Previous
Tiffin
Tonga is the Hindi word for rickshaw, or a small cart pulled by horses. As Lakshmi, Radha and Malik navigate from one end of Jaipur to the other, they rely on tongas—which can be hailed like taxi cabs—for transportation. It is worth noting that the wealthiest members of society (like Samir Singh) would not use tongas, as they would have their own cars and drivers.
Tonga Quotes in The Henna Artist
The The Henna Artist quotes below are all either spoken by Tonga or refer to Tonga. 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:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
Malik lived somewhere inside one of the many buildings that made up the Pink City. I had never asked whether he had a sibling, a mother or a father. It was enough that he and I were together ten hours a day and that he hauled my tiffins, flagged down rickshaws and tongas, haggled with suppliers. We shared confidences, of course, like the look of impatience he'd given me today when our last client kept us waiting an hour.
I placed three rupee coins in his palm, after making him promise he would buy real food for his dinner instead of greasy snacks. “You’re a growing boy,” I reminded him, as if he weren't aware of it. He grinned and took off like a top, whining his way between shoppers toward the bright lights.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Henna Artist LitChart as a printable PDF.
Tonga Term Timeline in The Henna Artist
The timeline below shows where the term Tonga appears in The Henna Artist. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
Malik hails a tonga (a rickshaw), and Lakshmi marvels that such a small boy can be so powerful and...
(full context)
Lakshmi exits the tonga and approaches the house, where Lala, the Singhs’ longtime servant and nanny, greets her. The...
(full context)
Lakshmi leaves Parvati and asks Malik to call a tonga. As he does so, Lakshmi muses about how skinny Malik is. She found him when...
(full context)
While Lakshmi waits for the tonga, she plucks two frangipani blossoms and puts them in her hair. Then, she takes out...
(full context)
...even more desperate. But instead of going to meet her, Lakshmi just gets into her tonga.
(full context)
Chapter 3
Malik picks the women up in a tonga, and Lakshmi nags him for spending money—until he explains that he got a discount on...
(full context)
Chapter 4
Back in the tonga, Lakshmi explains Kanta’s issues with fertility to Radha. Radha got her first period two months...
(full context)
Malik comes up to the tonga, and Lakshmi is shocked to see that he is bleeding from one ear. Apparently, Naraya...
(full context)
Chapter 8
On the way back, the tonga Malik and Lakshmi are in stops suddenly—and Lakshmi realizes it is Hari, using a wooden...
(full context)
