Rust Red Symbolism

He puts on a leather belt around his waist which indicates his number and district.”(P. The irony is that the protectors have turned cruel oppressors. Kamla has used symbols to present harsh reality of life. She uses 'lathi ' as a symbol of power which is used by upper classes to dominate over helpless and poor people of society. Kamla is sexually assaulted with police baton. She says to Ramchand,
“You think they’d be satisfied just raping me, wouldn’t you?
But the second one.... he did this with a lathi.
Because I kicked him in the stomach.”(The Sari Shop P.184)
Another symbol is ‘white flowers’ of Kamla sari which turned into ‘rust red’. Ramchand recognized that most of white flowers on Kamla purple sari below hips were not quite white. They were rust red ‘Stale-bloodstain-red’. White flowers indicate purity and innocence of individual. But as opposed to this ‘not white’ appears to be a symbol of impurity and loss of innocence. 'Rust red ' represents a horrible condition and ‘stable-bloodstain-red’ ' shows a devastated condition. ‘Alcohol’ is important symbol of Kamla’s desire to escape from the cruel reality of life. Kamla takes alcohol

Bajwa like other Indian writers does not focus on financial problems and their oppression by rich rather she weaves her story around anxieties of Ramchand. Bajwa throws light on cruel reality of life that penetrated the man and women relationship as well. But she does not go deep in that aspect of life because it never wiped out. The novel describes miserable condition of middle class people like Ramchand Chander, Gokul, Hari, who are working in Sevak Sari House for many years. They perform their duty with loyalty but despite all their efforts and sincerity that they remain under the control of Mahajan. The shop owner rebukes and insults them by violating the norms. He checks their late arrival and wastage of time in gossiping during the working