- The slum dwellers prepare their huts for the monsoon rainy season.
- One day, a disturbance occurs: two boys, Faroukh and Raghuram, get into a fistfight. Faroukh is angry because Raghuram insulted the Prophet Mohammed; Raghuram is ticked off because Faroukh insulted the Lord Ram.
- Qasim Ali decides to punish both of the boys.
- He and the boys' parents choose a really nasty punishment: the boys will work in the latrine, but there's a catch. They will be tied together the whole time they are cleaning the slum "restrooms."
- Everyone agrees that this is a marvelous punishment.
- Another time, a drunk man named Joseph brutally beats his wife, Maria, and Qasim Ali doses out some slum justice.
- He orders Johnny Cigar, Prabaker, and Jeetendra to force Joseph to drink alcohol and smoke charras (hashish) until he's sick. He's not allowed to have water or sleep, and when he's good and messed up, the beating commences.
- The men use the same bamboo stick that Joseph was using on his wife to give him a walloping. They tell him that he killed his wife.
- Finally, when Joseph breaks down crying and calling his wife's name, Qasim Ali decides he's had enough. He tells him that Maria is not dead, but is badly hurt, and that the women of both of their families have decided that he cannot see Maria for two months.
- Joseph's punishment involves not drinking anything but water during this time, as well as lots of hard work.
- Maria will have the choice whether or not to take Joseph back, but if she does, he must take her on a vacation to the cool mountains.
- Faroukh and Raghuram finish their work at the latrine, and their punishment is to each learn a prayer from the other's religion, Islam and Hindu.
- Qasim Ali believes that justice is not only to punish wrongdoers, but also to save them. This idea leaves a big impression on Lin.