VBTS review

Hi there,

This post is about the book, VBTS. It is a book i am required to read for my LITERATURE subject. It is a nice short story about a boy named Hari. His father is drunk and his mother is sick. He had to leave school early to support his family. He has three sisters, Bela, Kamal and Lila. Lila assumes the role of her mother as the mother
is too sick.


This book talks a lot about India culture and rural living. I never thought that people in India would be so less fortunate. Now i know that i should appreciate the things around me.


One theme i am going to explore is : FAMILY. Family, everyone has one. NO matter how dysfunctional it is, it is still a family.Their family is considered dysfunctional. Their father is a major factor. Instead of contributing, he drinks toddy everyday, even when he does not have money. 'He no longer fished, he had sold his boat to pay his debts' (pg 3).

Hari hated his father. 'Maybe a poisonous snake will bite him. He may step on one of them and be bitten' (pg 33). He hoped that his father would die, not be afraid that would happen.

Lila looked after the family, taking the role of her mother. She makes tea, buys all the nessecities and cooks the 3 meals, if they could afford. Lila stopped school to assume this role as mother, taking care of her family. She often reminds her sisters to be punctual for school. I can infer that she thinks highly of education and does not want her sisters to miss this opportunity to study.

Even though Hari is not much older than his siblings, they still look up to him as the head of the family. When the Khanekar brothers came to their house, and asked them to pay off the father's debts, the girls wished that Hari was around. Hari takes it upon himself to take care of the family. He trys his best to earn money. He thinks that 'He must have a job if he was to find his sisters a way out of this dark, gloomy house and the illness and drunkenness and hopelessness that surrounded them like the shadows of the night'. (page 67)


Jay