It was a rainy morning, Bal ram was woken up by the drops of water falling on his face from the thatched roof of his house. Balram looks out of his window, it's still dark. He gets out of his bed and stretches his arms yawning. He takes the mug he used for drinking water the night before and heads out to defecate. His father hears the sound of Balram going out and shouts "don't forget to put the drum outside…we need some water for washing our asses", Balram looks back adjusting his dhoti and replies, "it's raining..if you run out of water just hold your ass to the sky", his father sighs, turns around in his bed and goes back to sleep. Balram opens the door and heads out. He sees a little boy in front of his house squatting below a palm tree holding his pants which are muffled up like a ball. He picks up the stick lying next to the door and runs yelling towards the little boy who is taking a shit in the rain."Move!, go shit infront of your own house!" The little boy doesn't move, he can't leave half way through a shit, he has to find a way to stall bal ram, he yells "wait bhaiyya , one min!" (wait brother one minute), Balram gets agitated and starts beating the kid with the stick. Hard enough to dissuade the kid from coming back. The kid gets up and starts running bare foot over the muddy puddles of the road with his shit stained ass in the rain. Balram looks at the bushes nearby and drops his pajamas to handle his business.
Balram's father's name was Giridhar, he worked many jobs until he inherited his father's small piece of land. He worked as a paddy merchant, tailor and other odd jobs. He married young and had 2 boys, Balram was the elder one, the younger one was Abhiram. Giridhar had many vices as a young father because of which Balram had to be much more responsible than one would expect from an adult, yet he never let go of his childish sense of wonder and his immense curiosity for new things. When Balram was six years old he saw a soldier in his town. He asked his mother what does a soldier do? His mother replied " They protect the country by killing bad people", the answer stuck with him for as long as he lived. The first thing that he ever wanted to become was a soldier. He grew up without much regard for education or the behavioral traits that the society expects from a boy of his age, but he nevertheless had respect for elders and teachers. He would read about the Indian army and their conquests be inspired. Everyday before he slept he imagined becoming a soldier and one day saving the country from bad guys on the other end of the border. He would not say this out loud as the family had much to lose if he were to leave them even for a week. He never knew how he would find a suitable arrangement so he could leave his family and be a soldier. He always counted on his brother to step in and take responsibility when he attained the age when he could join the military. Contrary to his expectations his brother was never really ready to take up a responsibility of such magnitude. Abhiram failed miserably in everything he did .For many years Abhiram had conspired to run away from home for making him go to school. If Balram was the ray of light that kept the home together, Abhiram was the dark corner in the house which bred distrust and failure. This is what kept their family up at night. The constant power struggle between Abhiram and Giridhar. The fact of the matter was, Balram was slowly beginning to realize that he would never have the opportunity to join the army like he always dreamed of. That is what happens when you get older he thought ,the dreams and aspirations of a person get muddied up by responsibilities and expectation of others. He resented his brother's lack of sense of responsibility and commitment, but loved him dearly. The same could not be said about Abhiram though ,who was cunning, lack luster and bitter.