Summary
At the beginning of the chapter, Lenny mentions the Radcliffe Commission, a group given the task of drawing the boundary between India and Pakistan. She describes them as “playing British gods under the ceiling fans of the Faletti’s Hotel” because there were “deal[ing] out Indian cities like a pack of cards.” With a stroke of a pen, the committee gave Lahore to Pakistan, while other nearby cities are given to India. Lenny, her family, and her city are now Pakistani. “A new nation is born. India has been divided after all,” she says.
Despite this momentous event, Lenny is most concerned with the fact that it is her birthday but no one is paying attention to her. Her mom fusses over her for a few minutes and moves on. Father congratulates her absentmindedly. Godmother only gives her a quick hug and kiss before continuing to fight with Slavesister. They are having their sister Piloo’s husband, Dr. Manek Mody, over for lunch. Even the dessert they were supposedly making for Lenny’s birthday is really for this guest. Godmother is distracted and is even nicer to Slavesister than normal. The typically absentminded Oldhusband gifts Lenny a book and reads her a short dedication about how great and influential people leave behind “footsteps on the sands of time.” Lenny spends time thinking about this phrase.
The only person who really makes a fuss over Lenny’s birthday is Cousin. He greets her with a kiss on the mouth but it goes on too long. It seems he does not yet know how to kiss and Lenny decides the whole thing is overrated. Ayah saves her from Cousin’s lips by scolding him. Electricaunt brings out some party hats and streamers used for Cousin’s birthday previously and Lenny is unimpressed. As they eat cake, they hear Jinnah’s voice on the radio inaugurating Pakistan’s Constituent Assembly. He tells the people “You are free… You may belong to any religion or caste or creed, that has nothing to do with the business of State.” He ends with “Pakistan Zindabad,” or “Victory to Pakistan!”
Analysis
The action in this chapter takes place just as the Radcliffe Commission announces the boundary line between India and Pakistan. Known officially as the Boundary Commission, it was formed in 1947 to decide how the two newly independent countries should be split. It was chaired by Sir Cyril Radcliffe and made up of two Muslim and two non-Muslim members. The event Lenny has feared for much of the book has come true: India has been split. She describes the committee ironically as “British gods,” showing how a few men in a hotel conference room were able to arbitrarily decide the fates of millions of people. The Commission gives cities to either India and Pakistan and with the announcement of the boundary line, the split is complete. Lenny remarks, “I am Pakistani. In a snap. Just like that.” Yet what the reader sees here is the Partition of India from a child’s perspective. Though this is a momentous event, Lenny is mostly concerned with the lackluster celebration of her birthday. The adults are clearly distracted with worry, though they try to still make Lenny feel special.
As Lenny is eating cake at Electricaunt’s, public events again intrude into her private celebration. Pakistan’s Constituent Assembly is getting ready to meet for the first time in August 1947. The Assembly was formed to function as Pakistan’s first parliament and write its constitution. Its first president was Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who was previously the president of the Muslim League. His comments about everyone having the freedom to worship should have set non-Muslim families like Lenny’s at ease. Pakistan was designed as a separate state for Muslims, but Jinnah emphasized that everyone would be free to practice their religion and have equal rights as citizens of the state. Yet subsequent chapters will show that the situation is more complicated than Jinnah’s speech would have one understand. The violence begins to appear from below.
