44 pages • 1 hour read
A Fine Balance
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary: “Sailing Under One Flag”
Beggarmaster transports the tailors to Dina’s apartment in the middle of the night to verify that Ishvar and Om really work there. Maneck and Dina are overjoyed to vouch for them, and Beggarmaster departs. Dina finally allows the tailors to sleep on the verandah, fearful that if they sleep on the street, the police might take them again. They’ve been gone for three weeks, and there’s much sewing work to do.
Dina also suggests they use her bathroom to wash up rather than wasting time going to the train station. Also, if they stay indoors, the nosy rent-collector won’t be suspicious that she’s running a business from her flat. Eventually, Dina even allows them to share meals in the house. Ishvar and Om are adept cooks, and mealtimes become an enjoyable experience for the whole group. The four people fall into a harmonious routine, never getting in one another’s way:
The pattern of each day, thought Dina at the end of the first week, was like the pattern of a well-cut dress, the four of them fitting together without having to tug or pull to make the edges meet. The seams were straight and neat (382).
The Family Planning Commission has fired Rajaram, the tailors’ shantytown friend, who is going back to his original business of collecting hair. The tailors agree to store his bag of hair with their beggar friend Shankar until Rajaram can sell it at the end of the month.
Dina encourages the tailors to use scraps of leftover material to make something for themselves. They decide to create a body vest for the legless Shankar. He’s very grateful, but Beggarmaster makes him soil the clothing first so that it will be a more convincing beggar garment.
Chapter 11 Summary: “The Bright Future Clouded”
After three months, Dina has accepted the tailors sleeping on the verandah. They continue to make half-hearted attempts to look for a place of their own. When Maneck accompanies them on one of these excursions, they stop in the shop of Jeevan, a tailor who briefly gave them some employment. The boys are interested in getting a glimpse of Jeevan’s female customers in the changing room.
Maneck’s school closes for the three-week Diwali vacation. He doesn’t want to go home to visit his parents and mopes around the apartment instead. Dina suggests that Om should take afternoons off and accompany Maneck on some excursions. They return each evening, chattering happily about the museums and various places they’ve visited.
Ibrahim, the rent-collector, stops by to warn Dina about her tailoring business. She boldly claims that Ishvar is her husband, and the two boys are her sons. The rent-collector leaves, threatening to return another time.
One rainy afternoon, Maneck and Om concoct a scheme to visit Jeevan again. They volunteer to serve as his assistants to take measurements for his lady customers. Jeevan refuses, but offers to let them watch the changing room through a peephole in the wall if they pay him two rupees each.
This lark gives Om an idea. He tells Maneck that the gap in the bathroom door would let them spy on Dina while she’s bathing. Maneck refuses. He feels this is disrespectful and gets into a fistfight with Om about it. The two barely speak for over a week, and Maneck regrets how the group dynamic has changed for the worse: “He missed their company, the walks, the after-dinner gatherings […] the simple routines that gave a secure, meaningful shape to all their lives” (420).
Ibrahim returns and brings two thugs with him. He tells Dina she will be evicted in 48 hours, but she counters that she won’t leave. The thugs tear up her apartment and destroy much of the completed sewing work. Maneck and Om are both injured trying to defend the flat.
The rent-collector sends the thugs away and breaks down, saying he hates his job working for the landlord. He tells Dina the landlord will find some excuse to send her packing because he could get far more rent from a new tenant. Dina steels herself to ask her brother for help because might have enough political influence to save her flat.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Trace of Destiny”
When Beggarmaster comes to Dina’s apartment to collect his fee from the tailors, she tells him that their next payment will be late. Dina shows Beggarmaster the mess that the two thugs made of her home. Beggarmaster asks for an itemized list of what it will cost to repair or replace all the damaged articles. He says he will be back the following day to arrange everything.
When he doesn’t return by the following evening, the four friends become despondent and start packing to leave. Maneck is distraught that their makeshift family is falling apart: “Maneck was silent as they persevered to rescue the shreds of their livelihood. Not all their skills with needle and thread could sew it together again, he thought” (432).
The next night, Beggarmaster returns. He was delayed because two of his beggars were murdered for their long hair. Ishvar and Om immediately conclude that Rajaram is the killer, but they say nothing. Beggarmaster gives Dina all the money she needs to repair the flat. He has pulled strings so that the thugs won’t bother her, and the landlord won’t try to force her out. He gives her easy terms to repay the loan.
In the three months that follow, life in the flat resumes its normal course. On one of Beggarmaster’s usual appearances to collect his fees, he announces that he has great news for Shankar, his favorite beggar:
He has learned that Shankar is really his half-brother. The revelation places Beggarmaster in a quandary. He doesn’t know if Shankar will greet this news with happiness at newfound family or anger about their different circumstances: “What has become clear is a fine line between Shankar and me. Finer than the silken hair of my poor murdered beggars. I did not draw it—it is the trace of destiny. But now I have the power to rub it out” (451). Not knowing what to do, Beggarmaster asks the tailors to sound Shankar out about his childhood, which might give him a clue on how to proceed.
Chapters 10-12 Analysis
In these chapters, the budding family bond blooms. After the tailors return from the work camp, Dina treats them quite differently. She allows them to sleep on the verandah, use her bathroom to wash, and cook their meals in the flat. This third item has a particularly strong influence on how the four interact: As they share meal preparation chores, they begin to function as a family.
The first time the rent-collector comes by to warn Dina about her home-operated business, she tells him that the sewing machines are for her private use; the second time, she boldly declares that Ishvar is her husband and the two boys are her sons. She is consciously acknowledging them as her kin.
Fabric becomes a symbol of emotional connections. Dina generously offers the tailors leftover material to make clothing for themselves. Instead, they want to fashion a special body vest for Shankar, the beggar. They consider him a member of their extended family.
Family also comes to the fore in Beggarmaster’s relationship with Shankar. Beggarmaster unexpectedly discloses to the four inhabitants of the flat that Shankar is his half-brother. Although Shankar was always his favorite, Beggarmaster doesn’t know how Shankar will react to being family, especially since Shankar doesn’t remember that Beggarmaster bribed a surgeon to maim him as an infant so that he could be a beggar. The depth of corruption in Indian society is underscored by the fact that anything can be had for a price—including maimed infants.
Beggarmaster’s adeptness at working the system has a more benign aspect as well. By pulling the right political strings, he saves Dina from the landlord’s harassment and punishes the thugs who vandalized her apartment. This highlights that a go-between like Beggarmaster is the only way to navigate India’s corrupt official channels.
Just as Beggarmaster turned a maimed human body into a commodity, Rajaram does the same with hair. When Rajaram goes back to his original trade as a hair-collector, his obsession with this article of trade pushes him into criminal acts. He steals hair from unwary citizens in the marketplace and even murders two beggars for their beautiful locks.
Unlock all 44 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
