What is the application of postcolonialism criticism to "Games at Twilight"?

Given the very wide ranging import of postcolonial
criticism, this question could be answered in a number of different ways. In one sense
postcolonialism is about celebrating voices from the formerly colonised nations and the
bringing to light of situations and issues that are relevant to such unique
environments. In this sense, Anita Desai is a famous postcolonial author, emerging as
she does from India, which was a colony of Britain for so
long.

However, we might want to extend this basic analysis
by refering to the way in which the story's theme establishes the alienation of the
individual and the way that this could be argued to present the situation of so many
postcolonial subjects who struggle to find their identity and meaning in life. The
epiphany that Ravi experiences at the end of the story, when his dreams of victory and
glory are cruelly squashed by the contempt with which he is treated by other children,
focuses on his own inner insignificance, as the final paragraph makes
clear:

He
would not follow them, he would not be included in this funereal game. He had wanted
victory and triumph--not a funeral. But he had been forgotten, left out, and he would
not join them now. The ignominy of being forgotten--how could he face it? He felt his
heart go heavy and ache inside him unbearably. He lay down full length on the damp
grass, crushing his face into it, no longer crying, silenced by a terrible sense of his
insignificance.

The irony of
this passage, and the way that Ravi has technically won the game but it was abandoned
long before he emerged, meaning that he is ignored instead of being feted for his
victory is keen and biting. Likewise, there is irony in the way that he refuses to play
the funereal game with the other children, but presides over his own death of his
innocence and hopes. Some critics would argue that this epiphany and the situation of
Ravi explicitly relates to the postcolonial subject, who finds himself cast adrift in a
sea of meaninglessless and insignificance, with the firm ground of identity provided by
colonialism swept away.