The Potatoes (Symbol)
Ghisu and Madhav eat potatoes they stole from another person's field. They are so hungry and impatient that they don't wait for the burning-hot potatoes to cool down. Eating the potatoes thus causes them pain and even brings tears to their eyes. In this way, the potatoes symbolize the main characters' desperation and the cycle of poverty that reproduces itself. The men are so hungry that they cannot even experience pleasure satisfying their hunger. At the same time, the potatoes symbolize Ghisu and Madhav's self-destructive lifestyle.
The Shroud (Symbol)
When Budhiya dies during childbirth, Ghisu and Madhav begin to worry about buying a shroud to cover her body. They use this excuse in order to convince people to donate money to them, and within an hour they've received enough to buy the shroud. After a brief conversation, the men convince themselves that they do not need to buy a shroud, as it will only burn anyway. As such, they decide not to buy the shroud and instead spend the money on food and alcohol.
On the one hand, the shroud is a symbol of tradition, which requires a funeral shroud out of respect for the deceased person's body. Yet the shroud also becomes a symbol of irony and religious hypocrisy. This is because a poor person who was never properly clothed in life must in death be dressed in a new shroud, which will only burn to ashes anyway.
