Summary: Revelations
Saleem tells us that Lord Khusro, today the wealthiest
and most famous guru in India, was once his childhood friend, Cyrus-the-great.
After Cyrus’s father dies from choking on an orange seed, Cyrus’s
fanatical mother begins claiming her son is a holy child and invents
a history for him based, in part, on a Superman comic book that
Saleem had once given to Cyrus.
As the Narlikar women begin to demolish the houses of
the estate, Pia calls to tell the family that Hanif has committed
suicide. The entire family gathers at the house for a forty-day
mourning period. Infuriated by the dust from the demolition, as
well as Pia’s refusal to mourn, Reverend Mother vows not to eat
until her daughter-in-law shows her dead son some respect. After
twenty days, Saleem breaks the stalemate by apologizing to his aunt
for his previous indiscretion. Pia tells Saleem that she refuses
to mourn because Hanif always tried to avoid melodrama in his films,
and she wants to respect that. Once she finishes explaining this,
however, Pia breaks into a torrent of grief that amazes everyone.
Pia begs Reverend Mother for forgiveness and places herself in her
mother-in-law’s control. Reverend Mother declares that Pia will
move to Pakistan with her, where they will realize Reverend Mother’s
long-held dream of purchasing a petrol pump.
On the twenty-second day of the mourning period, Aadam
Aziz sees God. Aadam tells his family that he asked God why his
son died, to which God replied: “God has his reasons, old man; life’s
like that, right?” Mary believes that Aadam actually saw Joseph D’Costa’s
ghost, but she keeps this to herself, and the vision of an indifferent
god haunts Aadam for the rest of his life. In his old age, he takes
to shouting and cursing at mosques and holy men. Finally, on Christmas
Day, he takes a train to Kashmir. Two days later, at a mosque in
Kashmir, a man fitting Aadam’s description steals a lock of hair
that once belonged to the Prophet Muhammad. Later, the government
replaces the stolen lock with a replica, claiming to have recovered
the precious artifact.
On the thirty-eighth day of mourning, Mary sees the ghost
of Joseph D’Costa for herself. She calls the entire family together
and confesses that eleven years ago she switched Shiva’s nametag
with Saleem’s. Ahmed recognizes the supernatural figure, however,
and realizes that it isn’t the ghost of Joseph D’Costa, after all.
The “ghost” is Ahmed’s old servant, Musa, now afflicted with leprosy and
returning to seek forgiveness. Mary returns to her mother’s house
in Goa, though her sister, Alice, stays on to assist Ahmed.
Summary: Movements Performed by Pepperpots
Afraid that Shiva will discover the truth about their
parentage, Saleem bans him from the children’s conference. Meanwhile,
Ahmed, distraught over what has happened, drunkenly berates his
wife. Reverend Mother advises Amina to take her two children away from
Ahmed, so Amina, Saleem, and the Brass Monkey move to Pakistan to
live with Emerald and General Zulfikar. At the general’s opulent
house, Emerald and the general treat Saleem and his family worse
than the general’s mine-sniffing dog, Bonzo. Once in Pakistan, Saleem
finds himself unable to communicate with the other children.
One evening, General Zulfikar hosts an important dinner, attended
by many high-ranking military officials. During the dinner, the
general allows his son, Zafar, and Saleem to join the men at the table.
The commander-in-chief of the army, General Ayub, declares that
the government has failed and announces his plans to take over Pakistan.
When Ayub decrees a state of martial law, Zafar—who has a tendency
to wet his pants—gets frightened and has an accident. General Zulfikar
chases his son out of the room, then asks Saleem to come help him.
Saleem helps the officers map out their strategy, using pepperpots
and other condiment jars to symbolize troop movements. On November
1, General Zulfikar takes Saleem to the president’s house, where
Saleem watches as the general forces the naked president out of
bed and onto a plane.
