What is an example of motif in the novel, Ahimsa?

Kelkar uses the motif of toilets to represent the work that people of privilege often take for granted. This also represents the way people who do the work of cleaning toilets are often taken advantage of, or even abused. Mohan, the family’s toilet cleaner who is also a member of the Dalit - or Untouchable - class, lives in fear of how others treat him, even in fear of Chachaji who beats him and emotionally abuses him. Anjali at first thinks, “There were people to do this kind of work. As much as she despised the way Chachaji treated Mohan, there was some truth to what he’d said. Untouchables always cleaned the bathrooms. That was just how it was” (70). When Anjali and Ma try to do the work of cleaning their own outhouse, they quickly realize how awful it is, and how grateful they are that Mohan does the work. Later when Ma is in prison, Anjali asks about her toilet, realizing that they just have a pit toilet that is not often cleaned. This creates the foul stench of the prison. Anjali realizes again how privileged they are to have Mohan clean their outhouse.

Kelkar also uses the motif of toilets to prove that, in fact, it is not the oppressed class that needs to change, but the class oppressing them that needs to change. At the start of the novel, Anjali calls Mohan, Paro and the others who live in the basti Untouchables. Ma instructs her to call them Harijans as Gandhi says - or Children of God. When Anjali talks to Mohan about this, he tells her to call them Dalits - which means Oppressed. This puts the burden of their oppression not on themselves but on others - calling on the other classes of India to stop oppressing them. This also more accurately reflects their reality. Anjali and Ma then take it upon themselves to clean their own toilet - vomiting as they do. Mohan helps show them how and where to take their refuse. Along the way Anjali is forced to show the work she is doing in front of her enemy Suman - and forced to confront her own prejudices against the work. Later on when Mohan makes a necklace for Suman - her mother calls it a “toilet necklace” and all the neighbors beat him bloody (222). This again proves that not only do people take Mohan’s work cleaning their toilets for granted, but also that it is they who need to change, not the Dalits. They are oppressing the Dalits, the Dalits are not oppressing themselves.

Finally, Kelkar uses this motif to prove that all humans are equal. The toilet - and cleaning the toilet - is a relatable symbol that the young adult reader can understand. They can also understand why the work is repulsive. However, everyone uses a toilet, and everyone needs it. When Mohan helps Anjali and Ma take their refuse to the stream, Anjali learns how it is actually used as fertilizer to help spinach grow. Everyone eats the spinach around them, helping their community thrive. When Anjali pushes the wheelbarrow back up the hill in front of Suman, she symbolizes through toilets that change is an uphill climb but equality is possible. When Ma is in prison, she is not only imprisoned like everyone else, but she also has a pit toilet that is not cleaned. This shows how in the end, all humans are alike, and all humans deserve equal, fair, and just treatment.