”Touch me” - Analysis
Hunger, poverty, possibilities, survival and bad health are all a big part of the exciting extract of the novel “Touch me” by Romen Basu. It is a heartbreaking story that will give you the view of poverty from an insider; it will make you realize how much poor people go trough in the chase of new possibilities. In this essay I will analyze and interpret the extract of the novel “Touch me”. I will characterize the main characters being Jathumal, his mother Tarabai. I will partly focus on Jathumal and Tim’s relationship and also the caste system in India.

“Touch me” takes place on the Mirabag squatter’s colony in Mumbai, India. Mirabag squatter’s colony is one of the poorest parts of Mumbai, where the protagonist Jathumal is settled with his mother Tarabai; they live in a little ruined hut that easily could turn into ruins. “Jathumal’s hut was made of sheets of corrugated iron for walls with discarded scrap iron covered with tattered tarpaulin for the roof. Putting his shoeshine box in the corner by the door” (p. 38, l. 1). This easily describes how bad the conditions are. Jathumal is a ten year old Indian shoe polisher; he has no school because in order to survive and feast, he must work for the money. Jathumal is a very kind and goodhearted kid, even though he must work for the sake of his mother’s health, he does not complain and protest against it. He has seen the world as it really is from the start and that only makes him stronger and more appreciative of daily life things. One of his wishes is to learn how to write and read in English in order to achieve a better job or better opportunities. His most serious ambition is to make money so his mother could stop working, also shown in the text: “Tim came to know very early in their friendship that the most serious ambition in Jathumal’s life was to make enough money so his mother could