Salman Rushdie Midnight's children Salman Rushdie Midnight's ...

'Things are going well,' Ismail Ibrahim told her, 'But Amina sister, God kn
ows what you are up to. Is it decent? Is it legal?' And Amina: 'Don't worry
your head. What can't be cured must be endured. I am doing what must be do
ne.'
Never once in all that time did my mother take pleasure in her mighty vict
ories; because she was weighed down by more than a baby eating Reverend Mo
ther's curries filled with ancient prejudices, she had become convinced th
at gambling was the next worst thing on earth, next to alcohol; so, althou
gh she was not a criminal, she felt consumed by sin.
Verrucas plagued her feet, although Purushottam the sadhu, who sat under o
ur garden tap until dripping water created a bald patch amid the luxuriant
ly matted hair on his head, was a marvel at charming them away; but throug
hout the snake winter and the hot season, my mother fought her husband's f
ight.
You ask: how is it possible? How could a housewife, however assiduous, howe
ver determined, win fortunes on the horses, day after racing day, month aft
er month? You think to yourself: aha, that Homi Catrack, he's a horse owner
; and everyone knows that most of the races are fixed; Amina was asking her
neighbour for hot tips! A plausible notion; but Mr Catrack himself lost as
often as he won; he saw my mother at the race track and was astounded by h
er success. ('Please,' Amina asked him, 'Catrack Sahib, let this be our sec
ret. Gambling is a terrible thing; it would be so shaming if my mother foun
d out.' And Catrack, nodding dazedly, said, 'Just as you wish.') So it was
not the Parsee who was behind it but perhaps I can offer another explanatio
n. Here it is, in a sky blue crib in a sky blue room with a fisherman's poi
nting finger on the wall: here, whenever his mother goes away clutching a p
urse full of secrets, is Baby Saleem, who has acquired an expression of the
most intense concentration, whose eyes have been seized by a singleness of
purpose of such enormous power that it has darkened them to deep navy blue
, and whose nose is twitching strangely while he appears to be watching som
e distant event, to be guiding it from a distance, just as the moon control
s the tides.
'Coming to court very soon,' Ismail Ibrahim said, 'I think you can be fai
rly confident… my God, Amina, have you found King Solomon's Mines?'
The moment I was old enough to play board games, I fell in love with Snakes
and Ladders. ? perfect balance of rewards and penalties! ? seemingly rando
m choices made by tumbling dice! Clambering up ladders, slithering down sna
kes, I spent some of the happiest days of my life. When, in my time of tria
l, my father challenged me to master the game of shatranj, I infuriated him
by preferring to invite him, instead, to chance his fortune among the ladd
ers and nibbling snakes.