Summary

Three years before, Anjum finds a three-year-old on the steps of Jama Masjid. When the toddler holds Anjum’s finger, Anjum suddenly feels her body become “like a generous host instead of a battlefield” (34). Anjum buys the little girl some cotton candy and takes her to the Khwabgah. When no one claims her, Anjum names the little girl Zainab. Overwhelmed with love, Anjum spoils her, though she learns to edit her bedtime stories, which tend to frighten Zainab.

Zainab’s favorite story of Anjum’s is called the “Flyover Story.” In it, Anjum and her friends are walking across the Defense Colony flyover in the rain, when Anjum “soo-s” (or pees) in her pants. Not mentioned to Zainab is the fact that the Flyover incident takes place in 1976 during the height of the Emergency. The night of the Flyover Story, Anjum and...