Summary
The family calls Imam Din the “Catcher-in-the-kitchen” because he grabs anything small and soft that enters his domain, whether hens, kittens, puppies, their neighbors Rosy and Peter, or Lenny and the rest of the children from the household. One day Lenny finds Rosy rocking on Imam Din’s lap and pulls her off. Imam Din says they’re only doing “a bit of naughtiness” and tells her off for saying swear words like “you damn fool.” Imam Din has a naughty side, but he is tolerated because he is sixty-five years old and respected. He is described as a “tall, big-bellied, barrel-chested, robust” type. He can bike to and from his village twenty miles away. He has been widowed three times and married four. In his village, he is a respected elder. Twice before Imam Din has taken Lenny to his village. She begins pestering him to take her again, but he says it's too far and he might have a heartache bicycling to Pir Pindo, the village forty miles from Lahore where his grandson Dost Mohammad lives. Ayah is determined to help Lenny get what she wants and Imam Din is finally convinced.
The next morning at dawn they get ready to set off. Ayah scolds Imam Din; it seems he attempted to seduce Ayah the night before. Finally, they get on the bicycle and Lenny makes observations about various parts of the city, especially the poor districts on the outskirts. There she sees a section of town populated by “fierce tribesmen from the northern frontiers around the Khyber and Babusar Passes who descend to the plains in search of work.” Finally, they reach Wagah, a village half-way to Amritsar. They have eggs and then catch a ride on a cart pulling hay. They reach Dost Mohommad’s village. Imam Din’s great-grandson Ranna comes out, having taken them for corn thieves. Lenny notes that Ranna “already has small muscles on his arms and shoulders. A well-proportioned body.” Ranna thinks that Lenny looks strange because she has short hair and is dressed like city girls. Chidda, Imam Din’s granddaughter, prepares a meal and everyone eats. When they go out to play later, Ranna copies Lenny’s limp, which she takes as a sign that he cares for her. His sisters Khatija and Parveen are only two or three years older than them, but Lenny thinks they look like much older women with their expressions. They copy the adult women. They are also perplexed by Lenny’s short hair, dress, and skinny legs.
Later in the afternoon, a “bunch of bearded Sikh peasants, their long hair wrapped in loose turbans or informally displayed in topknots” visit the village. Among them is a Sikh priest, a granthi. The little girls Khatija and Parveen come with their heads “modestly covered” and the granthi is affectionate towards them, stroking their heads. He says that they will have to start thinking about their marriages soon.
Then the adults get into more serious conversations. The mullah (Muslim religious scholar) of the village says, “I hear there is trouble in the cities… Hindus are being murdered in Bengal… Muslims, in Bihar. It’s strange… the English Sarkar [a person in authority] can’t seem to do anything about it.” A leader of the village (the chaudhry) says that he thinks the English ruler doesn’t want to do anything about it, but he also says that this is only happening in the city and “won’t affect our lives.” Imam Din tells them that, coming from the city, he has seen how out-of-control things are getting. There are problems between Hindus and Muslims and Sikhs and Muslims. The Sikh granthi says that “our villages come from the same racial stock. Muslim or Sikh [. . .] we are brothers. How can we fight each other?” The chaudhry says that people in the villages cannot afford to fight because they depend on each other. Villagers need each other to survive and the whole rural economy is intertwined.
Analysis
This chapter fleshes out some of the aspects of the character of Imam Din, the lovable Muslim cook with a mischievous personality. The visit to his village gives Lenny the opportunity to reflect on the differences and similarities between the major religious groups of India as well as between the city and the country. Lenny finds that she stands out in the countryside for her style of dress and hair. She notes that the little Muslim girls there are covered and have been taught to be serious. When Ranna laughs at the idea of his sisters getting married, “the girls try not to smile or giggle.” They have been taught that “smiling before men can lead to disgrace.” Similarly, there are differences between Sikhs and Muslims. For example, Muslims smoke tobacco but Sikhs do not. Both their religions and styles of dress are different. Yet the Sikh granthi emphasizes how much they share. They may worship differently, but they live on the same land as neighbors and are, according to him, of the same race.
Yet this chapter again foreshadows the violence between different communities that will occur once Partition occurs. Imam Din describes how bad things are in the city: “Sly killings; rioting and baton charges by the police…long marches by mobs… The Congresswallahs have started a new stunt.. They sit down on the rail tracks—women and children, too.” Police pull them off but might get murdered by train one day.” The “Congresswallahs” refers to the members of the Indian National Congress, formed in 1885 to promote native interests in ruling the country and which continues to be a major political party in India today. At the time the novel takes place, the mid-1940s, members of this party were engaged in civil disobedience in support of Indian self-rule. The Sikh and Muslim villagers promise to defend each other if things get bad in the countryside as well. One of the Sikh priests says “we’ll protect our Muslim brother with our lives.” The chaudhry says he will take an oath that “every man in this village will guard his Sikh brothers with no regard for his own life.”
