The residents of the headman’s house put up with Bhaskaraiah and his prosy ways with good grace. The village girls, however, call him ‘cockroach’ in English and within his hearing. His ill-fitting brown pants, dark-rimmed owlish glasses and an unfortunate bumbling walk may have contributed to the nickname, but the girls mean it more as a pest that has infested the house and won’t go away.

Bhaskariah ignores the giggling whispers and the rude gestures, convinced about his own worth and importance. Puttaswamegowda, who is not happy about Krishnegowda’s attitude or values, thinks that Bhaskaraiah and his learning might be a good influence on his wilful nephew, and treats him with respect and some deference.

Puttaswamegowda listens to Bhaskaraiah’s advice about the tent people. It is public land, it does not even belong to the village, the guest points out. They don’t really need your permission.

The fragile peace on the matter falls apart when Rajegowda climbs the banyan tree for a glimpse of the tent girls he has heard so much about from his friends. He sees Maadhi, the daughter of their leader, perhaps the plainest of the tent girls. She is leaning over the new well, combing her hair and singing to herself.

From that moment, Rajegowda is captivated. He no longer even looks at his wife, who is, to anyone else’s eyes, infinitely more beautiful. Honni soon discovers the reason why her husband is so absent and raises a hue and cry about it. She complains to Puttaswamegowda, Siddegowda, her brother Venkatsamy, Krishnegowda, Ramappa, Bhaskaraiah, even to Sundru. All of them, with the exclusion of Sundru, advise Rajegowda to stop going to the wall every day.

Not that Maadhi is in the least inclined to catch his interest. She stays by the tents all day and, as far as possible, avoids Rajegowda’s eye. Her father notices one day that Rajegowda climbs the banyan tree and sits on the wall all day and decides to ask him, respectfully of course, the reason for this guard.

Rajegowda tells him, without any hesitation, that he has fallen in love with Maadhi and wants to make her his wife. Maadhi’s father is horrified and orders his daughter to remain inside the tent and not come out at all. Indignant, he tells Rajegowda that such a relationship is not possible; Maadhi is his only daughter and he does not want her marrying outside the caste, that too to an already-married man.

But Rajegowda refuses to give up. When Puttaswamegowda hears this, he holds his head and sits down. No one can console him. Indeed, no one knows what to do. There is Rajegowda, already married to a most suitable, most beautiful girl, and he is running after some low-caste girl, declaring that he wants to marry her.