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

lly fell apart on the day the Chinese armies came down over the Himalayas t
o humiliate the Indian fauj was already well under way. When novelty wears
off, boredom, and then dissension, must inevitably ensue. Or (to put it ano
ther way) when a finger is mutilated, and fountains of blood flow out, all
manner of vilenesses become possible… whether or not the cracks in the Conf
erence were the (active metaphorical) result of my finger loss, they were c
ertainly widening. Up in Kashmir, Narada Markandaya was falling into the so
lipsistic dreams of the true narcissist, concerned only with the erotic ple
asures of constant sexual alterations; while Soumitra the time traveller, w
ounded by our refusal to listen to his descriptions of a future in which (h
e said) the country would be governed by a urine drinking dotard who refuse
d to die, and people would forget everything they had ever learned, and Pak
istan would split like an amoeba, and the prime ministers of each half woul
d be assassinated by their successors, both of whom he swore despite our di
sbelief would be called by the same name… wounded Soumitra became a regular
absentee from our nightly meetings, disappearing for long periods into the
spidery labyrinths of Time. And the sisters from Baud were content with th
eir ability to bewitch fools young and old. 'What can this Conference help?
' they inquired. 'We already have too many lovers.' And our alchemist membe
r was busying himself in a laboratory built for him by his father (to whom
he had revealed his secret); pre occupied with the Philosopher's Stone, he
had very little time for us. We had lost him to the lure of gold.
And there were other factors at work as well. Children, however magical, ar
e not immune to their parents; and as the prejudices and world views of adu
lts began to take over their minds, I found children from Maharashtra loath
ing Gujaratis, and fair skinned northerners reviling Dravidian 'blackies';
there were religious rivalries; and class entered our councils. The rich ch
ildren turned up their noses at being in such lowly company; Brahmins began
to feel uneasy at permitting even their thoughts to touch the thoughts of
untouchables; while, among the low born, the pressures of poverty and Commu
nism were becoming evident… and, on top of all this, there were clashes of
personality, and the hundred squalling rows which are unavoidable in a parl
iament composed entirely of half grown brats.
In this way the Midnight Children's Conference fulfilled the prophecy of the
Prime Minister and became, in truth, a mirror of the nation; the passive li
teral mode was at work, although I railed against it, with increasing desper
ation, and finally with growing resignation… 'Brothers, sisters!' I broadcas
t, with a mental voice as uncontrollable as its physical counterpart, 'Do no
t let this happen! Do not permit the endless duality of masses and classes,
capital and labour, them and us to come between us! We,' I cried passionatel
y, 'must be a third principle, we must be the force which drives between the
horns of the dilemma; for only by being other, by being new, can we fulfil