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

Shiva and I were born under Capricorn rising; the constellation left me alone
, but it gave Shiva its gift. Capricorn, as any astrologer will tell you, is
the heavenly body with power over the knees.
On election day, 1957, the All India Congress was badly shocked. Although
it won the election, twelve million votes made the Communists the largest
single opposition party; and in Bombay, despite the efforts of Boss Patil,
large numbers of electors failed to place their crosses against the Congr
ess symbol of sacred cow and suckling calf, preferring the less emotive pi
ctograms of the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti and Maha Gujarat Parishad. Whe
n the Communist peril was discussed on our hillock, my mother continued to
blush; and we resigned ourselves to the partition of the state of Bombay.
One member of the Midnight Children's Conference played a minor role in the
elections. Winkle's supposed son Shiva was recruited by well, perhaps I wi
ll not name the party; but only one party had really large sums to spend an
d on polling day, he and his gang, who called themselves Cowboys, were to b
e seen standing outside a polling station in the north of the city, some ho
lding long stout sucks, others juggling with stones, still others picking t
heir teeth with knives, all of them encouraging the electorate to use its v
ote with wisdom and care… and after the polls closed, were seals broken on
ballot boxes? Did ballot stuffing occur? At any rate, when the votes were c
ounted, it was discovered that Qasim the Red had narrowly failed to win the
seat; and my rival's paymasters were well pleased.
… But now Padma says, mildly, 'What date was it?' And, without thinking, I
answer: 'Some time in the spring.' And then it occurs to me that I have mad
e another error that the election of 1957 took place before, and not after,
my tenth birthday; but although I have racked my brains, my memory refuses
, stubbornly, to alter the sequence of events. This is worrying. I don't kn
ow what's gone wrong.
She says, trying uselessly to console me: 'What are you so long for in your
face? Everybody forgets some small things, all the time!'
But if small things go, will large things be close behind?
Alpha and Omega
There was turmoil in Bombay in the months after the election; there is turmo
il in my thoughts as I recall those days. My error has upset me badly; so no
w, to regain my equilibrium, I shall place myself firmly on the familiar gro
und of Methwold's Estate; leaving the history of the Midnight Children's Con
ference to one side, and the pain of the Pioneer Cafe to another, I shall te
ll you about the fall of Evie Burns.
I have titled this episode somewhat oddly. 'Alpha and Omega' stares back at