to complete her chores in time to make it to school, Minni is barred from attending at all. Latika, the local woman who takes Minni under her wing, further illustrates how the compounding effects of resource deprivation keep people trapped in poverty. Latika was deprived of a different kind of resource than Minni—educational support. Because her school did not have the resources to help her with her learning disorder, she was forced to drop out. Being locked out of education meant that she was locked out of higher-paying jobs, and, as a result, she must now support herself by selling magazines, a job that can keep her alive but not raise her circumstances. This is the path Minni faces with her mother gone: Because she cannot maintain both her education and her family, she is in danger of losing the chance of a brighter future.

The fact that Minni is able to return to school and get back on the path to her dreams is thanks to the fact that she has a Supportive Community in Times of Crisis. Latika, recognizing that household duties are getting in the way of Minni’s education, decides to step in to help. She offers material support for Minni, taking over tasks like fetching and boiling water so that Minni can make it to school on time. At school, Miss Shah stands up for Minni and offers her free after-school tutoring to help her get caught up. She also gives Minni tips on how to balance her school schedule with her chores. Together, the two women provide Minni with enough material and emotional support to enable her to balance her family responsibilities with her education, demonstrating that a supportive community can, to some extent, mitigate the effects of resource deprivation.

Minni’s encounter with Pinky’s father in the dining room brings her face-to-face with the cause of her family’s dissolution and re-introduces the theme of The Necessity of Standing Up to Injustice. The fact that the water mafia boss is Pinky’s father—and is only ever identified as Pinky’s father, never by his own name—emphasizes the fact that the harms Minni suffers arise from the structural problems within her own community. By consistently referring to him as “Pinky’s father,” Minni ties his identity inextricably to Pinky’s and emphasizes his identity as part of a family. The mafia boss’s lack of a real name thus points to the way complicity in his exploitation extends to everyone who benefits from it, directly or indirectly. His family’s affluence is the direct result of Minni’s family’s suffering.

Pinky’s father is characterized mainly through his dialogue, which has a consistent tone and cadence. Short, exclamatory sentences characterize his manner of speaking in both the dining room scene and the scene where Sanjay sees him stealing water. This consistency in dialogue across chapters helps to confirm that Minni’s split-second recognition of him in the dining room is not mistaken. Furthermore, the fact that he does not have to speak very much to get what he wants indicates that he has an intimidating presence. In the dining room, his mere presence is enough to render Pinky entirely powerless. Where earlier that day, she had been reassured that victory was possible by Miss Shah, she now thinks, “This day was not any kind of victory. Today I came face-to-face with the monster” (137). In calling him a monster here, Minni strays from her usual use of “Pinky’s father” in favor of an epithet that emphasizes the cruelty he has exhibited toward her neighbors and friends. Nevertheless, after leaving Pinky’s house, Minni refuses to be cowed by the “monster.” Instead, with Faiza’s support, Minni begins to consider how to bring him to justice. Having confronted the source of the neighborhood’s “evil,” Minni chooses to face it head-on rather than hiding from it the way her father has suggested in the past.