As Rushdie’s Midnight's Children plays around the foreboding nature of destiny, similarly it was in my destiny to read this book at the turn of my 24th year. Somewhere in 2008, I was gifted a marvel called “Midnights Children”, little did the person know that I might be reading it exactly after four years.
Midnight's Children, tells the tale of Saleem Sinai, one of the twin born on the midnight of 15th august 1947, the other being a cataclysmic nation gripped by a plague of conflicts. It skilfully critiques the infant nations (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) in the teething phase of finding its sovereignty.
A panoramic narrative, with lots of chutney, love, conviction, denial, nose and knees, sorcery, ghosts, innuendos on the exploits of the government, language riots, gods, snake charmers, and curious characters.
The language is complicated, and the multiplicity of ideas certainly makes it more difficult to explain the book to others, there is something for every reader. This allegorical narrative is further embellished by lush imagery.
A book that will never cease!
