Water Everywhere (Visual Imagery)
When the monsoon finally abates, Nathan and Rukmani walk into the village to buy food. However, they discover that other people have fared far worse than them. Rukmani comments: "There was water everywhere, the gutters were overflowing into the streets. Dead dogs, cats and rats cluttered the roadside, or floated starkly on the waters with blown distended bellies." In this example of visual imagery, Markandaya illustrates the hellish landscape of the monsoon-ravaged village by detailing the starved and drowned animals drifting like balloons on the flood waters.
Smell of Their Brews and Liquors (Olfactory Imagery)
When the tannery is established in the village, Rukmani immediately perceives it to be an incursion on her and her neighbors' simple way of life as tenant farmers. In part, Rukmani doesn't like how the tannery workers create a new market for alcohol, which hangs in the air. Rukmani comments: "I went back to my home, thankful that a fair distance still lay between them and us, that although the smell of their brews and liquors hung permanently in the sickened air, still their noise came to us from afar." In this example of olfactory imagery, Markandaya immerses the reader in Rukmani's experience by describing the way in which the air itself has been tainted by the tannery's introduction.
Rich, Acrid Smell (Olfactory Imagery)
One day, Rukmani is pounding chilies, using a pestle and mortar to grind the dried, brittle pods into a powdered spice. Rukmani comments that "a fine red dust rose up, spreading a rich, acrid smell in the air. A pleasant smell, hot and pungent." In this example of olfactory imagery, Markandaya details the unique scent of the dust rising from the chilies, whose capsicum contains a paradoxically pleasing acridity.
Sound of Footsteps, Wary, Soft (Auditory Imagery)
On the night Rukmani attacks her daughter, Ira, because she believes Ira is Kunthi, Rukmani comments: "The darkness was lifting when I heard the sound of footsteps, wary, soft, less heard than felt as a slight tremor of the ground. If it had been a reverberating gong, that sound could not have had more violent effect." In this example of auditory imagery, Rukmani is so paranoid that she misinterprets Ira's careful footsteps as a violent disruption to not just her sleep but the foundation of her life.
