Animal's People

Animal tries to deny his romantic feelings for Nisha, but the voices in his head torment him with crude sexual comments. He tells the voices to “fuck off” (45). With sex always on his mind, Animal wanders through streets lined with brothels. A prostitute named Anjali says he’s handsome. He considers that he is not bad-looking, despite his twisted back.

Animal ponders how love happens without a person thinking about it. Animal notices that Nisha’s smile is beautiful and attempts to make her smile; he is filled with jealousy when she smiles at Zafar or goes with him up to her bedroom alone.

One day, as Animal sits on the veranda, Somraj discusses with him how a frog is singing a musical note and how all the world’s sounds form harmonies. He informs Animal that “music does not all have to be made with strings and bows and pipes, it can also be made by drops of rain or wind cut by a leaf” (48). Somraj asks that Animal not share their conversation; he confided in Animal because “you too have a power of hearing” (49).