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“Babu” is an honorific used to refer to Hindu gentlemen (generally those who come from higher castes). Babus were also often clerks, reading and writing in both English and Hindi, which perhaps explains why Bakha assumes that a babu’s sons—the elder brother and the younger brother—would be able to teach him to read. In the novel, Bakha applies the word “babu” to any high-caste individual who seems well-educated.
Babu Quotes in Untouchable
The Untouchable quotes below are all either spoken by Babu or refer to Babu. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Pages 3–43
Quotes
[Bakha] had wept and cried to be allowed to go to school. But then his father had told him that schools were meant for the babus, not for the lowly sweepers. He hadn’t quite understood the reason for that then. Later at the British barracks he realized why his father had not sent him to school. He was a sweeper’s son and could never be a babu. Later still he realized that there was no school which would admit him because the parents of the other children would not allow their sons to be contaminated by the touch of the low-caste man’s sons. How absurd, he thought, that was, since most of the Hindu children touched him willingly at hockey and wouldn’t mind having him at school with them. […] These old Hindus were cruel. He was a sweeper, he knew, but he could not consciously accept that fact.
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Pages 73–105
Quotes
There wasn’t a child about the 38th Dogras who hadn't cast lingering eyes at this hat. The spirit of modernity had worked havoc among the youth of the regiment. The consciousness of every child was full of a desire to wear Western dress, and since most of the boys about the place were the sons of babus, bandsmen, sea poise, sweepers, washermen and shopkeepers, all too poor to afford the luxury of a complete European outfit, they eagerly stretched their hands to seize any particular article they could see anywhere, feeling that the possession of something European was better than the possession of nothing European.
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What had [Bakha] done to deserve such treatment? He loved the child. He had been very sorry when Chota refused to let him join the game. Then why should the boy's mother abuse him when he had tried to be kind? […] ‘Of course, I polluted the child. I couldn't help doing so. I knew my touch would pollute. But it was impossible not to pick him up. He was dazed, the poor little thing. And she abused me. I only get abuse and derision wherever I go. Pollution, pollution, I do nothing else but pollute people. They all say that: “Polluted, polluted!” She was perhaps justified though. Her son was injured. She could have said anything. It was my fault and of the other boys too. Why did we start that quarrel? It started on account of the goal I scored. Cursed me! The poor child!’
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Babu Term Timeline in Untouchable
The timeline below shows where the term Babu appears in Untouchable. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Pages 3–43
...that he needs to sweep the streets. Two younger boys, the sons of a higher-caste babu, appear. Bakha and his friends often play hockey with the elder brother (though they exclude...
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...up after learning the alphabet). Today, Bakha decides to ask the two sons of the babu to teach him to read, volunteering to pay them for a lesson a day. The...
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Pages 73–105
...worse, making comments that would disparage his new hockey stick. He also wishes the two babu’s sons would make good on their promise to teach him to read.
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Pages 105–139
Now, Bakha overhears a nearby babu talking to a peasant. The babu is rehashing a newspaper article from that morning, explaining...
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The peasant continues to ask the babu questions, wondering how the canals and courts will be managed if the British are to...
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