Summary
Ama gives Lakshmi practical advice about cleaning, cooking, and general housekeeping; Ama is proud of Lakshmi, as she is the first person from the village to leave the mountain. Lakshmi’s stepfather brings her to Bajai Sita’s store and negotiates with Bimla. Lakshmi agrees to “do whatever is asked” of her, still thinking she is being hired as a maid. Bajai Sita, Lakshmi's stepfather, and Bimla settle on a price of 800 rupees, half to be paid upfront and the other half after a month, once Lakshmi has “proved her worth.” Once Lakshmi’s stepfather gets his money, he purchases several luxuries for himself. Lakshmi slips a coat for the baby, a jumper for Ama, and a bottle of Coca-Cola as a special treat for her mother into the basket. As Lakshmi leaves for her new life, she sees her betrothed, Krishna. Her “new Aunty,” Bimla, instructs Lakshmi not to look at him, as there is “no sense looking back.” However, Lakshmi sneaks a final glance at Krishna.
Aunty Bimla instructs Lakshmi to walk ahead, though she has no idea where she is going. Lakshmi sees a series of novelties as she travels from village to village, and she tries to remember her way back home, but the villages blend together, and her only landmark is the “swallow-tailed peak” of her mountain. Lakshmi lists the few possessions she carries and the memories of her loved ones she carries in her head. Lakshmi asks Bimla if in the city the “roofs are covered in gold,” and then asks Aunty to tell her about movies. When Aunty smiles, revealing teeth blackened by betel leaf, Lakshmi is “a tiny bit afraid” of her.
Lakshmi then rides in a car “along with the cucumbers and chickens.” She screams in fear at the speed and then becomes motion-sick. Still, she smiles, as “only the chickens know about this inauspicious start” to her journey. They enter the city, and Lakshmi again lists the people and activities she sees, cataloging each thing she learns, such as the different types of vehicles and how the city people behave toward one another.
Lakshmi and Aunty Bimla reach a house where Lakshmi dresses in a pink dress and shoes. Used to going barefoot, the shoes hurt Lakshmi’s feet. Then, Aunty Bimla meets with a human trafficker, Uncle Husband, an old man who pretends to be Lakshmi’s husband to sneak her across the Nepalese border into India. When Lakshmi tells Uncle Husband she is thirteen years old, he slaps Aunty Bimla. At the border crossing, an armed guard asks Lakshmi if Uncle Husband is her husband. Trusting Uncle Husband and Aunty Bimla have her best interests at heart, Lakshmi replies yes, and she and Uncle Husband cross the border. As a reward, Uncle Husband gives her a handful of sweets.
Lakshmi and Uncle board a train. He tells her not to talk to anyone, because if anyone hears her speak Nepalese, they will know she is from the mountains and “try to take advantage” of her. Lakshmi writes down Indian words that she can try and translate later, and Uncle buys her a roti. When they go for a bathroom break, he threatens that if Lakshmi runs off, her family will get no money. They then see a girl with a shaved head being publicly shamed as a crowd encircles her, screaming and spitting. Uncle explains that the girl tried to run away from her husband, an old man with a boil; he then says that if the girl tries to run off again, “no one will help her.”
Analysis
Lakshmi's sale at Bajai Sita's story is an example of dramatic irony. Though the reader knows Lakshmi is being sold into sexual slavery, Lakshmi believes she will be working as a maid. Bajai Sita's questions about Lakshmi's willingness to work are examples of verbal irony, as Lakshmi answers questions using the housekeeping knowledge her mother gave her, though Bajai Sita's questions are deceptively about sex work.
When Aunty Bimla says there is “no sense in looking back" at Krishna, her words have a deeper meaning. Bimla does not believe Lakshmi will ever return to her home, and therefore cautions her against hope and dwelling on memories of the past. Bimla's statement foreshadows Lakshmi’s fight against hopelessness at Happiness House. Lakshmi finds strength and resilience by “looking back,” pretending she is back in school, remembering the sounds and smells of home, and dreaming of her family.
Aunty Bimla’s blackened teeth symbolize the theme of facade. Though Aunty Bimla looks glamorous in her yellow dress and bangles, her beauty masks her evil intentions to sell Lakshmi into sexual slavery. Her teeth, blackened by betel, a stimulant, represent her corrupt interior.
Lakshmi’s position in the car, “along with the cucumbers and chickens,” symbolizes how her abusers, such as her stepfather, Aunty Bimla, Uncle Husband, and later Mumtaz, think of her. In the minds of these greedy adults, Lakshmi is nothing more than a good to be sold to the highest bidder. Lakshmi’s humourous take on her journey’s “inauspicious start” is ironic because she does not know she is destined for a horrific experience at the Happiness House.
To simulate the city's overwhelming and chaotic environment, the text employs lists and repetition. For example, in the chapter entitled "Next," Lakshmi lists the different people she sees engaging in commerce, such as "a man scooping hot popcorn into a paper cone" and "a woman with a basket heaped with dates." Each line ends with the words "next to," suggesting Lakshmi sees these images in rapid succession while riding by. The use of "next to" takes on a secondary meaning at the end of the chapter, when Lakshmi wonders what will happen "next to" her.
Lakshmi describes the sights, sounds, and smells of the city in visceral detail, such as the scent of "onions and curry and cigarette smoke, and a baby who has soiled his cloth," on the bus. Though city life unsettles Lakshmi, she applies the analytical skills she learned in school to interpret her environment. For example, she differentiates between trucks, cars, and buses, and writes down unfamiliar words in her notebook to translate later.
Bimla and Uncle Husband both learn that Lakshmi is only thirteen years old. This repetition of Lakshmi's age underscores the barbarity of child sex trafficking and holds each accomplice to Lakshmi's sale accountable.
Lakshmi’s journey to Happiness House is long and grueling; she transfers between multiple modes of travel, crosses national borders, and walks for several days. The complexity of her journey calls attention to the highly organized lengths human traffickers go to supply sex workers.
Lakshmi’s border crossing is a moment of tension and dramatic irony. The reader recognizes that Lakshmi will be rescued if she tells the guard the truth, that Uncle Husband is not her husband, but, manipulated by her traffickers, Lakshmi unwittingly seals her fate.
Uncle Husband manipulates Lakshmi by telling her others want to “take advantage” of her. This statement is ironic because Uncle Husband takes advantage of Lakshmi. For example, knowing Lakshmi is poor, he buys her sweets to gain her trust and threatens to withhold money from her family.
At each stage of Lakshmi’s trafficking, the price of Lakshmi increases. Lakshmi’s family only receives four hundred rupees, whereas Uncle Husband, who simply transported Lakshmi for a day, receives ten thousand. Lakshmi, who is horribly abused, gets nothing. This fact demonstrates how sexuality is commodified, a theme prevalent throughout the text.
