10. Midnight's Children (1980)- for APPSC TGPSC TREIRB JL/DL

 10. Midnight's Children(1980)

for APPSC TGPSC TREIRB JL/DL

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Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (born 19 June 1947---)

Anglo-Indian author Salman Rushdie is one of the leading novelists of the twentieth century. His style is often likened to magic realism, which mixes religion, fantasy, and mythology into one composite reality. He has been compared to authors such as Peter Carey, Emma Tennant, and Angela Carter. His somewhat flippant and familiar way of treating religion has provoked criticism, however, peaking in the Ayatollah of Iran's issue of a fatwa (a death order) in response to The Satanic Verses, his fourth novel.

Ahmed Salman Rushdie was born on June 19, 1947 in Bombay, India, to a middle class Muslim family. His father was a businessman, educated in Cambridge, and his grandfather was an Urdu poet. At fourteen, he was sent to England for schooling, attending the Rugby School in Warwickshire. In 1964, his family, responding to the growing hostilities between India and Pakistan, joined many emigrating Muslims by moving to Karachi, Pakistan.

These religious and political conflicts deeply affected Rushdie, although he stayed in England to attend the King's College in Cambridge, where he studied history. While in school, he also joined the Cambridge Footlights theatre company. Following his graduation in 1968, he began working in Pakistani television. Later, he also acted with the Oval House theatre group in Kennington, England, and until 1981, he wrote freelance copy for advertisers Ofilvy and Mather and Charles Barker.

In 1975, Rushdie published his first novel. Grimus, a science fiction story inspired by the twelfth century Sufi poem "The Conference of the Birds," was largely ignored by both critics and the public. Rushdie's literary fortunes changed in 1981, when the publication of his second novel, Midnight's Children, brought him international fame and acclaim. The story is a comic allegory of Indian history, and tells of the 1001 children born after India's Declaration of Independence, each of whom possesses a magical power. It won the Booker Prize for Fiction, the English-Speaking Union Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (fiction), and an Arts Council Writers' Award. In 1993 and 2008, it was named the "Booker of Bookers," acknowledging it as the best recipient of the Booker Prize for Fiction in the award's history.

His third novel, Shame (1983), was commonly regarded as a political allegory of Pakistani politics. It used a wealthy family as a metaphor for the country, and included characters based on former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. It won the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger, and made the short list for the Booker Prize. In 1987, Rushdie published a short travel narrative titled The Jaguar's Smile.

In 1988, Rushdie became the center of a controversy surrounding the publication of his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, which revolves around two Indian actors who struggle with religion, spirituality, and nationality. Although the book won the Whitbread Award, Rushdie's free adaptation of Islamic history and theology caused the orthodox Muslim Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran to issue a fatwa, a call for all obedient Muslims to assassinate him. The book was banned and burned in many countries, and several people involved with its publication were injured and killed. After the death threat, Rushdie shunned publicity and went into hiding for many years, although he continued to write.

He published a children's book in 1990, titled Haroun and the Sea of Stories. It won the Writers' Guild Award (Best Children's Book). He next published a collection of essays, Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991 (1991), and a collection of short stories, East, West (1994). Then came another novel, The Moor's Last Sigh (1995), which used a family's history to explore the activities of right-wing Hindu terrorists, and the cultural connections between India and the Iberian peninsula. The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999) was Rushdie's sixth novel, re-imagining the birth of modern rock music. He also published the novel Fury in 2001, and Step Across This Line: Collected Non-fiction 1992-2002 in 2002. His latest novel Shalimar the Clown, published in 2005; it was a finalist for the Whitbread Book Awards. In 2012, he published a memoir of his days in hiding, Joseph Anton.

While many of Rushdie’s texts center on the interpretation and role of religion in society, Rushdie himself is an atheist. This upset many Muslims who previously regarded Rushdie as a strong figure in the Muslim community. Combined with the unpopularity and assassination attempts that followed the publication of The Satanic Verses, Rushdie issued a statement in 1990 claiming that he had renewed his Muslim faith. He denounced the blasphemous ideas that he wrote in The Satanic Verses and said that he was committed to better understanding the religion and how it fit into the larger world narrative. He also issued a request for the publisher to never again produce new copies of The Satanic Verses. However, in 1995, he admitted the tactic was only a survival mechanism and that he still does not subscribe to any religious beliefs. He considers the statement the biggest mistake of his life.

Rushdie ended his fourth marriage, which was to the American television star Padma Lakshmi, in 2007. He is an Honorary Professor in the Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association, a Distinguished Fellow in Literature at the University of Anglia, a recipient of the 1993 Austrian State Prize for European Literature, a recipient of the 1996 Aristeion Literary Prize, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Commandeur de Arts et des Lettres. He was also President of PEN American Center from 2003-2005. In 2000, he moved from London to New York. In 2006, he became the Distinguished Writer in Residence at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia

 

SALMAN RUSHDIE (1947--)

He is best known for the violent backlash his book The Satanic Verses (1988) provoked in the Muslim community.  He is associated with “Gabriel Garcia Marquez” (Father of Magic Realism).

Won the Booker Prize for Fiction and in 1993; it won "Booker of Bookers" and “Best of Bookers” as the best novel for Fiction on 25th and 40th anniversary of Booker.

Novels:

1.   Grimus - 1975: Science fiction, first novel- Set in Axona in India. Flapping eagle, a young Indian becomes immortal after drinking magic fluid and wanders Earth 777 years 7 months and 7 days.

2.   Midnight`s Children (1981)- second novel, Magic realism, The novel narrates key events in the history of India from 15th August 1947, through the story of pickle-factory worker Saleem Sinai, one of 1001 children born with Magical Powers. Shiva has strong knees. Saleem narrates the story to Padma

3.     Shame (1983)- 3rd novel, Shame (1983), was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction. Political turmoil in Pakistan between Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and General Zia Ul Haq

4.     The Satanic Verses (1988) - 4th novel, leads to accusations of blasphemy against Islam and demonstrations by Islamist groups in India and Pakistan. Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a “fatwa” against Salman Rushdie, calling for his assassination, forcing Rushdie to go underground.

5.   The Moor’s Last Sigh 1995-5^th novel

6.   The Ground beneath her feet 1999-6^th novel

7.   Fury 2001-7^th novel

8.   Shalimar the clown 2005- 8^th novel

9.   Enchantres of Florence (2008)- 9^th novel- a European visits Akbar’s court and claims that he is distant relative of Akbar born of an exiled Italian/Indian princess -Florence.

10.    Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights (2015)- fantasy novel, title refers to One Thousand and One Nights

11.   The Golden House (2017)

12.    Quichotte (2019)- picaresque metafiction- Key Shot (Quichotte)- a way to inject drugs. Inspired by Don Quixote.

13.    Victor City (2023)- latest novel, epic tale of woman

Children stories:

14.  Haroun and the sea of stories 1990.

15.  Luka and the fire of lake 2010

Essay and Non-fiction

16.  Imaginary Homelands:  a post-colonial essay, concept of “common wealth literature does not exist”

17.  The East Is Blue (2004)- about pornography in Asia and the Muslim world.

Memoirs:

18.  The Jaguar smile: A Nicaraguan Journey 1987- first full length non-fiction work.

19.  Joseph Anton: A Memoir 2012- used the names of Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekov

20.  Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder (2024)

 

Background:

Published in 1980, Midnight’s Children follows the tumultuous transition into India's and, to a lesser extent, Pakistan’s independence after the partition of British India. The story itself is allegorical with the main events being about the life of Saleem Sinai, a boy who was born at the stroke of midnight on the same day that India gained its freedom from England.

Salman Rushdie, the novel’s author, created the book to be a fictional biography of the country from the point of view of someone who grew up alongside the nation. Rushdie himself was born in 1947, just two months before the country’s liberation in August. As such, he had a unique perspective on the country’s adolescent years as they coincided with his own. These same ideas are injected into Saleem’s story; the changes that befall Saleem in terms of wealth and identity are indicative of India’s growth.

Like Rushdie’s other novels, Midnight’s Children uses magical realism as a device to combine history with Rushdie’s fictional twist on history. Rushdie also employs postcolonial theory to show how imperialism handicapped countries like India trying to reestablish their culture and identity. Also subject to Rushdie’s critique is how social class and religion contributed to India’s uncertain beginnings.

Midnight’s Children won the 1981 Book Prize. Then in both 1993 and 2008, it won the Best of the Book prize on the prize’s respective 25th and 40th anniversary. It also won the English Speaking Union Literary Award as well as the James Tait Prize. The story was adapted to the stage in 2003 by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Later in 2012, a film version premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.

 

Three part Narrative Structure:

There are 30 chapters in 3 books:

Chapter	Plot Summary
Book  One (1-8 chapters)
1.The Perforated Sheet	Saleem’s tale begins 32 years from present day. Saleem's grandfather Aadam Aziz’s visit to Ghani the landowner, where he falls in love with Naseem through a literal perforated sheet, in Kashmir.
2.Mercurochrome	Aadam and Naseem marry but are poorly matched. Aadam weakens over time while Naseem (Reverend Mother) gains strength with each child. Merchurochrome (the red medicine) used to the wounded in Gandhi’s call of Hartal.
3.Hit-the-Spittoon	Aadam joins Mian Abdullah (Humming Bird) politically. After an assassination attempt, Nadir Khan hides in Aadam’s basement.
4.Under the Carpet	The story moves to Amritsar and introduces Ahmed Sinai, Saleem’s father. Mumtaz (Aadam’s 2nd daughter) secretly marries Nadir, who later flees. She then marries Ahmed Sinai and Muntaz is renamed as Amina.
5.A Public Announcement	Ahmed and Amina relocates to Bombay as Partition approaches. Amina becomes Pregnant, she saves Lifafa Das who leads her to ‘Sri Ram Ram Seth’ who predicts her son's fate.
6.Many-headed Monsters	Communal tensions increase as independence nears. The mystic foretells that Amina's son will share India’s birth and have significant events involving noses and knees.
7.Methwold	Amina and Ahmed move into Methwold’s estate and adopt English customs. Methowld is the biological father of Saleem Sinai.
8.Tick, Tock	Saleem is born at midnight on August 15, 1947. Mary Pereira switches him with another newborn, Shiva, to impress her lover. Shiva is raised by Vanita and We Willie Winkie.
Book  Two (9-23 chapters)
9.The Fisherman's Pointing Finger	Mary becomes Saleem’s devoted nanny. Ahmed’s tetrapod business with Dr. Narlikar is freezed by Govt and his financical increased. Brass Monkey is born.
10.Snakes and Ladders	Saleem’s favourite game. Mary’s lover (Joseph D’Costa) is killed while trying to bomb a clock tower. Dr Schapestekar gives typhoid medicine  make from snake’s venom to Saleem.
11.Accident in a Washing-chest	While sitting in washing chest, Saleem sees his mother undress and is punished with one day silence. He hears voices in his head.
12.All-India Radio	Saleem leads the Midnight’s Children Conference through telepathy, discovers the other midnight children, including Shiva with deadly knees.
13.Love in Bombay	Saleem tries to impress an American girl Evelyn Lillith Burns, and learns he can probe minds using his powers. Teenage Saleem falls for Jamila Singer, his supposed sister.
14.My Tenth Birthday	Only 581 of 1,001 midnight children survive. Ahmed’s financial losses continue.
15.At the Pioneer Café	Saleem learns Amina is having an affair with Nadir (now known as Quasim Khan). He meets Shiva, who wants to rule the midnight children with an iron fist.
16.Alpha and Omega	At school dance, Saleem loses part of his finger. A hospital blood test reveals he is not biologically Amina and Ahmed’s son. (Alpha and Omega represents the blood groups)
17.The Kolynos Kid	Ahmed sends Saleem to live with his film maker uncle and film star aunt (Hanif and Aunt Pia’s), where he gropes his aunt and is sent back home. (Saleem’s first exile)
18.Commander Sabarmati’s Baton	Saleem exposes a neighbor’s affair (Navy commader Sabarmati’s wife Lila Sabarmati with Catrack), leading to a double murder.
19.Revelations	Mary confesses to switching Saleem and Shiva at birth and runs away, disrupting the family.
20.Movements Performed by Pepperpots	The family moved to Pakistan and stay in Uncle Zulfikar and Aunt Emerald’s house in Rawalphindi, Pakistan (Saleem’s second exile). He performed war movements with pepperpots on the table for his uncle Zulfikar who is an officer in Pakistan Army.  Brass Monkey, now Jamila Singer, reveals her singing talent.
21.Drainage and the Desert	Four years later, After returning to India, Saleem has sinus surgery and loses his telepathy but gains an acute sense of smell.
22.Jamila Singer	After selling Methowld’s estate in 1963, the Sinais move to Karachi, Pakistan (Saleem’s third exile). Saleem reveals his love for Jamila, but she rejects.
23.How Saleem Achieved Purity	India bombs their city. A spittoon strikes Saleem’s head, killing his family and erasing his memory.
Book  Three (24-30 chapters)
24.The Buddha	Saleem joins the Pakistani army and is used for his smell powers. Saleem is known as Budha.
25.In the Sundarbans	In the jungle, Saleem regains his identity and recounts his story to fellow soldiers. Only he survives the trip.
26.Sam and the Tiger	Parvati-the-witch smuggles Saleem back to India using magic. Tiger Niazi, the Pakistani in charge of the war in Bangladesh, surrenders to Sam Manekshaw of the Indian army.
27.The Shadow of the Mosque	Saleem lives with his uncle Mustapha, but is kicked out. He moves to the slums with Parvati and Picture Singh. Project MCC started
28.A Wedding	Parvati becomes pregnant by Shiva. Saleem marries her to protect the child, even though it’s not his.
29.Midnight	The Prime Minister captures and sterilizes the midnight children, stripping them of their powers to prevent rebellion.
30.Abracadabra	Parvathi died during emergency. During a snake charming competerion at Bombay, Saleem finds out the picke he’s eating is made by Mary Pereria and reaches her. She takes care of his son while Saleem writes his memories.

 

Opening line:

“I was born in the city of Bombay… once upon a time. No, that won't do, there's no getting away from the date: I was born in Doctor Narlikar's Nursing Home on August 15th, 1947. And the time? The time matters, too. Well then: at night. No, it's important to be more… On the stroke of midnight, as a matter of fact. Clock-hands joined palms in respectful greeting as I came.”- Saleem Sinai

 

Closing line:

“Yes, they will trample me underfoot, the numbers marching one two three, four hundred million five hundred six, reducing me to specks of voiceless dust, just as, all in good time, they will trample my son who is not my son, and his son who will not be his, and his who will not be his, until the thousand and first generation, until a thousand and one midnights have bestowed their terrible gifts and a thousand and one children have died, because it is the privilege and the curse of midnight's children to be both masters and victims of their times, to forsake privacy and be sucked into the annihilating whirlpool of the multitudes, and to be unable to live or die in peace.”- Saleem Sinai

 

Midnight's Historical Events

Historical Event	Narrative Coincidence
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919)	Aadam Aziz’s worldview is shaped by colonial brutality, laying the foundation for Saleem’s legacy.
Indian Independence & Partition (1947)	Saleem is born at midnight on August 15—his birth literally and symbolically tied to India's birth.
Gandhi’s Assassination (1948)	Reflects the collapse of idealism and growing national unrest.
America drops bomb on Japan 1948)	Nadir has fled and left a note for Mumtaz that reads, “I divorce you.”
Linguistic Reorganization of States (1950s)	Saleem’s family's moves reflect shifting cultural and political identities.
Sino-Indian War (1962)	National defeat mirrors Saleem’s mental turmoil and instability.
Nehru’s Death (1964)	Adma Aziz’s death
Indo-Pakistani War (1965)	Saleem’s family moves to Pakistan; his telepathic powers weaken as he leaves India.
Indo-Pak War & Bangladesh Liberation (1971)	Saleem loses his memory and joins the Pakistan Army, fights in Bangladesh, loses his memory, and becomes a "war hero."
The Emergency (1975–77)	Midnight’s Children are sterilized by Widow (Indira Gandhi)—symbolizing the suppression of freedom and imagination.
End of the Emergency (1977)	Signals both relief and disillusionment; Saleem reflects on crushed dreams.
Indira Gandhi’s Return (1980)	Marks the recurrence of oppressive politics and Saleem’s enduring sense of loss.

Midnight's Children Character List

Saleem Sinai is the sickly narrator and protagonist of Midnight’s Children. He was born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the same moment that India gained its independence from the British Empire. The time of his birth infused him with powers of telepathy, a gift he used to find the other children born near midnight on that same day. Later, he acquired a gift of smell that allowed him to discern emotions and personalities in people. In terms of his narration as a rhetorical device, he often forgets facts of his story. His assertion of magical powers and a supernatural connection with India in his narration also makes him unreliable storyteller. Combined with his narcissistic attitude and God complex, it is difficult for the reader to ascertain whether or not he is reading too deeply into his own existence. Overall, his story is an allegory for the birth and rise of India as an independent nation.

 

Padma Mangroli is Saleem’s present-day caretaker and fiancée. Padma plays the role of the listener in the storytelling structure of the novel. She is described as plump, muscular and hairy, compared to Saleem’s frail, cracked body. Saleem will follow tangents and try to explain the significance of himself and his life, Padma is more interested in the action of the tale. It is her influence that balances out Saleem’s long-winded, prosaic story-telling. She also embodies the skepticism that the audience has for Saleem’s narration. Her disbelief of Saleem’s magic powers and metaphysical connection with India mirrors that of the reader.

 

Characters introduced in Book One

Aadam Aziz is a doctor and the father of Amina Sinai, or Mumtaz, Saleem's mother. Saleem’s story begins with Aadam, an Indian doctor, returning to his homeland after obtaining his medical degree from Germany. He has many children with Naseem Ghani, and struggles with questions of the existence of God throughout the novel. He is a "half and halfer", an Indian with a western education and outlook. He narrowly survives death in the Amritsar Massacre of 1919.

Aadam Aziz's Mother runs the jewel business of her husband. She is often shrewd toward Aadam. She spends time caring for her disabled husband until his passing, at which time she follows him, relieved of her duty.

Aadam Aziz's Father is a formerly successful jewel merchant, whose mentality has now declined. He spends all his time in his room in the company of birds, who he can communicate with. When the birds leave, he passes away.

Tai is a boatman on Dal Lake and a friend of Aadam Aziz. At times he demonstrates an ability to predict the future and, while most people consider him insane, he makes several insightful remarks, the most important of which is his advice to Aadam Aziz to "follow his nose."

Naseem Ghani/ Reverend Mother is the daughter of the wealthy landlord Ghani. She is first Aadam Aziz's patient and then becomes his wife. She is the mother of Mumtaz Aziz (or Amina Sinai). She is dramatic and strong-willed, possessing a lot of power in her relationship with her husband Aadam Aziz. Later referred to by Saleem as "Reverend Mother" because of her religious devotion. She has two large moles on her face referred to as witches nipples.

Ghani the landowner is a widower, blind and wealthy landowner. He is Naseem's father. He owns a lot of property around Dal Lake in Kashmir.

Oskar Lubin is a German anarchist friend of Doctor Aziz from his student days in Heidelberg, Germany. He is killed in a road accident while demonstrating outside an army barracks in Germany in 1919 during the German Revolution.

Ilse Lubin is Oskar's wife and another anarchist friend of Aadam Aziz from his student days in Heidelberg. After Oscar's death in 1919 she visits Aadam in Srinagar and drowns herself in Dal Lake.

Ingrid is another anarchist friend in Heidelberg.

Brigadier R. E. Dyer, an officer in the British army and Martial Law Commander of Amritsar who orders his men to fire on an unarmed crowd. Related to Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, 1919.

Alia is the eldest daughter of Aadam and Naseem Aziz; she is the sister of Amina Sinai (Mumtaz) and Emerald. Together they are known as the "Teen Batti" or three bright lights. Alia suffers from a lifelong love for Ahmed Sinai, whom her sister Mumtaz marries. Her resentment toward her sister manifests itself in the meals she cooks, and therefore affects those who eat what she prepares. She is described as clever and plump. She becomes an unmarried school mistress in Pakistan.

Mumtaz Aziz/Amina Sinai is the second daughter of Aadam and Naseem Aziz; the sister of Alia and Emerald; and Saleem’s mother. She is described as dark skinned; in later life she becomes plump and suffers from facial hair and verrucas. She is married to Nadir Khan. Once the family finds out that the two never consummated their marriage, Mumtaz is divorced and then marries Ahmed Sinai. It is Ahmed who changes her name to Amina to signify her new life as his husband. By sheer willpower, she forces herself to love her husband Ahmed Sinai. As a mother, she is devoted and loving and always puts her children first when Ahmed’s alcoholism threatens the family.

Mian Abdullah (a.k.a. the Hummingbird) is a pro-Indian Muslim political figure, who dies at the hands of assassins.

The Rani of Cooch Naheen a wealthy Muslim woman who sponsors the political campaign of the Hummingbird. She is the intellectual friend of Aadam Aziz. Her name is a play-on-words, literally meaning "The Queen of Nothing" in English. She is described as a pale woman who suffers from a unknown illness and turns white by the time of her death.

Nadir Khan is Mumtaz's first husband. He is "the Hummingbird's" personal secretary, and is known for his rhymeless poetry. After the Hummingbird's assassination, Aadam Aziz agrees to hide Nadir in the Aziz basement. Naseem is so infuriated by Aadam's decision that she vows silence, which lasts for three years. Mumtaz falls in love with Nadir, they marry privately, and live together in the basement. Aadam discovers that the marriage has not been consummated after two years, Naseem breaks her silence berating her husband and Nadir, and Nadir summarily divorces Mumtaz and flees the household. He changes his name to Nasir Qasim and rekindles their relationship in clandestine meetings some ten years later.

Hammdard the rickshawman is a rickshaw servant who lives behind Aadam and Naseem's house.

Rashid the rickshaw boy is the son of Hammdard. He lives behind Aadam and Naseem's house. He is often seen talking with Hanif and other boys outside the house. He informs Doctor Aziz that Nadir Khan needs a place to hide. He later teaches the young Saleem how to ride a bicycle.

Emerald the youngest and prettiest daughter of Aadam and Naseem Aziz; she is Saleem's aunt, the sister of Mumtaz. She marries General Zulfikar.

General Zulfikar is the husband of Emerald, who is involved with Pakistani political events. Is described as having a face like Pulcinella. He becomes a father figure to Saleem during his stay in Pakistan. He is killed by his own son in the end.

Ahmed Sinai is Saleem's father and Amina's husband. He is originally a dealer in leathercloth, but becomes a property speculator when he moves to Bombay. He dreams of reordering the chapters of the Koran in a true chronology. After Saleem is born, his wife loses interest in him and he becomes an alcoholic. He is also involved in the tetrapod business with Dr. Narlikar. He tries to be a successful businessman, but his attempts at personal wealth fail -- according to him, because of a fake “family curse” he invents one night while drunk.

Lifafa Das is a peep show street man who leads Amina to Shri Ramram Seth in gratitude after she saves his life from a Muslim mob.

Shri Ramram Seth is a Hindu seer, a cousin of Lifafa Das. Amina visits him while pregnant and he makes prophecies on the future life of her yet unborn son, Saleem Sinai.

William Methwold is an Englishman from whom the Sinais buy their house in Breach Candy, Bombay. When selling his housing estate, (known as Methwold's Estate) he stipulates that all buyers must live exactly as their previous English occupants did until the hour of independence. Methwold invites Wee Willie Winkie and his wife, Vanita to perform for him. He sends Winkie out on an errand, and seduces Vanita, resulting in Vanita becoming pregnant. Methwold is Saleem's biological father. He is said to be a direct descendant of William Methwold (c 1590- 1653) the historical Englishman who planned the city of Bombay.

Wee Willie Winkie is an accordionist and entertainer. He is Shiva's non biological father, and Vanita's husband.

Vanita is the wife of Wee Willie Winkie; she is revealed to be Saleem's biological mother, who dies during labor.

Mary Pereira is a midwife and servant,  who switches Shiva and Saleem at birth in an attempt at impressing her sweetheart Joseph D'Costa. She is consumed by guilt by her action and becomes Saleem’s nanny, (known as an “ayah.”) to try to make amends. Saleem comes to see her as a second mother, even after he finds out that she was the person who switched Saleem and Shiva at birth. She is a Christianised Indian. After confessing her crime she flees to reemerge later as the owner of a pickle factory with the name of Mrs Braganza, a name she borrowed from Catherine of Braganza, the Portuguese princess who gave Bombay to the English in 1662 as part of her dowry.

Joseph D'Costa is Mary Pereira's sweetheart, a hospital porter, a communist political radical and a most wanted man by the Indian police. He is cornered by police, bitten by a krait, and shot close to the Methwold Estate. Mary mistakes the leprosy-stricken Musa for his ghost.

Suresh Narlikar is a child hating gynecologist and businessman, who lives on Methwold's Estate in Bombay. He owns the nursing home where both Saleem and Shiva are born at midnight on 15 August 1947. He forms a business partnership with Saleem's father, Ahmed Sinai, to reclaim land from the sea. He is killed by a mob of language marchers in 1957.

Doctor Bose is the doctor who delivers Saleem. He works in the charity ward of Doctor Narlikar's nursing home.

Ibrahim Ibrahim a next door neighbor in Sans Souci villa on Methwold's Estate in Bombay. He is elderly and owns sisal farms in Africa. He lives with his sons, Ismail and Ishaq.

Ismail Ibrahim' a neighbour to the Sinai's who is a crooked lawyer. Amina asks him in secret to act for the family to recover Ahmed Sinai's frozen assets.

Nussie Ibrahim, Ismail's wife, who is nicknamed The Duck because of the way she walks. She is the mother of Sonny Ibrahim.

Ishaq Ibrahim, a hotel owner lives with his father and brother on the Methwold's Estate.

Adi Dubash A nuclear physicist who works on India's nuclear program. Killed by choking on an orange pip.

Mrs Dubash, his wife who is a religious fanatic. They are the ground floor neighbors to the Sinai's in the Versailles Villa on the Methwold's Estate in Bombay. Their son is called Cyrus the Great by the children of Methwold's Estate because of his intelligence.

Cyrus the Great the Dubashes only son and childhood friend of Saleem's. After his father's death through choking on an orange pip his mother grooms him to become the guru Lord Kushro Khusrovand.

Sonny Ibrahim is Saleem's neighbour and friend. His forceps birth has given him a misshapen forehead.

Eyeslice Sabarmati one of Saleem's childhood friends on Methwold's Estate, the son of Commander Sabarmati and his wife Lila, and the brother of Hairoil. He is blinded in the right eye by a stone thrown by Shiva after he had taunted him about his poverty.

Shiva is a boy who is born at the same moment as Saleem and he was switched by Mary Pereria (nurse) at birth with the baby Saleem. Saleem was given to Shiva’s parents while Shiva was given to Saleem’s parents. He is the biological son of Ahmed and Amina Sinai, but is raised in poverty in the Bombay slums, initially by Wee Willie Winkie. Shiva possesses an amazing ability to fight. Shiva is the knees in the prophecy of "knees and nose" and is the possessor of abnormally large knees. His fighting skill makes him a war hero and gets him promoted to the rank of major in the Indian army. Shiva’s life and characteristics are inverted of Saleem’s life. For example, Saleem is sickly and introverted, whereas Shiva is robust, healthy, and extremely violent. Shiva is compared to Hindu god Shiva: power of destruction and procreation. Shiva puts an end to the Midnight’s Children Conference (MCC). He is the biological father of Saleem's son Aadam and in fact, he fathered hundreds of children with women all across India during his 20’s.

Characters introduced in Book Two

Vishwanath the post boy is a servant at Methwold's Estate. He is seen frequently delivering messages to and from Methwold's Estate on his Arjuna Indiabike.

Jamila Sinai/ Jamila Singer is Saleem's younger sister, nicknamed "the brass monkey" because of her thick thatch of red-gold hair and because she is conceived the night her father's assets are frozen by the state. Sinai family moves to Pakistan, where she becomes famous celebrity "Jamila Singer" because of her magical, pure voice. While she and Saleem are fond for each other during their childhood, she forever shuns him after he admits that he is in love with her.

Dr Schaapsteker an elderly expert on snake venom who rents the top floor of Buckingham Villa, the Sinai's house, after Ahmed Sinai's has his assets frozen.

Purushottam, the sadhu who takes up residence in the Sinai's garden at Saleem's birth and lives with the garden tap dripping constantly on his head.

Musa is the disgraced servant of Ahmed Sinai whom Mary mistakes for the ghost of Joseph D'Costa.

Johny Vaheel the police inspector who exposes Musa as the thief of the Sinai's valuables and corners Joseph D'Costa in the clock tower of Mahalaxmi Racecourse across the road from Methwold's Estate.

Hanif is Saleem's uncle and Amina's brother. He is a screenwriter who enjoys some fame in his youth, but who grows disillusioned later in life with Bollywood and the superficiality of the film industry, and commits suicide. He is Pia's husband.

Pia is Hanif's attractive wife, a former actress and later joint petrol-pump owner with Naseem, her mother-in-law.

Mustapha Aziz is another uncle of Saleem's, the brother of Mumtaz, described as tall but stooped with a droopy mustache. He becomes a second rank civil servant in New Delhi, always passed over for promotion. His wife is Sonia. They have strangely silent children who've been beaten into submission.

Sonia Aziz (née Khorovani) is Mustapha's wife. She is eventually committed as insane.

Evie Lilith Burns is Saleem's American childhood sweetheart. She is a freckled tomboy with tooth braces. She later knifes an old lady on her return to America and is sent to reform school.

Zafar the son of General Zulfikar. Zafar suffers from enuresis (bed-wetting) which annoys his father and appalls women.

Homi Catrack a film magnate and racehorse owner who is a neighbour of the Sinai family in Bombay. he frequently has affairs with married women, including Pia and Lila Sabarmati. Saleem exposes Homi’s affair with Lila to her husband, Commander Sabarmati, and is subsequently murdered by Commander Sabarmati. His mentally ill daughter Toxy lives in seclusion with her fearsome nurse Bi-Appah.

Lila Sabarmati is commander Sabarmati's wife, who is shot, but not killed by him, for having an affair with Homi Catrack.

Commander Sabarmati is the husband of Lila Sabarmati, a high flying officer in the Indian navy and neighbor to the Sinai's in Bombay. He shoots his unfaithful wife and murders her lover.

Hairoil Sabarmati, the Sambarmati's son and classmate of Saleem.

Alice Pereira is Mary's sister, who works for Ahmed Sinai as his secretary.

Croaker Crusoe, the headmaster of the Cathedral School in Bombay where Saleem receives his education.

Mr Emil Zagaloo is Saleem's geography teacher at the Cathedral School. He is sacked after pulling out a clump of Saleem's hair.

Rushdie, a prefect at the Cathedral School. A minor character, but notable by the use of the author's name.

Glandy Keith Colaco an overweight bully at the cathedral school

Fat Perce Fishwala another overweight bully at the cathedral school

Masha Miovic, a champion breaststroke swimmer and pupil at the Walsingham school. A friend of the Brass Monkey, she partners Saleem at the school social and faints when his finger is severed.

Jimmy Kapadia, a classmate of Saleem's. He is a scholarship boy at the cathedral school, the son of a taxi driver. Saleem believes he murders him through a dream.

Soumitra, one of the Midnight's Children, a boy who is able to travel through time.

Sundari, one of the Midnight's Children, a girl of such intense beauty that she blinded her mother at her birth. Her face is later slashed with a knife by an aunt and she becomes a beggar.

Parvati-the-witch / Leylah Sinai is one of the Midnight's Children, and the only one to become a friend (and later wife) of Saleem, as Leylah Sinai. She is a child of the conjurers ghetto in New Delhi but can perform real magic. Though she carries Shiva’s biological son, Parvati and Saleem raise him as their own child. She is killed in the Sanjay Gandhi’s "cleansing" of the Jama Masjid slum during the Emergency of 1975–1977.

Narada / Markandaya, one of the Midnight's Children who has the ability to change sex at will.

Dom Minto a private detective hired by Commander Sabarmati to investigate his wife's infidelity.

Major (Retired) Alauddin Latif, nicknamed Uncle Puffs is Jamila Singer's agent. A former soldier in the Pakistan border patrol, he has seven daughters, known as the Puffias, who he offers to Saleem to choose one as a wife.

Tai Bibi is a 512-year-old whore who Saleem visits in Karachi. She has the ability to change her body smell at will and mimic the smell of others.

Mutasim is the son of a wealthy Pakistani who is western educated and has a Beatles haircut. He is an unsuccessful suitor to Jamila Singer. He is killed in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

Characters introduced in Book Three

Ayooba Baloch the leader of Saleem's platoon in the Pakistani army. Nicknamed the tank. He is sixteen and hates vegetarianism or any sign of unmanliness. He is killed in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, when, while mourning the unfairness of life with Saleem, he is shot by a sniper.

Farooq Rasheed, one of Saleem's platoon in the Pakistani army. Sixteen years old and described as a born follower. Killed in the Bangladesh Liberation War when he is shot by a sniper while scouting a battlefield.

Shaheed Dar, one of Saleem's platoon in the Pakistani army. Perhaps fifteen years old (he lied about his age), gloomy and resigned to martyrdom in the army. He is killed in the Bangladesh Liberation War when a grenade splits him in half. Saleem takes him to the top of a mosque, where his scream echoes over the loudspeaker as he bleeds out.

Brigadier Iskandar Commander of the CUTIA unit (Canine Unit for Tracking and Intelligence Activities) of trained dog handlers.

Lala Moin, batman to Brigadier Iskandar.

Sgt Maj Najmuddin, Sergeant Major in the CUTIA unit.

Deshmukh, the vendor of notions, an elderly peasant from Bangladesh met looting a battlefield.

Sam Manekshaw Commander of the Indian army at the surrender of Dhaka. He was a former colleague of Tiger Niazi in the British colonial army. One of the few historical personages, given a voice in the novel.

Tiger Niazi Commander of the Pakistan army at the surrender of Dhakar. One of the few historical personages, given a voice in the novel.

Picture Singh (aka The Most Charming Man in The World) is a snake charmer from the conjurers' ghetto in New Delhi. He is seven feet tall, a communist and the undisputed leader of the ghetto. He becomes a father figure and a friend to Saleem. His photo once appeared on half the Kodak advertisements in India which gave him the nickname Picture.

Master Viram, a sitarist whose playing is able to respond to and exaggerate the faintest emotions in the hearts of the audience.

Resham Bibi, a superstitious old woman from the conjurers' ghetto in New Delhi. She sees Saleem as bad luck. She dies of cold.

Chisti Khan a fakir from the conjurers' ghetto who has an ageless face.

Roshanara Shetty, the child wife of the steel magnate S.P. Shetty. She manages to injure the ego of Shiva by telling him all the society ladies he courted were laughing at him behind his back.

Aadam Sinai is Saleem's son, and Shiva's biological son. He has extraordinarily large ears and a strong will. He is part of a second wave of Midnight's Children.

Durga is a washerwoman with huge lactating breasts. She is wet nurse to Aadam Sinai and a succubus to Picture Singh who becomes infatuated with her even as she drains his strength.

The Widow is the novel's fictional representation of Indira Gandhi. The Widow is alluded to early in the novel, but is only revealed to be Indira Gandhi towards the end of Book Three. During her first term, she realized that the Midnight’s Children Counsel represented a threat to her leadership. With the help of Shiva’s strength and Saleem, whom she took captive, she had all the surviving members of the Midnight’s Children Council captured and sterilized so that their magical powers could not be passed down, thus securing her claim as the only “legitimate” child of India.

The Widow's Hand is a servant of the Widow responsible for Saleem's torture. She has a similar hairstyle of the Widow, glasses and is described as very attractive. Her character is based on Rukhsana Sultana.

Anand (Andy) Shrof, a Bombay westernised businessman and playboy and owner of the Metro Cub Club.

Maharaja of Cooch Naheen, A young snake charmer who rivals Picture Singh as the most charming man in the world.

 

Midnight's Children Themes

Naming as an Identity

Midnight’s Children has strong ties with the idea that naming creates identity. The majority of names in the novel allude to the archetype that the character resembles. Saleem’s grandfather Aadam, for example, alludes to the Biblical Adam who was the first man. Saleem’s grandmother takes on the name Reverend Mother after she becomes engulfed in her religious identity. The women in the novel change their name after getting married, essentially leaving their unmarried identity behind and becoming a new person in union with their husbands. For a while, Saleem even forgets his own name during a time when he is not particularly proud of his actions. He has lost his moral compass and has therefore lost the name which gives him meaning and direction.

Post-Colonialism

Before becoming an independent nation, India was under the rule of the British Empire. The British used their influence to erase the customs of India and impose their own culture and morality. The Indians, however, found it difficult to recall their own culture. Many cast aside the “old ways” of polytheistic religion and ornate ceremonies, and instead tried to veer the country to follow Western culture. Others tried to return to their customs but were caught identity crisis. The shadow of the British Empire still clouded India’s vision, making it difficult to move forward with their own identity. Characters like William Methwold and Evie Lilith Burns served as reminders of how white characters were able to make Indians feel subservient and out-of-place in their own country.

The Unreliability of Oral Storytelling

Midnight’s Children is told entirely through the voice of Saleem, who is recalling the mystical events of his life on his deathbed. He expects Padma, who represents the readers, to completely believe the series of events that comprise his life, which is difficult because his story is filled with supernatural occurrences set against a realistic world. Yet at the same time, there are moments in the novel when Saleem admits that he might have forgotten a date or mixed up a series of events due to his failing mental health. This puts the reader in a difficult position: they can either fully believe Saleem’s occultish story and forgive his slights of memory, or they can take everything Saleem says with a grain of salt. Either way, Saleem’s authority as a reliable narrator is undermined through both magical realism as well as his admission of mixing up dates and events.

Mythology and the Epic Story

Hindu, Christian, Greek, and other religious mythologies are Saleem’s props that lend credence to his elaborate tale of India’s creation. He sets his grandfather up as a progenitor by comparing him to the first man in Christian mythology, Adam. With respect to his “evil” counterpart, Shiva, he conjures the Hindu god to compare Shiva’s position as a major player in the story with the god’s own influence on people’s lives. The same goes for Parvati, who represents the caring and motherly form who has a strong control over Shiva as well as everyone else in India. Throughout his story, Saleem makes connections between himself and Scheherazade, the storyteller from One Thousand and One Nights. To set up his story as an epic adventure, he uses classic traditions from Homer’s The Odyssey as a way to draw further parallels to his own journey to find himself.

Boundaries and Borders

From the moment that England breaks ties with India, India is given autonomy and independence. In theory, this means that India should have finite, indisputable borders. Midnight’s Children takes a different approach, saying that boundaries and borders are often more blurred than one might think. This is seen in the characters time and again -- for example, the struggle for presence between Aadam and Reverend Mother. Saleem is able to surpass the boundaries of his body by telepathically shoving himself into someone else’s brain. In the national sense, the impermanence of borders is apparent even at the beginning of India’s independence when these countries decide to create new borders, separating Pakistan from India. The only problem with this is that these borders were unable to separate Hindus from Muslims as they were intended to do.

Racism and Sexism

Left over from colonialism is the idea that white skin is desirable and pure. While the Western characters exhibit these ideas more prominently, the ideas seep through to the Indian characters. Saleem’s father’s cousin relays these racist thoughts when she begins harping on other dark-skinned Indians. When Jamila Singer appears in public, she is covered in a white silk chadar to symbolize her purity. Sexism is also prevalent in the novel, with many male characters (even Saleem) ignoring women’s autonomy and identity. Both Amina and Parvati accept their new first names after becoming married, and neither Sonny nor Saleem respect Brass Monkey’s and Evelyn’s insistence that they don’t want to be in a relationship with boys who are pursuing them. Instead, the boys doggedly pursue the girls regardless of what the girls want.

Class and Social Structure

It is impossible to overlook Saleem’s journey through India’s different social structures. Saleem begins his life in an upper-middle class family, enjoying a beautiful home and having enough money to be comfortable. Their wealth is created from their capitalistic lifestyle, left over from British Imperialism. But as soon as Saleem’s parents split up, his social standing is significantly lowered to the point where he, his mother, and his sister are recognized as the needy relatives. Once India enters the war, Saleem loses all hopes of ever belonging to “respectable” society and instead lives in the slums, spreading the word about how a communist government would be more inclined to help the poor break free from their squalor. All these different parts in Saleem’s life are representative of the vast differences in class and social structures present in India.

 

Book One: Chapter wise- Summary

1. "The Perforated Sheet"

Midnight’s Children begins with the narrator Saleem Sinai introducing himself as the child born at the same time as India gained its independence from the British Empire. He says that, even though he is nearly thirty-one years old, he can feel his skin cracking and peeling as he gets closer to his death. Saleem believes it is important that he tells the story of his life and how it coincides with India’s own history.

Present-day Saleem is telling this story to Padma, his constant companion and caretaker. “I, Saleem Sinai, later variously called Snotnose, Stainface, Baldy, Sniffer, Buddha and even Piece-of-the-Moon, …… And I couldn't even wipe my own nose at the time”.  He is critical of her sturdy stature and hairy body, and he constantly makes fun of her name, which means “dung.” Saleem says, “She had been named after the lotus goddess, whose most common appellation amongst village folk is 'The One Who Possesses Dung'“. He dismisses her attempts to make him well. Saleem’s body keeps deteriorating and cracking. Saleem compares himself to Scheherazade, the narrator and protagonist of One Thousand and One Nights; and he wanted to tell his story faster.

Saleem’s story begins in spring morning (Kashmir) 1915 (32-years before his birth) with his grandfather, Aadam Aziz, returning to the Kashmir region after obtaining his medical degree in Germany. While praying on his mat upon reaching Kashmir, he hits his nose on the ground. Three drops of blood fall from his nose onto his mat. Saleem also mentions that Aadam has a large, cucumber-sized nose, which is the most prominent feature of his face. After the accident, he vows never to follow any religion.

He is waiting for Tai the boatman to take him to his village when he reminisces about how Tai once told him that his nose would always guide him in the right direction for his life. Tai says, “A nose like that, little idiot, is a great gift. I say: trust it. When it warns you, look out or you'll be finished. Follow your nose and you'll go far.” Tai yells out that the daughter of prominent landowner Ghani is sick and needs his assistance. Once Saleem arrives at the house, the blind Ghani has his daughter hidden behind a large white sheet with a seven-inch hole cut in the center of the sheet. Ghani informs Aadam that, because of his daughter’s purity, Aadam can only perform the check-up through the sheet.

As Aadam is called countless times to Ghani’s house to treat “illnesses”, he begins to fall in love piece by piece with Naseem, the girl behind the sheet. However, he has never seen her face, only the part of the body that she claims is in pain. Finally, on the day that World War I ends, Naseem says she has a migraine and needs Aadam to treat her head. When Aadam sees Naseem’s face for the first time, he is completely smitten with her.

Ilse, Aadam’s anarchist friend from Germany, comes to visit him and deliver the news that their friend Oskar has died. Ilse drowns herself in the lake that same day, in a spot where, as Tai once told the young Aadam, foreign women often come to drown themselves without their knowing why.

In that same year, Doctor Aziz’s father dies, followed shortly by his mother. Agra University offers Aadam a job, and he decides to leave Kashmir and proposes to Naseem. The two are married and move to Amritsar.

The perforated sheet is a motif in Midnight’s Children. As Aadam fell in love with Naseem piece by piece, he never learned to love her as a full woman. This fractured foundation immediately causes problems in their marriage, namely on their second night of marriage when Aadam urges Naseem to move “like a woman”. “Move where?” she asked. “Move how?” He became awkward and said, “Only move, I mean, like a woman…” She shrieked in horror. “My God, what have I married? I know you Europe-returned men. You find terrible women and then you try to make us girls be like them! Listen, Doctor Sahib, husband or no husband, I am not any…bad word woman.” -- Reverend Mother.

2. "Mercurochrome"

On August 7th, Mahatma Gandhi called for Hartal, a day of mourning in protest of British imperialism. Riots break out, however, and Aadam tries to help the wounded by using Mercurochrome, the red medicine which leaves bloodlike red stains on his clothing. Six days later, the people hold a peaceful protest and are rounded up and put into a compound, i.e., Jalian Walabagh. Aadam is there by accident. His nose begins to itch violently, causing him to sneeze. He falls to the ground right before the troops fire on all the people. The bullets miss Aadam.

Narrator (Saleem) noticed a thin crack, like a hair, appearing in my wrist, beneath the skin and says, “We all owe death a life.”

3. "Hit-the-Spittoon"

Immediately after their marriage, Aadam and Naseem (who now goes by Reverend Mother) are having difficulties. Reverend mother has also developed a verbal habit of referring to things as whatsitsname. Aadam despises Naseem for her religious fervor, and Naseem hates that Aadam acts like he is more intelligent than he is. Regardless of their feelings toward one another, they have five children: three daughters and two sons (Alia, Mumtaz, Hanif, Mustapha, and Emerald).

In 1942, Aadam begins to politically align himself with Mian Abdullah, who is known as the Hummingbird because he is always humming. He is the leader of the Free Islam Convocation, a group that does not want a Muslim state separate from India. He and his assistant Nadir Khan are attacked by political assassins. Abdullah begins to hum, which causes the killers’ eyes and the windows to shatter. His voice also calls the local dogs to the scene, and the dogs begin to kill the assassins. Abdullah is killed, but Nadir manages to make it out with the help of Rashid the rickshaw boy . Aadam and his family take him into hiding, letting him live in the house’s basement.

4. "Under the Carpet"

After Mian Abdullah is assassinated, the optimism disease has ended. The political refugee Nadir Khan is hiding in the the laundry bin got the approval of Aadam to stay in the basement of the family’s home. This upsets Naseem, ans she vows a silent treatment to protest Nadir living in their home and possibly corrupting their daughters’ purity. Regardless of her fears, Nadir and the second daughter Mumtaz (Aadam’s favourite daughter and darkest-skinned) fall in love even though they never speak a word. Nadir asks for Mumtaz’s hand, prompting Mumtaz to have a secret marriage in order to protect Nadir from the government.

The Rani of Cooch Naheen a wealthy Muslim woman who sponsors the political campaign of the Hummingbird.  She  gives Mumtaz and Nadir a silver spittoon when they are married, and they frequently play hit-the-spittoon. (Saleem losts his memory after being hit by the spittoon in Book Three).

Two years later, Mumtaz becomes extremely ill. Aadam performs a physical on her when he notices that, even though she is married, Mumtaz is still a virgin. This scandal is too much for Reverend Mother, and she unleashes a fury of words on Aadam for letting their daughter marry Nadir. Emerald runs out of the house and tells her suitor, Major Zulfikar, that Nadir Khan is living in her basement. When the two return, Nadir has fled and left a note for Mumtaz that reads, “I divorce you.” Coincidentally, this event occurs on the same day the United States drops the atomic bomb on Japan.

Later, at Emerald and Major Zulfikar’s wedding, Mumtaz begins talking with a man named Ahmed Sinai. He had previously been courting the eldest daughter Alia. The two are attracted to each other, and they marry. For their new life, Ahmed decides that his new wife should take the name Amina.

5. "A Public Announcement"

While both were initially interested in the other, Amina finds it difficult to love Ahmed when she is still in love with Nadir. Muntaj forces herself to fall in love piece by piece. (In contrast to Aadam and Reverend Mother: falling in love one piece at a time makes it nearly impossible.)

One day, Ahmed receives a visit from two business partners, Mr. Mustapha Kemal and Mr. S. P. Butt, who tell Ahmed about a fire at one of his warehouses. An anti-Muslim organization named Ravana is trying to destroy Muslim businesses if they don’t pay a one-time lump sum of protection money. The three men leave to see the damage while Amina stays at home. Outside her door, a man named Lifafa Das is showing off his peepshow box that contains postcards from around the world. One snobbish girl accuses Lifafa of being a rapist and a Muslim, and a mob descends on the innocent man. Amina pulls the man in and announces that anyone who tries to harm Lifafa will have to go through her, a newly pregnant woman. Lifafa is grateful for her assistance. He tells her to come see his cousin RamRam Seth who is a prophet and a seer to look into her child’s future.

6. "Many-headed Monsters"

Days later, while Ahmed and his friends are trying to unsuccessfully pay of Ravana, Amina takes a trip through the slums to see RamRam Seth, the seer. Amina has an image that poor people are a many-headed monster, which is where imagery of Ravana comes in. As for Saleem, his prophesy sounds strange to Amina. He touches her pregnant belly and falls into a trance. He begins by saying that her son will be the same age as his motherland and that two heads, knees, and a nose will accompany him into the world. After a full prophecy, he falls to the floor.

“A son, Sahiba, who will never be older than his motherland – neither older nor younger,

There will be too heads—but you will see only one—

there will be knees and a nose, a nose and knees,

Newspapers praise him, two mothers raise him! Bicyclists love him—but, crowds will shove him! Sisters will seep, cobras will creep.

Washing will hide him—voices will guide him!

Friends mutilate him—blood will betray him!

Spittoons will brain him—doctors will drain him—jungle will claim him—wizards reclaim him! Soldiers will try him—tyrants will fry him.

He will have sons without having sons! HE will be old before he is old! And he will die…before he is dead!—(Ramram Seth)

Ahmed and his companions follow the orders of the Ravana and deposit the money at an ancient fort overrun with wild monkeys. The monkeys attack the Ravana members assigned to collect the ransom, and Ahmed and his associates begin scrounging to re-collect their money. As a result, the Ravana burn down the men’s warehouses.

Ahmed is in financial ruins, so he decides to get out of the leather business and move to Bombay because land is cheaper. As Amina and Ahmed board the train, On June 4^th, Earl Mountbatten announced that the nation of India will be separated into two different countries.

Throughout these chapters, present-day Saleem complains that nobody takes his ailments seriously, as a doctor dismissed his claims that his skin was cracking. Padma takes the same stance as the doctor and insists that Saleem continue with his story and hold back his complaints.

7. "Methwold"

As soon as Amina and Ahmed get to Bombay, they find a house that is owned by an Englishman named William Methwold. Methwold owns a villa that contains four houses that are each different embodiments of European palaces. Methwold Estate serves as a petri dish of how British imperialism took over India. Because India is becoming independent, Methwold is leaving the country that he has made his home. However, before he leaves, he has conditions for the new tenants. Until August 15th, when India becomes free, they must keep everything in the house exactly the way it is. The tenants must also attend nightly cocktail, a European tradition, with him in the garden.

Saleem lists the other inhabitants of Methwold’s Estate: Mr. Homi Catrack, a film magnate who lives with his idiot daughter; old man Ibrahim, his sons, Ismail and Ishaq, and his wife, Nussie; the Dubashes, who become parents of Cyrus, Saleem’s first mentor; Doctor Narlikar; and finally, Commander Sabarmati, his wife, Lila, and their two sons, who will grow up to be nicknamed Eyeslice and Hairoil.

The tenants, all Indians, despise Methwold’s conditions. They don’t want to live amongst his European paintings and use his Western appliances. Most of all, they don’t understand why cocktail hour and why it is important. Yet each tenant slowly begins to get used to their surroundings as well as Methwold’s continued presence. They even adopt fake British accents and mimic Methwold’s habits.

“But now there are twenty days to go, things are settling down, the sharp edges of things are getting blurred, so they have all failed to notice what is happening: the Estate, Methwold’s Estate, is changing them. Every evening at six they are out in their gardens, celebrating the cocktail hour, and when William Methwold comes to call they slip effortlessly into their imitation Oxford drawls; and they are learning, about ceiling-fans and gas cookers and the correct diet for budgeringars, and Methwold, supervising their transformation, is mumbling under his breath. Listen carefully: what’s he saying? Yes, that’s it. “Sabkuch ticktock hai,” mumbles William Methwold. All is well. ---Saleem’s narration about Methowld’s estate.

The Times of India announces a prize for any child born at the exact moment of independence. Amina reads news and recalls Ramram’s words, and she knows that her son will be the winning child. Wee Willie Winkie, a poor clown and bard who performs nightly at Methwold Estate, also announces that his wife Vanita is set to give birth on August 15th at midnight as well. Methwold becomes noticeably stiff, though, and Saleem informs Padma that he slept with Winkie’s wife months ago. The child that Winkie believes is his is actually the biological son of the very British-looking Methwold.

The narration takes a detour to a young midwife named Mary Pereira. She is sitting in a confessional booth and confessing that her boyfriend Joseph D’Costa is trying to provoke a revolution against the British with violence. “You don’t know nothing, Mary, the air comes from the north now, and it’s full of dying. This independence is for the rich only; the poor are being made to kill each other like flies. In Punjab, in Bengal. Riots riots, poor against poor. It’s in the wind."-Joe D’Costa. She seems concerned about his actions, but she also wants to impress him. Saleem mentions that Mary will be an important figure in the near future.

8. "Tick, Tock"

Narrator (Saleem) says that he had travelled through thirty-two years of history, reminding Padma, “To understand just one life, you have to swallow the world.” 

August 14^th sees the day of Pakistan’s liberation from India. Also on that day, the events of Saleem’s birth are set in motion. At Methwold Estate, cocktail hour is going smoothly until Amina goes into labor. Vanita’s labor has already started. As the sun sets on August 15^th, Methwold stands in the center courtyard of his estate and salutes the landscape and the setting sun. It is a smart play on the phrase “The sun never sets on the British Empire.” Hours later, both women go into labor at midnight and have healthy baby boys that look strangely similar: both have clear blue eyes and noses that overpower their face.

Mary Pereira, wanting to make her boyfriend Joseph proud, takes the two midnight children and switches their nametags. Now, the Sinai family will raise the child that is biologically Vanita’s and William’s. Because Vanita dies and William is leaving the country, the destitute Winkie is left to unknowingly raise Amina and Ahmed’s child. Later, when Amina claims her prize for having a child at midnight, she is given the paltry sum of one hundred rupees and has an article written about her son’s symbolic importance.

The letter reads, “Dear Baby Saleem, My belated congratulations on the happy accident of your moment of birth! You are the newest bearer of that ancient face of India, which is also eternally young. We shall be watching over your life with the closet attention; it will be, in a sense, the mirror of our own.”

 

Book Two: Midnight's Children- Summary

9. "The Fisherman’s Pointing Finger"

Saleem returns to his story and describes a painting of Walter Raleigh that hung above his cot as a child. In the painting, a fisherman points off into the distance, and Saleem speculates as to what his finger might be pointing at.

Ahmed and Amina bring Saleem back to Methwold Estate not knowing that Saleem is not their biological child. Saleem is not a beautiful baby, but he is a large one, with an enormous cucumber nose and blue eyes that the family assumes came from his grandfather. Winkie sticks around and brings Shiva with him during the routine cocktail hours. As Shiva grows, the most pronounced feature of his body are his large knobby knees, a characteristic that Saleem reports will be important later on in the story. New mother Amina dotes on Saleem as do the other residents of the villa.

Ahmed is jealous that his wife no longer pays attention to him, so he begins having affairs with his secretaries. He also embarks on a scheme to create tetrapods with his neighbor Dr. Narlikar, a man who despises women and children - despite his profession as a gynecologist. This business venture is conducted in secret, though, and the government finds out and freezes Ahmed’s assets. Ahmed receives a letter from the government saying his assets have been frozen, presumably because of his Muslim faith. The news gives him a permanent chill and sends him to bed. Amina tries to comfort him which results in the conception of Saleem’s sister, the Brass Monkey.

10. "Snakes and Ladders"

In winter 1948, To make ends meet, the family rents the top floor of their house to Dr. Schaapsteker, a herpetologist with a large collection of snakes. Aadam and Reverend Mother also move in with the family to help Amina and Ahmed. Amina then secretly steals away money from her dowry to the racetracks and bets on horses at random. Saleem attributes her luck to his magical powers, and Amina is able to pay their neighbor, Ismail, to fight the government’s freezing of Ahmed’s assets.

Saleem mentions that his favorite game as a child was Snakes and Ladders. “The moment I was old enough to play board games, I fell in love with Snakes and Ladders. Oh perfect balance of rewards and penalties! O seemingly random choices made by tumbling dice! Clambering up ladders, slithering down snakes, I spent some of the happiest days of my life.”-Saleem.

He mentions that the game was simple, that ladders brought you victory and snakes were bad luck. He adds that life, however, is not as simple as the game. For example, Saleem’s uncle, Hanif, Instead of moving to Pakistan, Hanif moved to Bombay, to follow his dream of making movies.  Yet on the night of his premiere, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. The family worries that the assassin will be Muslim and make life difficult for all Indian Muslims, but luckily the killer turned out to be Hindu.

Musa, the longtime house bearer, believing he’s about to be fired, steals some of the family’s valuables. They catch him before he can escape, and Musa leaves the house ashamed.

Mary, who has taken a permanent position as Saleem’s ayah to atone for her crime of switching the babies, notices a man walking across the rooftops. When the police arrive, they shoot the perpetrator on site. Unfortunately, the shadowy figure was Mary’s lover Joseph who was planning on blowing up the area as an act of terrorism. Baby Saleem turns violently ill during this turmoil and is given to death, but Dr. Schaapsteker’s snake venom medicine saves Saleem’s life. It teaches Saleem that snakes are not always as evil as they might appear.

11. "Accident in a Washing-chest"

Padma has stormed out on Saleem because he compares the writing of his narrative to the recording of the sacred Hindu text the Ramayana by the elephant god Ganesh, as Saleem’s own nose resembles the elephant god’s snout.

Saleem continues the story in the summer of 1956 when his sister, the Brass Monkey, began burning shoes, perhaps to force people to notice her. Starved for attention, she is a mischievous child, prone to breaking windows, spreading lies, and lashing out at anyone who shows her affection.

On reaching the age of nine, he feels the pressure from his parents’ expectations. He finds comfort hiding in a washing room closet. He seeks refuge from the insults and names in the washing chest, where his imagination is free to roam. One day, though, his mother goes into the room where he is hiding and begins to cry while repeating the name “Nadir.” Saleem watches silently but then begins to get worried when his mother takes off her sari to use the bathroom. At that moment, Saleem’s nose begins to bother him, and he sniffs. Discovering her son has seen her naked, Anima punishes Saleem to one day of not talking. Yet during that day, Saleem begins to hear voices in his head. He announces to his family that he believes he is divinely graced like Mohammed and Moses, but his parents are ashamed by the blasphemous statements. Saleem realizes that the voices in his head aren’t divine beings, though.

12. "All-India Radio"

During the summer of 1956, language marches fill the city streets, with protesters demanding that Bombay be partitioned along linguistic lines, dividing the Marathi speakers from the Gujrati speakers. He spends his days in solitude of the clock tower listening to various people around the country. The voices are not angels, but telepathy. 

Saleem puts his power in a historical context, noting that at the time of his discovery, India was developing its Five-Year Plan. While he is busy with his gift, the country is ripe with language marches. Dr. Narlikar offends a group of protestors, and they throw him into the ocean along with his concrete tetrapod. His distant female relatives, known collectively as Narlikar’s women, take over his business. They nudge Ahmed out of the tetrapod company, making Ahmed sink deeper into an alcoholic depression.

Throughout these chapters, present-day Saleem accuses Padma of being in love with him, and she takes offense to his brazen and insensitive approach to her feelings. It doesn’t take long for Saleem to realize that he too has become fond of Padma and begins to miss her. In his weakened state, he openly admits that he got the date of Gandhi’s death wrong and asks the reader if one factual error compromises the entire story.. “Does one error invalidate the entire fabric? Am I so far gone, in my desperate need for meaning, that I'm prepared to distort everything-to re-write the whole history of my times purely in order to place myself in a central role? Today, in my confusion, I can't judge. I'll have to leave it to others. For me, there can be no going back; I must finish what I've started, even if, inevitably, what I finish turns out not to be what I began…”  He also offhandedly remarks that Winkie died most likely during these first few years of his life, leaving Shiva an orphan of the streets.

13. "Love in Bombay"

During the holy feasting month of Ramzan, he and his sister loved going out on Sundays, when the movie theater holds Metro Cub Club viewings. There, Saleem falls in love with a girl who arrives at Methwold’s Estate on New Year’s Day, 1957. This girl is an American named Evelyn Lillith Burns, a plastic gun toting, bicycle-riding whirlwind of a child. (Evelyn is a play on “Eve”; Lillith is Adam’s first wife in Jewish mythology. Lilith refused to be submissive to Adam, and therefore she was cast out and demonized.)

But, Evelyn likes his friend Sonny instead. Yet Sonny likes Saleem’s sister Brass Monkey. Both women spurn the boys’ advances. Brass Monkey and her friends beat up Sonny, and Saleem tries to get Sonny to talk to Evelyn for him, but Evelyn instead falls for Sonny. Saleem tries to impress her by learning how to ride a bike, but she still ignores him.

Enraged at her rejection, Saleem uses his powers to force himself into her mind. Evelyn, feeling that Saleem is inside her mind, tries to mentally force him out. Saleem ignores her protests and uses his power to punish her for not being interested in him. A feminist interpretation of the text sees this scene as a rape. Finally, she pushes him down the hill where he lands in the middle of a language march. He enrages the crowd by accidentally recites a rhyme in Gujarathi, mocking their language. This incites the protestors to take to the streets and become violent. This causes the state of Bombay to be partitioned.

14. "My Tenth Birthday"

Saleem now knows that he has the ability to go deep into peoples’ minds. He uses this power to find the other children born at the hours of midnight on August 15,1947. By tenth birthday (1957), 420 children died; only 581 are survived (266 boys+ 315 girls). All of them have magical powers, so he holds a mental conference called the Midnight Children’s Conference (MCC). Shiva wants himself and Saleem to be the leaders because they are the “oldest” and most powerful. Saleem wants it to be a democracy. He warns that the Midnight Children’s Conference is pointless and will do no good, but the children ignore him and proceed discussing how they should use their powers.

The childrenwere born mere minutes or seconds after midnight also have strong powers, though not as strong as Saleem and Shiva. The powers gradually fade in strength as the children were born farther away from midnight.

Name of the child	Ability of the child
Shiva	massive knees that can kill men.
Saleem	Telepathy and Smell power
Parvati-the-witch born in a slum of Old Delhi (7 seconds past midnight)	Magical powers
Soumitra	ability to time travel
a blue-eyed child from Kashmir (Narada/ Markandeya)	Ability to change sex by immersing in water.
A Boy from Kerala	Stepping into mirrors
Goanese girl	gift of multiplying fish
A werewolf from Nilgiri Hills	Can change into wolf
A boy from Vindhyas	Can change size
A boy/girl from Jalna (Deccan)	a water-divining youth
A girl from Budge-Budge outside Calcutta	words had the power of inflicting physical wounds
a boy	could eat metal
a girl with green fingers	could grow prize aubergines in the Thar desert
Siamese twins with two bodies dangling off a single head	could speak in two voices, one male, one female, and every language and dialect spoken in the subcontinent
a witch-girl in Gir Forest	the power of healing
wealthy teaplanter's son in Shillong	incapable of forgetting anything he ever saw or heard.
scion of a great Lucknow family (21 seconds past)	By the age of 10, had completely mastered the lost arts of alchemy
dhobi's daughter from Madras (17 seconds past)	could fly higher than any bird simply by closing her eyes
Benarsi silversmith's son (12 seconds past)	gift of travelling in time and thus prophesying the future

15."At the Pioneer Café"

Purshottam, the sadhu, has died from a fit of suicidal hiccups. Saleem restricts his communication with the other midnight’s children to a single hour a day, between the times of midnight and 1 a.m.

Amina begins receiving strange phone calls, and Saleem notices how she becomes nervous every time the phone rings. Using his powers, he follows her around the city one day. Amina stops at the Pioneer Cafe, a restaurant where many actors try to find work from the nearby film studio executives. Once Amina goes inside, she sees that Amina is being affectionate with Nadir Khan, her first husband. Now, however, he goes by Qasim Khan, the official candidate of the Communist party. Saleem becomes incredibly upset that his mother is having an affair, but he keeps his emotions in check at this time.

Saleem describes the events of the 1957 election. The Communist Party makes a powerful showing, although the Qasim Khan lost his race, Suddenly, Saleem realizes that he’s gotten the dates wrong and that the election of 1957 occurred before his tenth birthday.

16. "Alpha and Omega"

Saleem describes the fall of Evie Burns. A servere drought occurs in Bombay. As a result of severe water shortage, stray cats in search of water overryn Methowld’s estate. Evie ends the plague of cats by shooting them. The Brass Monkey has a terrible fight. Evie writes Saleem a letter confessing to have once stabbed an old woman who complained about her assault on the cats.

Saleem says that he never liked Shiva. Though Saleem is the unofficial leader of the Midnight Children’s Conference, he could not keep Shiva out of MCC. Saleem notes that the conference ignored the warnings of Soumitra, the time-traveler among them, who insisted, “all this is pointless—they’ll finish us before we start!”

A geography teacher makes fun of Saleem’s face, noting how his nose sticks out like India’s peninsula. He then rips out a chunk of Saleem’s hair when Saleem’s nose drips on his hand. He then loses part of a finger at a school dance. When his parents take him to the hospital, they are asked to donate blood. However, their blood types, A and O, do not match his. It is at this time that Ahmed and Amina discover they are not Saleem’s biological family. Ahmed takes this out on Amina and accuses her of an affair.

Throughout these chapters in the present day, Padma returns begrudgingly to attend to Saleem. However, Saleem’s frailty is getting to him. He becomes extremely ill and asks to see his son. An unnamed woman brings the young child to Saleem’s bedside. In his delirium, he becomes terrified at “the Widow” and how she destroyed all the children by ripping them apart.

17. "The Kolynos Kid"

Saleem asserts that though he is the protoganist of the story, he appears to be a perennial victim, “to whom things have been done”. He describes how an individual’s life, and especially, his life is linked to India, “actively-literal, passively-metaphorical, actively-metaphorically, and passively-literally.”

Saleem doesn’t return to his home after leaving the hospital. Instead, he and Mary are sent to live with his Uncle Hanif, the filmmaker, and Hanif’s beautiful actress wife Pia. Driving in his uncle’s car, he notices a billboard advertising Kolynos Toothpaste in which a young boy squeezes toothpaste from a never-ending tube. Saleem thinks of himself as an “involuntary Kolynos Kid, squeezing crises and transformations out of a bottomless tube.”

His aunt and uncle treat him like the son. Pia is upset that Hanif only wants to make realistic movies that show the dire side of India. Unfortunately, Hanif’s film career has steadily declined over the years. Despite his failures, however, Homi Catrack continues to pay Hanif a studio salary, and he is feverishly writing a script about a pickle-factory run entirely by women. She begins to coddle Saleem which causes the boy to develop sexual feelings towards her.

One night, Homi Catrak, film studio executive hands Saleem a break-up note to give to Pia. Saleem goes to sleep with the letter still in his hand. He gets a nightmare—in which his classmate, Jimmy, is murdered (the next day, Jimmy, has died of a sudden heart seizure). The next day, Pia flies into a rage then crumbles onto her bed in tears due to her affair ending. Saleem tries to comfort Pia, but his hormones and curiosity take over, and he fondles Pia’s body. She slaps him and calls him a pervert. Mary appears in the doorway, embarrassed, and tells Saleem that his parents have just sent him his first pair of long trousers. Soon after, Amina comes to pick up Saleem to take him back home.  

After returning from a trip to Methwold’s Estate, informs Saleem that “the country is in the grip of a sort of supernatural invasion.” Citizens report seeing gods and chariots, and even a bleeding tombstone. Most curious of all, Mary claims “cows are disappearing into thin air, poof!”

18. "Commander Sabarmati’s Baton"

At Methwold Estate, Mary Pereira discovers that Joseph D’Costa’s ghost has fallen into decay. The ghost tells Mary that until she confesses to having switched the babies, he will be held responsible for her crime. Saleem sees that his place as the favorite child is no longer his because his father prefers to spend his time with the Brass Monkey. She even converts to Christianity to upset her parents, but they ignore the girl’s attempts to anger them.

 Saleem finds out that his neighbor, Commander Sabarmati, is the victim of a cheating wife. With his mother's own affair still fresh in his mind and the knowledge of ‘snakes watching enemies’ from Dr Schaapsteker as well, he masterminds a plot to get revenge on this woman who is cheating on this man. He leaves a note clipped out letters from newspaper headlines that, once assembled, spell out “Commander Sabarmati Why Does Your Wife Go to Colaba Causeway on Sunday Morning? And hides it in Commander Sabarmati’s clothes. Commander Sabarmati hires a detective and finds his wife and her lover. He shoots them both until they're dead.

Ismail Ibrahim, the lawyer who once defended Ahmed, agrees to defend Commander Sabarmati, as well. The Commander becomes a national hero, and the first jury to hear his case acquits him. The judge, however, overturns the verdict. The special treatment has turned the public against him, and the president refuses to pardon him.

After this happens, Saleem is happy the cheaters are dead because it showed his mother what happens to women who are unfaithful to men. Amina never again goes to the Pioneer Café to see Qasim Khan. The residents of Methwold’s Estate begin selling their houses to Dr. Narlikar’s female relatives, who want to raze all the houses and build an enormous mansion for themselves. Ahmed, still angry over the tetrapods, refuses to sell.

19. "Revelations"

Saleem tells us that Lord Khusro, today the wealthiest and most famous guru in India, was once his childhood friend, Cyrus-the-great. After Cyrus’s father dies from choking on an orange seed, Cyrus’s fanatical mother begins claiming her son is a holy child and invents a history for him based, in part, on a Superman comic book that Saleem had once given to Cyrus.

Saleem has even lost his influence over the Midnight Children’s Conference. Many of the children begin developing prejudices against the others due to their social class or religion, and the group slowly disbands. Saleem tries to keep them together, but Shiva scoffs at Saleem and mocks him for his naïve notions.

Later, Pia calls the family and lets them know that Hanif has committed suicide. During the forty-day mourning period, Reverend Mother is angry at Pia for not showing grief at Hanif’s death. She promises to go on a hunger strike until Pia shows her son respect. Halfway through the mourning period, Saleem apologizes to Pia, who then admits to Saleem that she is trying to stay strong in memory of Hanif, who hated melodrama in films. Once she begins talking, though, the tears and grief come out. Reverend Mother declares that Pia will move to Pakistan with her, where they will realize Reverend Mother’s long-held dream of purchasing a petrol pump.

On 22^nd mourning day, Aadam Aziz, who has become more lost and aloof in his later years, begins to say that he has seen God. Aadam tells his family that he asked God why his son died, to which God replied: “God has his reasons, old man; life’s like that, right?”   The vision of an indifferent god haunts Aadam for the rest of his life. On Christmas Day, he takes a train to a mosque in Kashmir, a man fitting Aadam’s description steals a lock of hair that once belonged to the Prophet Muhammad. Later, the government replaces the stolen lock with a replica, claiming to have recovered the precious artifact.

On the 38^th day of mourning, Mary saw the ghost of her dead lover Joseph, who she believes has made supernatural appearances to her before. She calls the entire family together and confesses her crime about switching the children at birth. However, both Aadam and Mary realizes that it isn’t the ghost of Joseph D’Costa. It is the “ghost” is Ahmed’s old servant, Musa, now afflicted with leprosy and returning to seek forgiveness.  Mary returns to her mother’s house in Goa, though her sister, Alice, stays on to assist Ahmed.

20. "Movements Performed by Pepperpots"

Even though Ahmed now knows that Saleem is not the product of an affair, he still berates and belittles Amina. On the adive of Reverend Mother, to get her children away from the increasingly violent and drunk Ahmed, Amina takes her two children to Pakistan to live with her sister Emerald and General Zulfikar. The family is treated with little respect because of their poor status, but Zulfikar takes a liking to Saleem as he believes Saleem is more manly than his own son Zafar. Emerald and the general treat Saleem and his family worse than the general’s mine-sniffing dog, Bonzo. Once in Pakistan, Saleem finds himself unable to communicate with the other children.

One night at a dinner party,  attended by many high-ranking military officials, General Ayub declares that the military is going to run a coup on the government. Zulfikar asks Saleem to assist him on the plans. The boy then moves pepperpots and other condiments around the table to help visualize strategy.

During the next four years that Saleem and his family stay in Pakistan, Brass Monkey becomes an extremely devout Muslim. On her 14^th birthday, she is asked to sing for her guests. She produces a beautiful clear voice, and everyone calls her Jamila Singer. All the while, India and Pakistan grow more hostile towards each other, and the border between India and China become riddled with conflicts.

21. "Drainage and the Desert"

On September 9, 1962—at the exact moment that India’s defense minister decides to use force, if necessary, against the Chinese army— Amina receives a telegram saying that Ahmed has had a heart attack. She still loves her husband, so the family moves back to India so she can help with Ahmed’s recovery.

On October 9, as India prepares for war with China, Saleem reconvenes the Midnight Children’s Conference. Six days later, China begins attacking India, the children become upset with Saleem for not including Shiva in the Conference. One by one, each of the children leave him while China wins the skirmishes. Yet India still remains optimistic. This conflict causes Saleem’s sinuses to remain congested. The pressure builds with the war, but China ultimately wins the war.

On November 20, news of India’s defeat by the Chinese dominates the news titled, “Public Morale Drains Away.” The day after India’s defeat, Saleem’s parents take him to the hospital for a sinus operation. After the surgery, he realizes that his magic ability to connect with others is gone. However, he realizes that he now has a magical smelling ability. He is able to smell the tiniest of scents, but he can also detect emotions through his nose.

The family moves back to Pakistan together, and Saleem leaves a number of childhood items – the letter from the prime minister congratulating his fortuitous birth, his photo from the newspaper, and an old tin globe - buried on the property.

22. "Jamila Singer"

Saleem’s sense of smell has become so acute that, upon arriving at Karachi. Saleem’s nose can now detect emotions, feelings, and lies, as well as smells.  He can smell his aunt Alia’s bitterness and hypocrisy. Living with his aunt in the shadows of a mosque at the center of Karachi, Saleem explores the city on his Lambretta scooter. 

Ahmed decides to build the family a new house, and buries an umbilical cord (preserved in a pickle-jar) from Amina’s birth under the foundation of their new house, though Saleem isn’t sure if it is his umbilical cord or Shiva’s.

Ahmed buys a towel factory, names it after his wife, and declares that someday he will produce the most famous towel in the world. Soon after, Major (Retired) Alauddin Latif comes to hear Jamila sing. Saleem and Jamila nickname him Uncle Puffs. Uncle Puffs becomes a fixture at the house and makes Jamila a famous singer. Jamila becomes a popular singer, but she wears a white burka to cover herself. Also, when she is onstage, she sings behind a white curtain with a hole cut out for her lips. She becomes “Pakistan’s Angel”

With Jamila’s rising popularity, Saleem begins to feel romantic feelings towards her. His fondness for profane smells brings him to Tai Bibi, who claims to be, at 512 years old, the world’s oldest whore. Saleem finds Tai Bibi. He even asks a prostitute to try and smell like Jamila but runs away when he realizes that the scent which arouses him is his sister’s.

General Zulfikar’s son, Zafar, becomes engaged to a prince’s daughter from Kif. The prince also has a son, Mutasim, who is well known for his looks and charm. At Zafar’s engagement ceremony, Jamila Singer performs, and Mutasim, who has yet to see her face, immediately falls in love with her.  Mutasim asks Saleem to convey his feelings to Jamila. Instead, Saleem uses the charm and words that the boy gives him and instead uses them for his own feelings. Jamila is horror-stricken, and the two remain distant towards each other afterward.

23."How Saleem Achieved Purity"

In 1965, India and Pakistan fought their second war, largely over the disputed region of Kashmir. Saleem recalls 22^nd Sep 1965, the moment he achieved purity.  

In April 1965, Zafar, now a lieutenant in the army, is dispatched to help guard the Rann of Kutch, where he discovered that the ghost army is actually a band of smugglers working with General Zulfikar’s full permission. Zafar returns to his father’s house and slits the general’s throat with a curved smuggler’s knife. As a result, Emerald is given permission to emigrate to England, though the war prevents her from leaving the country.

Saleem asserts that the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 took place solely to eliminate his family. On the first day war, Ahmed suffers a stroke that leaves him partially paralyzed and nearly infantile. During an air raid, a number of bombs kill every one of Saleem’s relatives who live in Pakistan. The first bomb that falls kills Reverend Mother and Pia; the second bomb hits the jail and releases Zafar; and the third destroys Emerald’s house.  Two final bombs fall from the sky. One destroys Saleem’s mother and father, his unborn sibling, and his aunt Alia. The other destroys the unfinished house Ahmed had been building for the family.  A silver spittoon which was given to his mother as a dowry present (by Rani of Cooch Naheen), hits Saleem on the head. He is knocked unconscious and wakes up with no memory of his past or even his identity.

The present-day Saleem tells Padma that the war between India and Pakistan was a Jehad against him in order to destroy his family and his life.

 

Book Three: Midnight's Children- Summary

24. "The Buddha"

Saleem survives but retains no memory of his past. When Padma starts to weep for his dead family, he yells at her to weep for him instead and started the narration.

The Pakistani army has found their new secret weapon: the man-dog. Brigadier Iskander, is the boss of Canine Unit for Tracking Intelligence Activity (CUTIA). Three young boys named Ayooba Baloch, Farooq Rashid, and Shaheed Dar are assigned to work with this man-dog (Saleem) can smell out and track down rebels. Saleem sits cross-legged under a tree, holding a silver spittoon in his hand.  They nicknamed Saleem as ‘Old man’ or “buddha”. This religious imagery is contrasted with his army nickname as “the man-dog”.

Saleem begins to irritate the three boys, especially Ayooba. Irritation seems to be in the air since, in the eastern portion of Pakistan, Sheikh Mujib, the leader of the Bangladeshi independence movement, is agitating to form his own government. 

After the four soldiers train for months together, they are sent to Dacca. As they drive through the streets, they see the Pakistani troops murdering, raping, and pillaging the town. Ten million refugees flee from Bangladesh into India. Saleem proclaims it as “biggest migration in history.”

The four then go on a secret mission to find an unnamed enemy. They commandeer a boat and head down the Padma River. Saleem reveals to readers that he is leading his companions on a meaningless chase. They get farther and farther from the city until they reach the Sundarbans, forest.

25."In the Sundarbans"

Once they reach the forest, Saleem tells the boys that there is no enemy. He is no longer able to accept orders he flees and take the young boys with him. Unfortunately, the group gets lost in the thick maze of a jungle. They are also extremely ill. Ayooba begins to see the ghosts a man he killed. All the men begin to see the ghosts of the people they have arrested. 

Saleem, however, remembers nothing until a poisonous snake bites him in the heel. On the verge of death, his entire life story rushes back. His story rushes out of him to the boys, but in the end he still cannot remember his name.

Days later, the group finds a grand Hindu temple, dedicated to the multi-limbed goddess Kali. Inside the temple, four beautiful women visits and promise to serve them. Soon Saleem notices that the four are turning translucent. Their vision clears, and they can see that the temple is falling apart, and four skeletons are lying in dust on the side of the room. The run away and back to their boat when an enormous tidal wave rips through the river and delivers them back to civilization. Present-day Saleem then admits that there is no record of a tidal wave in 1971, the year that he was lost in the forest.

The group reaches a deserted village where they discover that snipers (guerrilla soldiers led by Mukti Bahini) are began to terrorize the members of the Pakistani army. Moments later, a bullet zooms by and hits Ayooba. Months later, while the remaining three are still on the move, another bullet kills Farooq. Saleem runs and away and stumbles through a field and notices a pyramid of bodies, all of whom are his childhood friends (Eyeslice, Hairoil, and Sonny). Sonny speaks beifly before dying.

He believed that the war was only there to destroy his family and cause him harm. Yet, he asserts that the war was a good thing and that the only reason the countries went to war was so Saleem could be reunited with his homeland. “Even if Shaheed had been able to hear me, I could not then have told him what I later became convinced was the truth: that the purpose of that entire war had been to reunite me with an old life.”- Saleem

26. "Sam and the Tiger"

On December 15, 1971, Tiger Niazi, the Pakistani army officer in charge of the war against Bangladesh, surrenders to his Indian counterpart and old friend, Sam Manekshaw. Saleem says that he, in turn, surrendered to an old friend, a girl with saucer eyes (Parvathi-the-witch).

Once Pakistan surrenders to India, Saleem and Shaheed return to Dacca. Unfortunately, the soldiers still rape and kill people in the city. A grenade is lobbed through the air, and the debris from the blast kills Shaheed. Moments later, the Indian army marches through the city preceded by magicians. A snake charmer by the name of Picture Singh travels with the troops, along with Parvati-the-witch. She calls out to Saleem, which restores the memory of his name. She then helps Saleem escape Pakistan by letting him travel in her magic basket. Saleem recalling his life says, “I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me.”

 

27. "The Shadow of the Mosque"

Twenty-six pickle-jars sit on a shelf, corresponding to the twenty-six chapters of the novel thus far. Padma suggests, hopefully, taking a Kashmiri vacation with Saleem.

By the time Saleem arrives in India and stumbles out of the basket, Indira Gandhi’s New Congress Party holds a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. At the magician’s ghetto, which lies in the shadow of a mosque, an old woman named Resham Bibi tells Saleem to leave before she destroys everything. However, Picture Singh, as the head of the magician’s ghetto, declares Saleem his personal guest.

Saleem does not stay with Parvati and the other magicians in the slums, and returns to his last uncle, Mustapha Aziz, a senior Civil Servant. Saleem learns that all of his relatives have died and enters a 400-day mourning period for them. He learns that Jamila began to openly criticize the Pakistani government after her brother went missing. She then is never seen again, though Saleem dreams that she went to a Catholic convent. On the 418th day of his stay, a man whom Saleem believes might be Indira Gandhi’s son comes over to dinner. Saleem sees a black leather folder in his uncle’s study, labeled Top Secret and titled “Project M.C.C.”  Gandhi’s family wanted to impose birth control on everyone else.

The next day, Parvati visits Saleem and the two fall asleep together. Mustapha’s wife finds them, and she throws Saleem out of the house. He moves in with Parvati and Picture Singh, a famous snake charmer who also holds public gatherings about socialism and communism. Parvati-the-witch shows Saleem the full extent of her fantastic magical powers, casting spells to grow his hair back, erase the birthmarks on his face, and straighten his bandy legs.  Parvati tries to make Saleem fall in love with her, but every time Saleem tries to sleep with Parvati, he sees her face transform into a grotesque version of his sister’s. When Picture Singh suggests that Saleem marry her, Saleem lies and says that he’s impotent.

28."A Wedding"

On February 23, 1975, Because Saleem refuses to marry her, Parvati casts a spell that summons Shiva to her. Saleem then begins describing Shiva’s meteoric rise in the military as national hero. He was known for his prowess in battle, especially his powerful legs, and he also became more sophisticated and refined as more and more elites requested his company. He made a name for himself by sleeping with the wives of his contemporaries. Once they became pregnant with his child, though, he dropped them and moved onto another affair. One particularly bitter woman approached him and said that he was the laughingstock of the elite women. She said that the women used him for their own gain and suffered his attempts at appearing refined. This caused Shiva to grow extremely bitter and cruel towards the elite.

With Parvati’s spell upon him, the two began sleeping together until Parvati became pregnant with Shiva’s child. He constantly beats her and then sleeps with dozens of prostitutes to match the number of slum children to the number of rich children that he has fathered. Parvati then releases Shiva from her spell once the child is nearly born and returns to Picture and Saleem, who have been trying to spread the word of communism. Picture convinces Saleem to marry Parvati, saying that she can’t have a fatherless child. “…something was ending, something was being born, and at the precise instant of the birth of the new India and the beginning of a continuous midnight which would not end for two long years, my son, the child of the renewed ticktock, came out into the world.” – Saleem. 

Parvati converts to Islam and becomes Laylah, and the magicians perform incredible feats after the wedding ceremony. On June 12, at 2 pm, On June 12, at 2 p.m.—the exact moment the prime minister is convicted of campaign malpractice—Parvati goes into a labor that lasts thirteen days. Her labor pains correspond to political events involving the prime minister, until finally, at midnight on June 25, the prime minister declares a State of Emergency.

29. "Midnight"

On June 25th, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declares Emergency at the same time that Saleem’s son is being born. The boy has elephant-sized ears, which makes Saleem laugh hysterically.  Saleem describes the boy as a grave, good-natured child who refuses to cry.  His son, Aadam Sinai, suffers from tuberculosis, and neither he nor Parvati can cure the boy. Saleem insists that, as long as the Emergency lasts, his son will be ill. 

He then briefly mentions how his connection between the nation and individual, has leaked to Indira’s mind, using the famous phrase of those days: “India is Indira and Indira is India.” In 1975, she has been a widow for fifteen years.

On the last night before “what-has-to-be-described,” Nadir Khan visits Saleem and tells him to hide. However, it’s already too late, the next morning, a group of bulldozers appeared, claiming to be a part of a beautification program. Soldiers then appeared and dragged everyone out of the ghetto before dozing the entire area down. Major Shiva comes and captures Saleem. Parvati dies violently.

Saleem is taken to Benares and locked in the palace of the widows, on the shores of the Ganges. He forgets this part of the story; he only knows that somehow the soldiers got him to give the names of the Midnight Children’s Conference.

Slowly, the prison fills up with his midnight siblings; then one by one they are taken into operating rooms and sterilized. This causes them to lose their magical abilities. On the new year’s day, the beautiful woman (Saleem named her Widow's Hand), in charge of the operation tells Saleem that 'The people of India worship our Lady like a god. Indians are only capable of worshipping one God.” Saleem also finds out that Shiva had undergone voluntary sterilization before heading the movement to gather the rest of midnight’s children. Months later, the prisoners are released.

30. "Abracadabra"

Present day Saleem narrator tells that Padma proposes getting married on his thirty-first birthday, and go to Kashmir for honeymoon, however Saleem says that death is waiting for him that day.

Saleem confesses that his story about Shiva’s death was a blatant lie. Shiva is still alive. Saleem, knowing that bulldozers killed Parvati, seeks to find Picture and his son. Aadam’s tuberculosis has disappeared by the breast milk of a woman named Durga, whom Picture Singh has fallen in love with. 

He mentions that the bitter woman who laughed at his attempts at seduction killed Shiva; afterwards, however, he announces that he lied, that he was too afraid of Shiva to think about where he was and what he was doing.

Picture Singh hears of a man who claims that he is the greatest snake charmer in India. He, along with Saleem and the child, travel to Bombay to have a snake-charming match in a dingy, underground club (Midnite-Confidential Club). Picture Singh who manages to “knot a king cobra” around Maharaja’s neck, and Maharaja immediately gives up, declaring Picture Singh the winner. Picture wins the battle against the opponent, the Maharaja of Cooch Naheen, but loses his strength. As Saleem eats chutney, he asks the blind waitress where the food is made. He then leaves to find the Braganze Pickle Factory, which was once Methwold Estate, and discovers that Mary Pereira runs the company with all women staff. She takes Saleem and his son in. Saleem describes the pickle jars. Finally, Saleem’s son, Aadam, begins to say his first word: abracadabra.

Saleem vows to preserve his stories the same way he preserves Mary’s chutney, and he labels the last jar “Abracadabra,” indicating the end of his story.

Story returns to the present. Saleem immediately decides to begin writing his future, and he starts by describing his wedding in Kashmir, where, on his thirty-first birthday, he will break apart and float away in 600 million specks of dust.

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