Arrests in Dharavi
At the beginning of the novel, the narrator explains that “arrests in Dharavi are as common as pickpockets on the local train.” Therefore, he is not surprised that nobody bothers to check what the police are doing when he is arrested. In fact, everything is quiet except an old owl hooting.
Ram's torture
During Ram’s torture, the narrator uses a range of similes to convey the pain that Ram feels. For example, he compares the wooden rod with chili powder smeared on it to “a molten, searing spike,” and the electric current flowing through his body to “hot poison.”
Dwellers in Dharavi
When Ram is living in Dharavi, Asia’s biggest slum, he emphasizes the inhuman conditions by comparing the dwellers there to creatures who “live like animals and die like insects.”
Sikandar
When Ram and Salim meet Sikandar, a crippled boy from Pakistan, they “touch him as though he is a caged animal” because they know that he would be forced to beg for money. However, with his particular head shape, he does not look like a human or an animal, so they compare him to “the alien we saw in a Britannia biscuits commercial on TV.”
Ram at the game show
During the game show, Ram is presented “like a lamb” which is going to be sacrificed to the audience so they would be benevolent to the show’s producers and keep watching. Ram says, “They are fattening me with adulation before slaughtering me on the next question.”
