From the memoir: The long shadow of caste discrimination on Dalit writer Adhir Biswas as a schoolboy

Ma had asked me to wait a bit. But that had been a long while back! How much longer? What was she looking for inside the room? What was so important now? I couldn’t understand why she had asked me to wait! Oof, why did she have to do this when I was in such a hurry! Should I leave? No, maybe she’d give me something. Did she go in to get some money? Wouldn’t be bad if I got some. After all, I was beginning school today. It was my first day of school. If not an anna, even two paise was good. But I wouldn’t wait longer for that.

I could easily run all the way, but because it was the first day, I wouldn’t do that. If Ma held me up like this hereafter I would just leave. Hey, why was she going from one room to another? I knew that Ma shouldn’t move about like us. That was the toll of suffering her sickness. I saw Ma every day, but I had never seen her like I was doing today. Bustling around for so long. And through all that, it seemed to me that Ma was moving...

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