The novel insists that history is not something that happens to people from above but something that accumulates inside the ordinary textures of a life: who walks home with whom at night, who asks why you are spending time with those boys.
A novel must draw the reader into its terrain and make them live alongside its people. One of the great achievements of Pettai is precisely that, the characters seem to move before our eyes
Ramesh knows he cannot make even a small dent in the system of Indian civil services; that no social change will come of it. But he does everything within his power , without a single complaint, to free Ghosh and improve his life.
