Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
The first time Lakshmi sees a TV is in the common room after she arrives at Happiness House. She is entranced by it, and the movie star she sees on the screen is someone she wants to be.
But then she is imprisoned in the small room until her spirit is broken. The next time Lakshmi sees the TV is when she exits her room prison, and she thinks that both the TV soap opera and the lives of the girls in the house are strange, especially in the face of the violation of self she has just experienced (92.WhatIsNormal).
The first inkling we get that the TV is something more than a box of tubes and electronics is when Lakshmi explains how the remote control works:
Sometimes, I pretend that what goes on at night when the customers are here is no something that is happening to me. I pretend it is a TV show that I am watching from far, far away. I pretend I have a button I press to make everything go quiet. And another one that makes me disappear. (104.RemoteControl.3)
So for Lakshmi, the TV seems to represent something between reality and pretending. But which is it? And what about the remote control and the idea that Lakshmi as virtually no control over her life?
The chapter Two Worlds might give a little more insight into how Lakshmi thinks of TV. In this chapter, Monica tells the story of a movie that she has been privileged enough to go to, a story of marriage, love, and flowers. When Lakshmi asks Shahanna how Monica can leave the house, Shahanna explains that Mumtaz threatened to maim Monica's daughter if she tried to escape.
And I consider a world so ugly that a child would be maimed for life to fetch an extra rupee or two. And another world full of brides and marigolds, rain machines and white horses. (112.TwoWorlds.17)
Consider the distinction that Lakshmi is making between the two worlds and her reaction to them. Inside the world of Happiness House—a world in which "a child would be maimed for life to fetch an extra rupee or two"—there is another world contained within the TV, and a much better world at that.
So keep your eyes open for references to television (and definitely think about what happens to the TV during the raid and how Anita tries to get Lakshmi to stay at the brothel in the last chapter)—it provides much more than basic entertainment.