Page 2 - Lesson Notes

Elder brother's wife

- -in charge of family member's welfare and cooking observes custom of covering face with veil in front
of male elders

Mukesh’s father

-head of the family-poverty-stricken –unable to renovate house or provide education to 2 sons-can
hand over the art of bangle-making.

Mukesh’s Grandmother

-present condition due to destiny-accepts her husband’s blindness-believes bangle making to be god-
given lineage.
Destiny of bangle makers

-poverty &lack of education lead to vicious circle-children take up bangle making-eyes adjusted to
darkness-eventually become sightless.

Time stands still in Firozabad

-no progress despite years of mind-numbing toil-poverty ,illiteracy ,dissatisfaction rampant-all are
victims of middlemen , policemen and touts

Cannot organize into a co-operative

-fear of police , lack of leadership, trap of middle-men-caught in a vicious circle-from poverty to
indifferences to greed to injustice

Children: desire to dream and dare ends in childhood

-born in poverty ridden family, burdened by stigma of caste-illiteracy –only get the legacy of bangle
making.

Mukesh : an exception

-aspires to be a motor mechanic-also realizes that dreaming of aero planes unrealistic-ironically few
planes fly over Firozabad