Time, Decay, and Mortality
The characters in “Of White Hairs and Cricket” stubbornly resist the signs of age and decay that that surround them. For instance, the apartment building where the 14-year-old narrator and his family live is crumbling, but his parents ignore this by covering the gaps in the plaster with old calendars. The narrator’s parents and grandmother are also visibly getting older, and his father asks him to pluck out all the white hairs from his head…
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Assimilation vs. Tradition
From 1858 to 1947, India was under British colonial rule, and the British exploited India’s labor and natural resources. As a result of this long occupation, many elements of British culture became commonplace in India. “Of White Hairs and Cricket” takes place in India 17 years after the country gained its independence from Britain, and the 14-year-old narrator and his family members have very different relationships to Indian culture and Western influence. The narrator’s grandmother…
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Gender, Masculinity, and Pride
The men and women in “Of White Hairs and Cricket” respond to challenges differently. On the one hand, the men in the story are afraid of showing weakness. For instance, rather than face aging (even resignedly), Daddy forces the narrator to pluck all the white hair out of his head every Sunday. He even stops playing cricket with his son seemingly because he doesn’t want to be seen as weak when he gets tired. Similarly…
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Colonialism, Exploitation, and Poverty
“Of White Hairs and Cricket” takes place 17 years after India gained its independence from British colonial rule, but the damage that Britain caused to India’s economy is still evident. For one, the narrator’s family is poor enough that they can’t afford to move out of their apartment building with crumbling plaster walls. In addition, there are hints throughout the story that India as a whole is similarly in economic decline, at least in…
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