In The Dream Builders, the different characters offer different perspectives of life in Hrishipur. Ramona, Salil, and Maneka have different concerns than the less fortunate Pinky, Chaya, Jessica, and Ashok. It’s almost as if the wealthier characters live in a different reality than the rest.
An example of this is Ramona and Jessica’s relationship. In chapter 6, Ramona seems jealous of Jessica having her own child. She wants to “be the one to open the front door”, and she wants to be the mother showering her daughter “with kisses all over her thin arms and legs and her little face”. On the contrary, Jessica feels like “[p]eople had bigger problems than” Ramona’s and Salil’s as the couple “were well off” and “they could spend lakhs on fertility treatments or surrogates or whatever else they needed”. To Jessica, Ramona and Salil can easily solve their problems with money, whereas Jessica struggles to pay off the bills.
Another example of the character’s different perspective is seen between Maneka and Ashok. While Maneka and Ashok were out for lunch, Ashok was constantly reminded of his lack of money, and therefore, his inability to purchase the camera he needed. He kept wondering to himself “what Maneka would say if he suddenly asked her for a favor”, if he asked her for “a few hundred dollars”. Ashok’s constant reminder of his financial situation shows how the less fortunate characters constantly think about money and their lack of it, while the wealthier ones think of problems unrelated to money, like Maneka being worried about her relationship with Ashok.
Another instance is seen in Pinky’s constant worry of having enough money to simply live. Pinky works “ten hours a day, six days a week” as a masseur, even though her doctor told her to stop. To not lose her arm, she must stop working for three months. Instead of telling her boss that she needed to take time off, she begged her boss for any other work around the spa. When her boss told her to take time off, instead of being glad to have a break, she worried about “[t]hree months without a salary”, “[f]ifteen thousand rupees lost each month” for her family. The burden of taking care of her several children and husband caused her to sacrifice so much, including her health and well-being. On the other hand, Ramona, Salil, and Maneka never had to experience such a bad financial state. Ramona and Salil have always been rich, and Maneka grew up with her parents taking care of her and sending her to a prestigious school. Even though all these characters live in Hrishipur, their lives are so different from one another.
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