Summary
Chapter 1
Twilight in Delhi begins with an introduction of the setting. Though Delhi was once a city filled with great kings and poets, it has now become indifferent, and there are only remnants of the old Delhi before the time of British rule over India.
From the city as whole, Ali focuses in on a single household: that of Mir Nihal and his family. Mir Nihal’s wife, Begam Nihal, is lying on a bed in their courtyard, with her 14-year-old daughter Mehro and nephew Masroor on another bed nearby. The children ask to be told another story of ancient Indian myth but Begam tells them it’s time to sleep. After her mother leaves, Mehro sits awake and wonders about the man who will eventually take her hand in marriage. She compares him to the Prince in her mother’s story.
Soon, Mir Nihal arrives home. He is met and attended to by Dilchain, the family’s maidservant, who serves him food, and by his wife, who fans him as he eats. They discuss Asghar, their 22-year-old son, who is not yet home. Mir Nihal does not approve of his friendship with Bundoo, a classmate of Asghar’s. Begam Nihal brings up a potential marriage prospect for Mehro. Mir Nihal wants Asghar to marry first, but struggles to come up with a good match for him.
A sudden commotion in their pigeon house interrupts their conversation. Mir Nihal investigates, and discovers a snake. He orders Dilchain to bring him his stick, but the snake makes an escape down a gutter before Mir Nihal has time to kill it. Without hesitation, Mir Nihal reaches into the gutter and pulls the snake out by its tail, and subsequently beats it to death. He seems unflustered by the event, and even laughs about it to his widowed sister-in-law Begam Jamal, who lives in an adjoining house to theirs. Though one of his breeding pigeons has died, he does not dwell too long on the loss, and throws it away before finishing his meal.
Asghar arrives home, and Mir Nihal castigates him for wearing English clothes and staying out late with Bundoo.
Chapter 2
Asghar, who sleeps on the roof, has a dream about ascending into the stars as each one becomes a beautiful woman and begins to dance, inviting him to join them. He resists at first, but eventually gives in. Soon, only one star remains—a former sweetheart, Mushtari Bai. But he is only interested in his own movements and body. He awakes, and tries to find the Milky Way above him. He cannot, but then, in another dream, sees it, and thinks of the prophet Mohammad walking along it. He imagines himself doing the same, and then sees ahead of him Bilqeece, Bundoo’s sister. He takes her hand and they move forward together, until the imaginary road stops, and he finds himself alone in a void. From that void, Bilqeece reemerges within a much bigger and brighter star, and they dance again, eventually kissing.
Chapter 3
The next day begins with Nisar Ahmad, the local imam, calling the morning prayers, or azaan. Ali describes the goings-on of the city in the morning—the movements of sparrows and pigeons in the sky, and of vendors, beggars, and workers below.
Mir Nihal’s family begins their day too. Begam Jamal can be heard from the adjoining house angrily rebuking Anjum Zamani, her own widowed sister-in-law who also lives with her. Dilchain attends to chores at Begam Nihal’s bidding—notably, Begam Nihal only needs to unintelligibly mutter for Dilchain to know what she wants her to do. Mir Nihal lets his pigeons out of their house, and as they begin to intermingle with his neighbors’ pigeons, he manages to attract some of them to join his flock. He’s satisfied with these gains. As the heat of the day intensifies, the bustle of the city dies down slightly, but by evening many people are out again.
Analysis
The opening of Twilight in Delhi establishes the political and cultural context for understanding how Delhi has changed since the British overthrew the Mughal Empire. Ahmed Ali focuses especially on the absence of the great men of prior ages, the kings and poets, and how the men who currently inhabit the city no longer feel the same sense of pride about their home. Thus, Ali ties the city's former luster to an idealized masculinity, and its decline under British rule becomes a form of emasculation. Ali continues these themes throughout Chapter 1. The household of Mir Nihal is first introduced without him present, and when he comes home, the immediate change in the mood and atmosphere of the household is apparent. He is attended to by Dilchain and Begam Nihal, who had previously been relaxing in the courtyard. It acts as a sign of the importance of the patriarch within traditional Delhi households. Later, when he boldly and bravely catches and kills the snake who was preying on his pigeons, he displays his strong, typically masculine manner. This manner is then contrasted by his son Asghar, who is described as looking effeminate when the enters the house wearing English clothes. Thus, masculinity is associated with old Delhi, while the new culture emerging out of the process of colonization is associated with femininity. In Chapter 3, the pigeons become further associated with Mir Nihal's pride and virility, as he is described as having the best and most capable flock in his area.
Chapter 2 establishes Asghar's romantic nature, and his infatuation with Bilqeece, which will define him for most of the novel. While in the first chapter, his fashion sense makes him a representative of Westernization, his dream is connected with Muslim tradition, as he is reminded of the prophet Mohammad as he walks along the Milky Way. The contrast between Bilqeece, his new love, and Mushtari Bai, the dancing girl who he he once loved, is also established, a contrast which will be developed in later chapters.
