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I have been only the humblest of jugglers-with-facts; and that, in a country where the truth is what it is instructed to be, reality quite literally ceases to exist, so that everything becomes possible except what we are told is the case.

This quotation occurs in Book Two, at the end of the chapter titled “Jamila Singer.” Reflecting on his time in Pakistan, Saleem makes an explicit argument against the strict political control and religious dogmatism of the Pakistani government. In a nation defined by one official perspective, with a government that violently rejects any threat to its singularity, reality cannot exist, since reality is inherently composed of multiple perspectives. Reality is not just composed of a single truth, as the repressive rulers of Pakistan would have the people believe. Lies become necessary to live in a place like Pakistan, in order to maintain the fiction of singularity. Saleem argues that although his narrative may play fast and loose with historical facts, his story is still more truthful and authentic than the Pakistani government’s, because his tale celebrates and welcomes plurality, a multiplicity of perspectives, and the possibility of contradiction.

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