Thirst

Minni’s relationship with Pinky reveals the power and limitations of monetary wealth. Although the two girls are very similar on paper—hard-working students of about the same age—one key difference keeps them apart from one another: socioeconomic status. Over the course of their relationship, Minni realizes that her first impressions of Pinky are only half of the wealthy girl’s story. Privilege, no matter how immense, cannot always fulfill emotional needs. Though Pinky’s material comfort throws into relief the Compounding Effects of Resource Deprivation among poor families like Minni’s, Pinky’s challenges also remind her of the importance of having a Supportive Community in Times of Crisis.

Minni first encounters Pinky in her bedroom, which initially appears to her to be the lap of luxury: “Pinky is lying on a pink rose-patterned bedspread on a big platform bed. She looks like a princess in a fairy tale” (70). At this moment, all that Minni can see in Pinky is her material privilege. Pinky has everything Minni does not: physical comfort, security, and as many books as she wants. The aesthetic effect of the pink bedspread and platform frame is so idyllic to Minni, a girl who is used to sleeping on a mat in a one-room house, that she is blind to the possibility that discontent might be hiding underneath the beautiful surface. However, as soon as the flaws in Pinky’s living situation—such as her restrictive parents and her emotional isolation—begin to make themselves clear, Minni’s princess metaphor takes on darker connotations. Learning that Pinky’s parents do not let her socialize much, Minni thinks, “She has so much and so little. She’s like a princess locked in a tower” (80). In this moment, it becomes clear that Minni has one essential thing that Pinky does not: friends. As such, Minni shifts her idyllic image of a princess to the more tragic archetype of a princess who has been trapped and isolated.

Pinky senses her emotional deprivation and attempts to compensate for it by befriending Minni, but her family’s values prevent them from forming a close relationship. The barrier between them is not merely one of a difference in wealth; traditional Indian social hierarchies also interfere. Pinky’s grandmother enforces the Indian caste system in the household, using it to determine who she will treat as a human. Her cruel, dehumanizing insults are easily the most venomous language used in the entire book: “Do you even know where these low-caste people live? Do you know the kind of germs that breed in those slums? You don’t know—she might have TB” (81). To Pinky’s grandmother, it is as if Minni herself is the germ. Pinky is caught between her desire to be friends with Minni and her loyalty to her family, who treat Minni as though she exists only to serve. A pendulum between materialism and emotionalism swings Pinky between Minni and her grandmother, and it is unclear which side Pinky is more sympathetic to. Wherever her heart lies, the conflict keeps Pinky socially and emotionally isolated.

By contrast, Minni only describes herself as a princess once in the book. When she uses it for herself, it reflects the feeling engendered by a close emotional bond rather than by material possessions. In Chapter 18, she remembers that her mother “would wait on [her] like [she] was a princess. She’d roll a roti smeared with jam for [her] to eat on the way” (77). What makes Minni feel like royalty is not wealth or creature comforts but her mother’s love. Though she does not have any material treasures, Minni is treasured by those around her, as reflected in Faiza’s dismay that Minni has less time for her. For Minni, the struggles she faces both materially and interpersonally derive from the same sources: her family’s economic precarity and their struggle to secure sufficient resources for their survival. Unlike Pinky, when Minni experiences emotional isolation from her brother, mother, and friend, it is because the socioeconomic systems to which they are subject have forced them apart.