The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness

Back in the present, the residents of Jannat House settle into a routine. Anjum and Tilo care for Miss Jebeen the Second, Tilo gives lessons to children and “learn[s] Urdu and something of the art of happiness” (403), and Saddam and Zainab fall in love and adopt a number of stray and injured animals. The house also grows its own vegetables, which provides work to the drug users who hang around the cemetery: “Some of the more able-bodied addicts were recruited to help with the garden and the animals. It seemed to bring them some temporary solace” (405).

In the outside world, Hindu nationalism is gaining strength and erupting into violence. Nevertheless, Saddam chooses this moment to ask Anjum for Zainab’s hand in marriage. In fact, when Anjum expresses misgivings, Saddam explains that it is precisely because of the way events are unfolding in the outside world that he feels he can set aside his quest for vengeance and marry; he shows Anjum a video of Dalits throwing cow carcasses onto a government official’s property, saying that because “[his] people have risen up” (411), his own involvement would make no longer make a difference.

A month before the wedding, Saddam says that he is taking everyone on an excursion.