Summary

The novel starts with Anjali thinking, “They wouldn’t hang a ten year old” while she clutches a tin of black paint, trying not to get paint on her precious “skirt of her saffron ghagra-choli woven with real gold thread” that was a Diwali present (1). Her friend Irfaan whispers to her to hurry up. He is worried about getting caught, as they are about to vandalize British property. A week earlier, Anjali had seen her mother at work, as one of Captain Brent’s secretaries. The next day her mother was out of a job and Anjali did not know what happened. Her parents had fought, and her great-uncle Chachaji (who had just moved in with the family) did not approve of her mother working. Anjali did not know what happened to her mother’s job so she decided to hurt Captain Brent...