Losing the law-firm job after the employer's death

The death of the British lawyer who employed the young narrator turns a hard-won refuge into another rupture. The narrator loses his position as the lawyer’s secretary and must leave the neighborhood where he had found both work and the kindness of older colleagues. Their help cannot restore the security the job provided; instead, their farewells mark the start of another uncertain search for a living.

The Job as Refuge

Before this loss, the narrator had moved from poverty into a new world of work as a secretary, or babu, for a British lawyer. His employer’s kindness had seemed like an oasis after years of hardship, allowing him to set the past aside and imagine that this reprieve might last. The lawyer’s death abruptly ends that sense of safety. The narrator presents the reversal as a small disturbance capable of destroying an oasis: for people already living precariously, even a minor change can undo the fragile shelter they have found.

Colleagues and Departure

The other secretaries grieve for the narrator’s loss, and Chhoka-da responds with practical care, inviting him to sit and urging him to eat despite his distress. Chhoka-da, Arjun-da, and Haru-da are troubled by his situation. They acknowledge that they themselves could not escape their circumstances, but encourage him to go while he still can, finding hope in the possibility that at least one of them might get out of their shared labyrinth of hardship.

The narrator has already said that even if he finds another job, he cannot remain in the neighborhood. He takes leave of his colleagues, slings his bag—with his lunchbox—over his shoulder, and sets off. The departure is not a recovery or a secure new beginning: he has no work waiting, and the account leaves him facing the need to find a job simply to live as a human being. His friends’ encouragement gives the loss a direction, but not a resolution.