Bimla Das (Bim)
Bim is the eldest sister in the Das household. She lives in the house she lived in as a child with her family and runs it now. She is a history teacher and a great advocate of independence and individuality. She is said to have aged prematurely due to stress surrounding her household. She takes care of her brother and sick aunt even when everyone else deserts her. She wrestles with her anger towards her brother Raja, but she comes to forgive him and find peace in her tempestuous family relations by the end of the novel.
Raja Das
Raja is Bim's younger brother; they used to be very close to each other in their earlier years. Raja is intelligent, romantic, and has great passion for Urdu poetry. He hero-worships Hyder Ali, their Muslim neighbor and landlord. He is arrogant, irresponsible, ambitious, and occasionally insensitive. He later marries Benazir, Hyder Ali's daughter, and leaves his siblings in Old Delhi.
Tara
Tara is the second-youngest child of the Das household. She is pretty and sweet, but she is also less intellectual and confident than Bim. As a child, she hated going to school, and so she decided not to pursue higher education. Her only ambition was to be a mother, for which her elder siblings jeered her. She marries Bakul as a young woman and leaves India, living in various places abroad (although she visits often). She has anxiety and avoids confrontation, but occasionally demonstrates more self-possession than Bim and Bakul give her credit for.
Baba
Baba is the youngest child of the Das household. He is mentally underdeveloped, and thus entirely dependent on Bim. Baba doesn't talk but he seems to understand others. He likes playing songs on the gramophone all day long and is agitated when he is unable to do so.
Bakul
Bakul is Tara's husband and a diplomat. He is arrogant, likes to impress other people, and is a narcissist who dislikes when he is not the center of attention. He is disdainful of the Das household and does not want Tara to be affected by its unruliness and fixation on the past.
Aunt Mira (Mira Masi)
Mira-masi is a distant cousin of Mrs. Das. She was widowed when she was twelve and was blamed for her husband's death; thus she was made to work as an unpaid servant for her in-laws. She begins to age prematurely because of this. She is sent to take care of Baba, but all of children are elated to have her since their parents don't care for them. Many things begin to disturb her; eventually, she becomes an alcoholic and mentally unstable.
Mr. Das
He is the father and the patriarch of Das household, but is absent most of the time playing bridge at the club. He rarely interacts with his children, which is why the children don't really mourn his death. He is a partner in an insurance firm and leaves most of its running to his manager.
Mrs. Das
She is the mother of the four Das children. She suffers from diabetes and later dies of it. She has no patience for her children and, like her husband, is an absentee figure at the house. Tara and Bim think of her as commanding and imperious, concerned mostly with her appearance.
Dr. Biswas
He is the doctor who treats Raja when he was suffering from tuberculosis and Aunt Mira when she began to fall apart. Biswas studied in Germany and appreciates music immensely; he plays violin, but poorly. He takes a liking to Bim, but she doesn't return the favor. He likes to believe he is a self-sacrificing person, but Bim finds this insufferable.
Misra sisters (Jaya and Sarla)
Jaya and Sarla are the neighbors of the Das family. They had no ambition, except to get married, and thus didn't complete their studies. Ironically, this is why they are deserted by their husbands. They run and provide for the Misra household by teaching dance and music to teen girls. They like the simple and unambitious Tara more than independent and headstrong Bim.
Misra brothers
The three Misra brothers are lazy and unemployed. They were married but their wives left them out of disgust at their lazy lifestyles. They do nothing to run the house and like to make fun of Mulk, the youngest, for his singing. They have lecherous eyes and the Das sisters don't like to be around them.
Mr. Misra
He is the aging Misra patriarch. He was meant to leave for studies in London in his youth, but a prediction by a swami led his father to send him to Burma, where he made a lot of money. He used to be rich until his sons' debauchery and laziness led to their bankruptcy.
Hyder Ali
He is the landlord of multiple houses in Delhi, including the Das'. He is rich, charismatic, and lives next to the Das's in a huge mansion. He travels around on a white horse, an image that is immensely appealing to the impressionable Raja. He is a patron of Urdu poetry and encourages Raja by inviting him to his personal library and to gatherings of notable intellectuals. He and his family flee to Hyderabad when tensions over the Partition arise.
Benazir
She is the only daughter of Hyder Ali, and she is a spoilt child; she later marries Raja and bears him several children. Little is known of her except that she liked American music as a child, is plump, and likes to eat and cook rich fatty dishes.
Miss Singh
The young and vibrant teacher with whom Tara connects; she is laid off for her putatively bad behavior.
Miss Stephen
The elderly principal whom the schoolgirls hate and treat poorly in the absence of Miss Singh; Bim's outburst that the woman has cancer is enough to quell the girls' discontent.
