Ravi is playing hide and seek with his siblings but stays hidden in a shed for hours dreaming of winning. When he emerges shouting that he's won, he finds his family has started a new game and forgotten about him. The story explores the themes of reality versus fantasy and alienation as Ravi's hopes of triumph are crushed by the realization that to his family, he is insignificant.

1. “Games at twilight”
Lautaro Severina
Tomas Paladino

2. PLOT
Ravi is a boy who is playing hide and seek with his
siblings. He ends up hiding in a shed, and stays there
thinking about what it could be his first victory, what
could happen if he won, and how glorious it would be.
After several hours of “dreaming”, he goes out of the
shed and runs screaming “I won!”, only to realize that his
siblings and his parents forgot about him, and the children
are playing a new game.

3. Information about the author
Anita Desai:
● Born 24 June 1937 (age 78).
● Is an Indian novelist and Professor of Humanities at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
● As a writer she has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three
times.
● She received a Sahitya Academy Award in 1978 for her novel “Fire
on the Mountain”, from the Sahitya Academy, India's National
Academy of Letters
● She won the British Guardian Prize for “The Village by the Sea”.

4. Description of the characters
RAVI: Is a child from India. He has a big family and he is the youngest
there. He wanted to win the game that was playing with his siblings because
he never won a game in his life. He stay in a shed for a long time thinking
about his victory but, when he went out, he saw his family playing another
game, so Ravi felt really disappointed because all his family forgot about him.
RAGHU: He is one of the brothers in the family, and the oldest. He has
short legs (footballer legs), long, hefty, hairy, overbearing.

5. The importance of colours
Colors play an important role in the story because, at the
beginning, they describe the plot and how hot it was.
Also, the darkness in the shed helps to show two
emotions: first, he was afraid because of the darkness,
and second, being in the darkness helps him to create his
fantasy of being the winner. Furthermore at the ending,
the twilight’s dark colors describe Ravi’s emotions when
he discovers that his siblings forgot about him, what
makes him feel dead.

6. “Death” in the story
The twilight games are connected to death
and the passing of time. We can see this in the
funeral game that the children are playing
that Ravi feels kind of dead (as if he was a
ghost), he realizes he is not important and this
happens at twilight, that is the end of the
day, what can symbolise death: the end of the
day = the end of your life.

8. Feeling of empathy
Ravi felt mirthless, and the author makes such
a descriptive description that makes the
reader feel empathy for him and shows that
for Ravi this was more than just a game.
Furthermore, the ending makes us feel
empathy, as Ravi waited for many hours to
feel the glory and then he realized he would
get nothing.

9. Tones
The beginning of the story: The children
were desperate because they cannot wait to
leave the house for playing high and seek.
Almost Ravi was desperate when he tried to
found a new place to hide and he found the
shed.

11. Tones
When Ravi is inside the shed: Triumphant is
the main tone because he reflected and
imagine the moment when he comes out and
win, for the first time, the game. Also he was
very scared because of the darkness and the
insects that were there.

13. Tones
When Ravi comes out of the shed and
reappears: Melancholicdisappointing, because he was
sure that he had won and was really excited about it, but
then he realized that his siblings forgot about him and
were playing another game. Humiliating, as he came out
of the shed shouting that he won and the other children
just stared at him in amazement. The fantasy that he had
created crushed and he ended up humiliated.

15. Themes
Reality versus Fantasy:
It´s a very important theme in the story. A big part of it
happens with Ravi imagining and thinking of a fantasy
victory, but then he is hit by reality, which is very
different. All the dreams and fantasies of victory are
crushed by reality when he goes out of the shed and
realizes that he hadn't won the game and that his siblings,
and even his own parents, haven´t noticed that he was
missing.

16. Themes
Alienation and Insignificance:
The theme is presented in nearly the whole story. Firstly,
when Ravi hides in the shed and kind of gets isolated from
the rest. Lastly, the theme is presented at the end of the
story, when Ravi doesn’t want to play with his brothers
and sisters and gets aside. He feels insignificant because
his siblings, and even his own parents, don’t realize that
he is missing, and there he decides to set some distance
from the rest.

17. Important quotations
“He had wanted victory and triumph – not a funeral.”
This quote shows that for Ravi this was more than just a
game, and he really wanted to win it, but what he got
was very different: nobody noticed he was gone and they
started playing another game, a funeral game, what made
him feel as if he was dead.

18. ● Tomas Paladino
● Lautaro Severina