Postcolonial Hierarchies, Migration, and Cultural Identity in 'Colonial Hierarchies & Baby Bistro'

Baby Bistro

Upstairs = French cuisine (rich colonial), downstairs = Mexican/Indian/Pakistani staff (poor natives). Shows systemic inequality and exploitation.

Staff hierarchy at Baby Bistro (Quote)

"Above, the restaurant was French, but below in the kitchen it was Mexican and Indian... On top, rich colonial, and down below, poor native."

Staff treatment in Chapter 24

Malini suggested staff "live down below in the kitchen," allowed pay cuts to a "quarter of the minimum wage," and forced "fifteen-, sixteen-, seventeen-hour donkey days."

Biju's mistreatment

Quote: "'Pigs pigs, sons of pigs...low-down ************** Indian.'" Shows racialized and classed insults, marginalisation of immigrants.

Owner's remark to Biju

"'Use the time off to take a bath,' said the owner...kind enough to hire Biju although he found him smelly." Highlights dehumanisation under economic exploitation.

Biju's New York experience

Works 15-17 hours daily, suffers poor conditions; reality of immigrant survival vs. myth of opportunity.

Biju's working conditions in New York

"Despite Biju working in New York for 'Fifteen-, sixteen-, seventeen-hour donkey days'... 'A rat chewed [Biju's hair] at night.'"

Cook's perception of New York

Brags his son is manager of a restaurant business, "there is enough food for everybody," reflecting aspirational illusions of migration.

Judge's father's hopes for him

"'His son might...occupy the seat faced by the father...might be a district commissioner or a high court judge.'"

Rats symbolism in the novel

Vulnerability of marginalized characters like Biju and the Cook; lives destabilized by poverty and neglect.

Casual oppression of the subaltern

"'Fun over. Back to work,'" after Saeed plays cruelly with a mouse at Queen of Tarts.

Cook's fear of mice

"'The mice running up and down the rafters, [would] eat [the money].'" Symbolizes poverty eroding dignity and security.

Green card symbolism

Opportunity, survival, and economic advancement; sometimes requires personal sacrifice (e.g., Saeed marrying a Canadian woman).

Biju or Saeed benefiting materially

Saeed can afford "25 pairs of shoes." Symbol of material success linked to migration.

Queen Victoria vs. Tagore

Judge admires Queen Victoria (colonial prestige), Gyan recites Tagore (Indian pride); tension between colonial influence and indigenous heritage.

Judge's respect for Queen Victoria

"He felt deeply impressed that a woman so plain could also have been so powerful."

Jemubhai's British poem recital

"'Oh! Young Lochinvar is come out of the west...'" English rhythm retains Gujarati influence.

Judge's reaction to Jemubhai memory

"'The judge shook himself. "Damn fool," he said out loud.'" Reflects internalized colonial values.

Tagore poem quote by Gyan

"'Where the head is held high, Where knowledge is free, Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls...'"

Dark/light imagery usage

Sai's exposure to Western knowledge = privilege; Judge prefers "shadow to light" = shame and alienation. Symbolizes social and psychological hierarchies.

National Geographic reference

"Deserts, the mountains, the fresh spring colors of green and yellow, the snow at the poles."

Judge's preference for darkness

"Shadow to light, faded days to sunny, for he was suspicious that sunlight might reveal him, in his hideousness."

Jemubhai's grotesque mimicry

Obsessed with British customs, food, and language; bodily humiliation shows cost of assimilation.

Example of grotesque mimicry

"He stuck a finger up the hole...finger emerged covered in excrement and blood." Mimicry demands erasure of dignity.

Exoticisation

Obsessive attention to hair, hands, body, turning mundane traits into markers of desire; satirical critique of patriarchal and colonial norms.

Microscopic observation

'His gaze itself was a mouse; it disappeared into the belladonna sleeve of Sai's kimono and spotted her elbow.'

Sai's emotional response

Her "thud of joy" - mix of curiosity and discomfort.

Wife being photographed after abuse

'George! ...! George!'" Shows patriarchal violence and social vulnerability.

Language as Resistance

Lowercase "judge" and "cook" → reduced identity. Mrs Sen's Indianised English → subtle resistance. Accents mediate class/power.

Mrs Sen's hybrid English

'POEtatto,' 'TOEmatto,' 'bee-oo-tee-ful.'" Resists linguistic purity, asserts cultural agency.

Nimi's refusal to learn English

'Nimi learned no English, and it was out of stubbornness...'" Radical resistance.

Judge's response to Nimi refusing English

'If you can't say the word, you can't eat it'." Attempts to enforce colonial authority.

Accents in the novel

Markers of class, privilege, and colonial authority; can also be subverted for humour/resistance.

British accent as aspiration

Pixie/Lola: 'Super play... the strawberries and cream.'

Satire of colonial accent

Indians laughing at "pucca British accent" when pronouncing Indian names.

Judge using accent to assert control

'Get out of my way,'" when searching for Mutt. Shows fragility of performative power.

Biju and Cook paralleled

Both marginalized, economically insecure; symbolized by rats/mice; vulnerable to exploitation.

Casual oppression mirrored

Saeed's cruelty to mouse vs. Cook fearing mice eating money → normalisation of social neglect.

Sai's education

Knowledge of global geography, cultures → social and cultural privilege in postcolonial hierarchy.

Sai's Westernized worldview

"Deserts, the mountains, the fresh spring colors of green and yellow, the snow at the poles."

Jemubhai at Cambridge

Reciting British poem in Gujarati rhythm, laughed at → colonial education imposes cultural conflict.

Judge's distancing like Queen Victoria

'He had learned to take refuge in the third person and to keep everyone at bay, to keep himself away from himself like Queen Victoria.'

Migration tied to social advancement

Biju/Saeed seek green cards and jobs abroad to escape poverty, gain material success, but at cost of vulnerability and exploitation.

Saeed's material gain

Can afford "25 pairs of shoes" → migration as aspirational but selective opportunity.

Kalimpong and gendered colonial gaze

Sai's body examined microscopically (humorous/exaggerated) vs. abused wife photographed → both expose societal control of women.

Over-the-top curiosity

'Do you put oil in your hair?' ... 'He weighed her hand...Light as a sparrow.'

Violent oppression

'George! ...! George!'" wife photographed after rape → systemic patriarchal violence.

Light/dark imagery about Judge

His preference for shadows = internalised shame, alienation, psychological burden of colonial social hierarchy.

Grotesque mimicry and colonial shame

Jemubhai washing blood/excrement from finger after trying to imitate British habits.

Hybridity represented linguistically

Mrs Sen's accent, code-switching, Nimi's refusal → language mediates cultural identity, power, and resistance.

Subaltern vulnerability

"A rat chewed [Biju's hair] at night" → migrants exposed to systemic neglect, powerless like rats.

Global knowledge and privilege

Sai's Western knowledge = access and power; Judge's avoidance of light = marginalisation.