The Inexplicable Unhappiness of Ramu Hajjam

The only commodity not at a premium in the battle between the poor and the very poor is life. Deep in the neglected interiors of India the villages of Tesri and Bhagatpur lie on the same side of the river Kareh. While Bhagatpur is populated by the land-owning farmer caste, the low-castes live in Tesri eking a subsistence from looking after the needs of Bhagatpur's high-born - but not much less poor - populace. Neither side has ever questioned this balance of power because the received wisdom is to each their lot. Until the day the local barber Ramu Hajjam is beaten senseless for accidentally cutting Subedar Singh's cheek and his son, burning for revenge, realizes that the only justice open to them is the brutish kind the rebels provide... A spare simple tale that looks through crippling impoverishment centuries of caste divide and government neglect straight into the heart of a bereaved father.]>