The Song of Kahunsha

“The Song of Kahunsha” is a novel by Anosh Irani about a boy who runs away from an orphanage with a dream to find his father, however, once exposed to the real, devastating society we live in, Chamdi finds himself struggling to climb out of Bombay’s deepest chasm of violence, racism, and poverty. The author does a fantastic job of clearly displaying the development of the protagonist by providing a series of twists and turns in Chamdi’s life which consequently contributes to his maturity from a little boy from the orphanage, to a real man out in the real world. Chamdi struggles with internal conflicts in the beginning of the story, also known as Man vs. Self. Curious and questioning the existence of his parents, he begins to demand answers from those around him which contributes to the development of a new dream; to find his father. With all of the threats and dangers Bombay's present racial war proposed, Chamdi never dared to step outside of the walls of the orphanage. "Mrs. Sadiq, who runs the orphanage, has not allowed any of the children to step outside the orphanage walls over the past three weeks" (page 10). Due to problems with the landlord, the orphans were expected to leave within a month and Chamdi took advantage of this opportunity to carry on with his initial goal. “He now knows he has to leave the orphanage before it leaves him” (page 41). We notice the first step towards maturity as Chamdi takes a brave step out of the orphanage without any money, knowledge, and possessing only a white cloth smeared with his father's blood.

Chamdi spends his first few nights on the streets with another boy named Sumdi and his little sister, Guddi. He is introduced to the underground begging system of Bombay; "Anand Bhai is our boss. All beggars who work in this area must give him whatever we earn. Then he will give us some money back" (page 118). Chamdi is now facing external conflicts with the horrific weather conditions commonly referred to as Man