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

shelter for three years, what did you care about meatless days, whatsitsna
me, what did you know about the cost of rice? Who was the weakling, whatsi
tsname, yes, the white haired weakling who had permitted this iniquitous m
arriage? Who had put his daughter into that scoundrel's, whatsitsname, bed
? Whose head was full of every damn fool incomprehensible thing, whatsitsn
ame, whose brain was so softened by fancy foreign ideas that he could send
his child into such an unnatural marriage? Who had spent his life offendi
ng God, whatsitsname, and on whose head was this a judgment? Who had broug
ht disaster down upon his house… she spoke against my grandfather for an h
our and nineteen minutes and by the time she had finished the clouds had r
un out of water and the house was full of puddles. And, before she ended,
her youngest daughter Emerald did a very curious thing.
Emerald's hands rose up beside her face, bunched into fists, but with index
fingers extended. Index fingers entered ear holes and seemed to life Emera
ld out of her chair until she was running, fingers plugging ears, running f
ull tilt! without her dupatta on, out into the street, through the puddles
of water, past the rickshaw stand, past the paan shop where the old men wer
e just emerging cautiously into the clean fresh air of after the rain, and
her speed amazed the urchins who were on their marks, waiting to begin thei
r game of dodging in and out between the betel jets, because nobody was use
d to seeing a young lady, much less one of the Teen Batti, running alone an
d distraught through the rain soaked streets with her fingers in her ears a
nd no dupatta around her shoulders. Nowadays, the cities are full of modern
, fashionable, dupatta less misses; but back then the old men clicked their
tongues in sorrow, because a woman without a dupatta was a woman without h
onour, and why had Emerald Bibi chosen to leave her honour at home? The old
ones were baffled, but Emerald knew. She saw, clearly, freshly in the afte
r rain air, that the fountain head of her family's troubles was that coward
ly plumpie (yes, Padma) who lived underground. If she could get rid of him
everyone would be happy again… Emerald ran without pausing to the Cantonmen
t district. The Cantt, where the army was based; where Major Zulfikar would
be! Breaking her oath, my aunt arrived at his office.
Zulfikar is a famous name amongst Muslims. It was the name of the two pr
onged sword carried by Ali, the nephew of the prophet Muhammad. It was a
weapon such as the world had never seen.
Oh, yes: something else was happening in the world that day. A weapon such
as the world had never seen was being dropped on yellow people in Japan.
But in Agra, Emerald was using a secret weapon of her own. It was bandyleg
ged, short, flat headed; its nose almost touched its chin; it dreamed of a
big modern house with a plumbed in bath right beside the bed.
Major Zulfikar had never been absolutely sure whether or not he believed
Nadir Khan to have been behind the Hummingbird's murder; but he itched fo