The Ministry of Utmost Happiness: Building Paradise in a Graveyard

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness: Building Paradise in a Graveyard


This blog is part of Flipped learning activity assigned by Prof. Dr. Dilip Barad sir.




1. Part 1: Khwabgah- Anjum's World and Origins



The novel's foundational settings, the Graveyard and the Khwabgah, are strategically deployed to establish its core thematic concerns. The narrative opens in a graveyard named Jannat (Paradise), immediately blurring the distinction between life and death and suggesting that sanctuary is not an afterlife but a space actively created on Earth by and for the marginalized. This setting gives way to the Khwabgah, the "House of Dreams," a community of hijras in Old Delhi. Together, these locations introduce the novel's profound engagement with forgotten identities, the search for belonging outside of societal norms, and the internal wars that mirror the external conflicts of the nation. Anjum's journey begins in this world, a personal story that will eventually intersect with the grand political tragedies of modern India.

Key Character Backstory: Anjum (formerly Aftab)

  • Birth and Early Life: Born to Jahanara Begum as Aftab, the child has both male and female genitals. The discovery sends his mother into a series of profound shocks, plunging her "through a crack between the world she knew and ones she did not know existed." This introduces the theme of living "outside language," made concrete by the professor's analysis of her worldview: "in urdu she knew all things...had or gender...everything was either masculine or feminine...everything except her baby."
  • Discovery of Khwabgah: As a young boy, Aftab is mesmerized by a beautifully dressed hijra, Bombay Silk. He follows her and discovers the Khwabgah, a vibrant community that offers a world where he can belong. This marks the beginning of his transition into Anjum.
  • Life in Khwabgah: Anjum embraces her identity within the hijra community. Her deep-seated desire for motherhood is partially fulfilled when she finds and adopts Zainab, a baby abandoned on the steps of the Jama Masjid. She leads a life of relative glamour and success within her world.
  • The Gujarat Riots Trauma: A pilgrimage with an elderly friend, Zakir Miyan, places Anjum in the midst of the horrific 2002 Gujarat riots. She witnesses Zakir Miyan's brutal murder by a mob and is spared only because killing a hijra is considered an ill omen. This trauma shatters her; she loses her glamour, distances herself from her adopted daughter, and adopts a male Pathani suit, altering her identity once again.
  • Departure and the Graveyard: Haunted by her experience and feeling alienated by the internal politics of Khwabgah, Anjum leaves. She relocates to a city graveyard near a government hospital, a space she begins to transform into a sanctuary for outcasts, which she eventually names the Jannat Guesthouse.

Symbols and Motifs

  • The Graveyard (Jannat): The naming of a graveyard 'Jannat' (Paradise/Heaven) is a central paradox. The setting subverts the traditional understanding of paradise as a reward in the afterlife. Instead, the novel posits that paradise is a tangible space created on Earth, a sanctuary where the boundaries between the living and the dead are fluid and all are welcome.
  • Khwabgah vs. Dunya: The novel establishes a sharp contrast between the inner world of the hijra community and the conventional outside world.

Khwabgah (The Inner World)

Dunya (The Outer World)

Functions as a sanctuary for those who exist outside of society's rigid gender and social norms.

Represents conventional society, obsessed with external issues like price rises, school admissions, communal riots, and war.

For its inhabitants, the true riots and wars are internal—the struggles within one's own body, identity, and sense of self.

From the perspective of Khwabgah, the people of the Dunya are unhappy due to their preoccupation with external conflicts and societal pressures.


Anjum's self-imposed exile from Khwabgah marks a new phase, moving her story from this insular world to the wider, overtly political landscape of Delhi's protest sites.


2. Part 2: Jantar Mantar- The Protest Site and a New Arrival



This section of the narrative marks a significant shift from the personal to the political, moving the setting to Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site in New Delhi. The site functions as a microcosm of contemporary India, a cacophony of dissent where countless marginalized and forgotten movements gather in the shadow of a high-profile, media-saturated anti-corruption protest. It is here that the novel begins to weave its disparate threads together, introducing new characters forged in violence and a central mystery that will connect the world of Old Delhi to the conflict in Kashmir.

Key Character Backstory: Saddam Hussain (formerly Dayachand)

  • Origins and Caste: Originally named Dayachand, he is a chamar (a Dalit caste) from Haryana, whose family's traditional work was skinning dead cattle.
  • The Lynching: His life is irrevocably altered by a traumatic event where his father and other family members are brutally lynched by a mob accusing them of killing a cow. The perpetrators' shocking pride—they filmed the act and shared it on social media—is a commentary on the nature of modern communal violence.
  • Vengeance and a New Name: Dayachand develops a deep-seated desire for revenge against the police officer, Shahrawat, who facilitated the lynching. He is inspired while watching the televised hanging of Iraq's President Saddam Hussein, admiring his dignity in the face of a superpower. He adopts the name 'Saddam Hussain' as a symbol of personal defiance. However, Professor Barad provides a crucial critical layer to this choice, noting, "...to consider saddam hussein as a hero is also equally problematic because he was not an icon to be considered as a hero... sometimes by mistake in our revenge motives... we go for wrong role models..."
  • Arrival at Jannat: He arrives at Anjum's Jannat Guesthouse and finds work in the nearby hospital mortuary. He quickly becomes a key member of Anjum's unconventional family and a permanent resident of her burgeoning ministry.

Symbols and Motifs

  • Jantar Mantar: This protest site is a powerful symbol of India's democratic paradox. While the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement dominates media attention, the novel emphasizes that the site truly represents a multitude of unheard voices, supported by politically charged groups like the "saffron parakeet" and including:
    • The "Mothers of the Disappeared" from Kashmir, demanding to know the fate of their children and husbands.
    • Manipuri nationalists protesting the draconian Armed Forces Special Protection Act (AFSPA).
    • Victims of the Bhopal Union Carbide gas tragedy still seeking justice decades later.
    • Countless other marginalized groups whose struggles are ignored by the mainstream narrative.
  • The Baby: The sudden appearance of an abandoned baby on a footpath at Jantar Mantar introduces a potent symbol of innocence and hope amidst the political turmoil. The baby's subsequent, mysterious disappearance creates a central narrative question that serves as the catalyst for connecting the novel's seemingly separate worlds.

The unresolved mystery of the baby's disappearance in Delhi sets the stage for the narrative's abrupt and jarring shift to the brutal, shattered world of the Kashmir Valley.


3. Part 3: Kashmir- A Shattered World



The novel undergoes a dramatic shift in narrative form, moving to a first-person account narrated by an intelligence officer named Biplab Dasgupta. This section introduces a completely different set of characters and a conflict far removed from the streets of Delhi, focusing on the decades-long insurgency in Kashmir. By weaving this seemingly unrelated story into the plot, Roy begins to connect the disparate traumas of the Indian subcontinent, suggesting that the violence in one region is inextricably linked to the struggles elsewhere.

Key Character Backstories

  • S. Tilottama (Tilo): An enigmatic and mysterious former architecture student, Tilo is the former lover of the narrator, Biplab Dasgupta, as well as two other friends from their college days, Musa Yeswi and Nagaraj Hariharan. She is a fiercely independent character who is later found entangled in the Kashmir insurgency, close to Musa's circle.
  • Musa Yeswi: A Kashmiri who transforms into a militant after a deeply personal tragedy. His wife, Arifa, and young daughter, Miss Jebeen, are killed by a single bullet from security forces during an encounter. While this acts as the catalyst for his decision to join the insurgency, Professor Barad offers a meta-commentary on this narrative device, observing, "...many people would say this is again a typical bollywood drama...always there is this story when you want to put a protagonist there as a terrorist..."
  • Captain Amrik Singh: A cruel and brutal army officer infamous for his methods of torture and extrajudicial killings. He is responsible for the murder of Jalib Qadri, a prominent human rights lawyer. Fearing retribution, he flees India with his family, eventually settling in the United States while living under the constant shadow of his past.

The critical plot revelation in this section is that it was Tilo who took the baby from Jantar Mantar, providing the first concrete link between the narrative threads of Delhi and Kashmir.

Symbols and Motifs

  • Kashmir: The region of Kashmir functions as a symbolic landscape of intractable conflict, immense suffering, and perpetual grief. It represents a place where personal tragedy is seamlessly converted into political violence, and where the moral lines between victim, perpetrator, freedom fighter, and terrorist are irrevocably blurred.
  • The Letter from Revathy: Towards the end of this narrative arc, a letter from a character named Revathy is introduced. This letter serves as a crucial narrative device that begins to unravel the mystery of the baby’s true origins, revealing a story rooted in yet another of India’s forgotten conflicts—the Maoist struggle in the forests of central India.

With these fragmented stories and characters now introduced, the narrative sets a course for their eventual, unlikely convergence at Anjum's sanctuary in the graveyard.


4. Part 4: Udaya Jebeen- Convergence and Resilience



This section marks the convergence of the novel’s fragmented storylines, bringing characters from Delhi, Kashmir, and the Maoist heartlands together. The true identity of the mysterious baby is finally revealed, and in the process, an unconventional and resilient family unit is formed. It is this gathering of the broken and the forgotten that constitutes the true "Ministry of Utmost Happiness"—an alternative form of governance based on compassion and mutual care.

Key Backstory: Miss Udaya Jebeen (Zainab the Second)

  • The "Six Fathers and Three Mothers": The baby’s full backstory unpacks this crucial concept. Her biological mother is Revathy, a Maoist guerilla fighter from the forests of central India. Her "six fathers" are the six policemen who raped her. This traumatic origin connects her to the state's brutal suppression of yet another insurgency.
  • The Three Mothers: The novel presents a radical, non-biological definition of motherhood through the three women who form her unconventional family:
    1. Revathy (her biological mother, who abandoned her to continue her fight).
    2. S. Tilottama (who rescues her from the Jantar Mantar protest site).
    3. Anjum (who ultimately welcomes her into the Jannat Guesthouse and raises her).

Resolution and Final Insights

  • The Fate of Amrik Singh: Musa reveals to Biplab Dasgupta that the militant group did not need to kill Captain Amrik Singh directly. Instead, they orchestrated an environment of constant, paralyzing psychological fear. This unrelenting terror drove him to madness, culminating in him murdering his own family and committing suicide—a revenge enacted not on the body, but on the mind.
  • Musa's Prophecy: Musa delivers a chilling final verdict on the Kashmir conflict by directly linking Amrik Singh's personal fate to India's national one. After explaining how Singh destroyed himself, Musa states: "Kashmir will make India self-destruct... You are not destroying us... It's yourselves that you are destroying." This statement functions as the novel's stark warning that a nation's brutality will eventually turn inward and consume itself.

Symbols and Motifs

  • Udaya Jebeen: The baby, given two names from two different worlds, is the ultimate symbol of convergence and hope. Her very existence stitches together the disparate geographies of the novel—the hijra community of Old Delhi, the protest sites of the capital, the Kashmiri insurgency, and the Maoist struggle. She represents a future born from the collective trauma of a fractured nation.

The narrative's conclusion at the Jannat Guesthouse paves the way for a broader analysis of the novel's central arguments.


5. Thematic Study- The Novel's Core Arguments



Moving beyond the intricacies of the plot, the novel can be understood through a set of powerful, interconnected themes that form its core intellectual and political project. Professor Barad's analysis identifies several key arguments that Arundhati Roy advances through her characters and narrative structure, offering a profound critique of the contemporary Indian state and society.

Analysis of Major Themes

  • The Nature of Paradise:
    • The novel fundamentally redefines paradise (Jannat). It is not presented as a spiritual afterlife but as a tangible, earthly sanctuary created by and for the marginalized.
    • This theme is embodied by the Jannat Guesthouse, a home for the living built among the graves of the dead. It is reinforced by the documentary filmmakers at Jantar Mantar, who ask protesters to declare "Another world is possible," illustrating the active, political struggle required to build this earthly paradise.
  • Ambiguity and Diversity:
    • The Ministry of Utmost Happiness champions ambiguity and resists categorization. Anjum's intersex identity is the central symbol for this theme, challenging rigid binaries of every kind: male/female, Hindu/Muslim, sane/insane, and even India/Pakistan.
    • The novel suggests that true co-existence lies in embracing difference rather than trying to erase it.
  • The Cost of Modernization:
    • Roy offers a sharp critique of the state-sponsored narratives of "development" and "progress."
    • Modernization is shown to come at a brutal cost, displacing the poor, erasing histories, and destroying the environment. This is evident in the land acquisition movements protested at Jantar Mantar and the relentless "beautification" of Delhi that pushes its most vulnerable inhabitants to the margins.
  • The Boundaries Between Life and Death:
    • The novel consistently collapses the distinction between life and death. The Jannat Guesthouse is the primary vehicle for this theme, a space where residents sleep among the graves, treating the dead as part of their community.
    • This blurring suggests a continuum of existence where the forgotten are not truly gone, and where memory and history are living presences.
  • How and Why Stories Are Told:
    • The novel’s fragmented, non-chronological, and multi-vocal structure is a deliberate choice that reflects its central argument about storytelling.
    • Roy addresses this directly with the question: "How to tell a shattered story? By slowly becoming everybody...by slowly becoming everything." The narrative form mirrors the brokenness of the world it depicts, suggesting that a traditional, linear story cannot possibly capture the fractured reality of modern India.

These core themes are woven throughout the narrative using a rich tapestry of recurring symbols.


6. Symbols- Deconstructing the Narrative's Language



This final section offers a focused exploration of the key symbols that function as the novel's conceptual shorthand. These recurring images and places are imbued with layers of meaning, allowing Arundhati Roy to convey complex political and social arguments with poetic force and precision.


Symbolism in the Novel

Symbol

Analysis and Significance

Shiraz Cinema

This cinema in Kashmir holds a dual symbolism. First, it is a target for militants who view popular Indian cinema as a form of cultural imperialism. Later, after being shut down, it is repurposed by the Indian army as a brutal interrogation center, symbolizing how spaces of culture and entertainment can be co-opted by the state for violence and oppression.

Jannat Guesthouse

The guesthouse is a "utopian bubble" existing outside the violence and conventions of the real world (Dunya). It represents a paradise built on radical inclusivity, blurring the lines between life and death, sanity and madness, human and animal. It is the physical manifestation of the novel's "Ministry."

Motherhood

Motherhood is explored as a complex and contested idea. The novel contrasts the deep personal desire for it (Anjum) with its politicization as a nationalist symbol (Bharat Mata, or Mother India). Ultimately, it redefines motherhood as an inclusive, non-biological act of care, embodied by the trio of Anjum, Tilo, and Revathy raising Udaya Jebeen.

Vultures

The vultures are described as an "unintended post-causality of modernization." Their near-extinction, caused by ingesting the carcasses of cattle treated with a particular medicine, symbolizes how the relentless drive for "progress" inadvertently destroys vital parts of the natural ecosystem and, by extension, other marginalized communities who are deemed inconvenient.

The Light and Sound Show

This refers to the official, state-sponsored historical narratives, such as those presented at tourist sites like the Red Fort. It symbolizes the constant rewriting of history to serve the agendas of those in power, a process that erases the histories of marginalized communities like the hijras, whose connections to the Mughal court are written out of the dominant story.

Anna Hazare Figure

The "old Gandhian" leading the anti-corruption protest is a symbol of how potent imagery can be used to mobilize the public. Professor Barad's analysis frames the movement as a politically charged event fueled by a media agenda against the UPA government, creating a specific "mahol" (atmosphere). Its subsequent disappearance after achieving its political aim symbolizes how easily popular uprisings can be co-opted and then fade away, leaving the core structures of corruption intact.


Collectively, these characters, themes, and symbols construct the novel's central thesis: that the true "Ministry of Utmost Happiness" is not an official government body but an unofficial, compassionate governance of the forgotten, the broken, and the marginalized. It is a ministry found in a graveyard, run by outcasts, whose only policy is to offer sanctuary to those with nowhere else to go.



Activity A:  The  "Shattered Story"  Structure.
Becoming Everything: Narrative Structure as a Reflection of Trauma in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Introduction

Arundhati Roy's The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is a novel renowned for its narrative complexity, a sprawling and intricate tapestry that deliberately defies conventional storytelling. This structural choice is not an arbitrary flourish but is, in fact, central to the novel's profound thematic purpose. While some critics might view the novel's structural chaos as a flaw, this analysis argues that Roy weaponizes a fragmented, polyphonic narrative structure not merely to mirror trauma, but to perform a postcolonial critique of the nation-state itself. By embodying its own dictum to "slowly becom[e] everything," the novel formally rejects the singular, coherent narrative of official history in favor of a radical inclusivity built from its shattered margins.

This analysis will explore this thesis by first decoding the novel’s core narrative philosophy as an act of resistance. It will then demonstrate how this philosophy is embodied in the personal trauma and linguistic rebellion of Anjum, whose journey maps the creation of a new kind of sanctuary. Subsequently, the essay will trace the narrative's deliberate expansion to encompass national trauma through the contested territory of Kashmir, revealing the causal link between state violence and internal fragmentation. Finally, it will establish how the symbolic figure of a found baby unifies these fractured narratives, proposing a new, hybrid model of nationhood forged from the wreckage of the old.

1. The Philosophy of a "Shattered Story"

To fully appreciate the novel’s architecture, one must first decode its narrative philosophy. Roy does not simply tell a story about brokenness; she constructs a narrative that is formally broken, forcing the reader to assemble meaning from its fragments. This unconventional approach is a political and aesthetic rebellion against the false coherence of state-sanctioned histories, which seek to erase the very lives Roy centers.

The novel’s methodology is explicitly articulated in a pivotal line: "How to tell a shattered story by slowly becoming everybody. No. By slowly becoming everything." This principle dictates the novel's form, eschewing a linear plot in favor of a more radical, immersive experience. Roy achieves this through several key structural techniques that constitute an act of narrative resistance:

  • Rhizomatic Jumps: The narrative rejects a traditional, linear ("arborescent") timeline in favor of a rhizomatic structure that moves fluidly between past, present, and disparate historical moments. It opens in a contemporary graveyard, jumps back to Mughal history, and then plunges into the violence of the 2002 Gujarat riots, insisting that the traumas of the past are not overcome but are violently immanent in the present.
  • Polyphonic Perspectives: To enact the principle of "becoming everybody," the novel employs a polyphony of narrative voices. It shifts from the third-person account of Anjum's life to the first-person, state-sanctioned panopticon of Biplab Dasgupta, an Intelligence Bureau officer. This heteroglossia dismantles the authority of a single narrative voice, forcing the reader to inhabit multiple, often contradictory, ideological positions.
  • Juxtaposition of Disparate Worlds: Roy deliberately places seemingly disconnected worlds side-by-side. The narrative moves from the enclosed community of Hijras in Old Delhi’s Khwabgah to the militarized conflict zones of Kashmir, and then to the Jantar Mantar protest site, a space where all of India's myriad fractures are on public display.

These techniques combine to create a narrative mosaic where the full picture of trauma and connection only emerges when all the shattered pieces are viewed together. This approach contends that a singular, chronological story would be a dishonest representation of postcolonial India. The novel must become "everything" to perform its critique, a process that begins with the profoundly personal story of Anjum.

2. Anjum's Narrative Arc: From a Shattered Self to a Sanctuary

Anjum is the novel's primary embodiment of personal and societal trauma. Her journey maps the fragmentation of her identity and her subsequent quest to create a space of wholeness for herself and others. Her story, told non-chronologically, mirrors the shattering impact of trauma while simultaneously performing a crucial act of linguistic and spatial reclamation.

Anjum’s foundational trauma is one of identity. Born as Aftab with both male and female genitals, she exists, as the text notes, "outside language." Her mother, Jahanara Begum, upon this discovery, falls "through a crack between the world she knew and ones she did not know existed." This crisis establishes Anjum as a figure who defies the rigid binaries of her world. Crucially, her struggle with a language that has no place for her is a microcosm of the novel’s larger project: to forge a new, "seditious language" capable of articulating the realities the nation-state renders unspeakable.

The 2002 Gujarat riots serve as the pivotal event that shatters Anjum's world. This communal violence is a moment of profound rupture: she witnesses the brutal murder of Zakir Miyan, an event so traumatic it fundamentally alters her. She rejects her feminine attire for a man's Pathani suit, her bond with her adopted daughter Zainab weakens, and her sanctuary, the Khwabgah, becomes unlivable. This psychological break is reflected in her geographic move from the Khwabgah to the Graveyard. This is not a retreat into death but a radical act of reclamation. Among the graves, she establishes the Jannat Guest House, transforming a place of endings into what the theorist Michel Foucault would term a heterotopia—a real-world counter-site that exists outside dominant norms. The graveyard becomes a sanctuary for other "broken" people, a space where a new, inclusive identity can be pieced together from society's fragments.

Anjum's arc thus establishes the novel's core methodology: mapping psychological fragmentation onto physical space. Roy then masterfully scales this methodology from the individual to the state, turning from Anjum's fractured body to the contested body of the nation itself: Kashmir.

3. Expanding the Fracture: Kashmir and the Introduction of National Trauma

Midway through the novel, the narrative abruptly shifts focus from Delhi to the conflict in Kashmir. This structural choice deliberately expands the novel's scope from the personal trauma embodied by Anjum to the broader political trauma afflicting the Indian nation-state. This section introduces a new constellation of characters: Tilo, the enigmatic artist; Biplab Dasgupta, the IB officer; and Musa, a man who becomes a militant after his wife and daughter are killed by security forces. While some critics note that Musa’s backstory risks becoming a "typical Bollywood drama" trope and that the novel’s perspective on Kashmir can appear "one-sided," this very directness serves to highlight the brutal calculus of state violence.

The Kashmir storyline introduces a parallel, yet causally linked, dimension of being "shattered." The state's external violence in Kashmir creates the internal, psychological riots within its citizens, demonstrating that the personal and political are not merely parallel but deeply intertwined. A comparison reveals this direct causal link:


Anjum's World (Internal/Communal Trauma)

Tilo's World (External/Political Trauma)

Trauma of gender identity and being "outside language."

Trauma of political insurgency and state-sponsored violence.

Violence is communal (2002 Gujarat riots).

Violence is militarized (AFSPA, encounters, torture).

"The riot is inside us," an internal struggle for identity.

The war is external, but it creates the internal "riot" in characters like Tilo and Musa.


These two narrative threads, while geographically and thematically distinct, represent different facets of a single, shattered national identity. One story unfolds in the heart of the old city, dealing with the fractures of community and self; the other unfolds on the nation's contested periphery, dealing with the fractures of statehood. Roy presents these not as separate crises, but as a feedback loop where state violence begets personal trauma, leaving the reader to question how such disparate fragments can ever be sutured together.

4. The Unifying Thread: The Baby as a Bridge Between Worlds

The most critical narrative link in the novel is the introduction of an abandoned baby, who serves as far more than a plot device. She is the thematic lynchpin that physically and symbolically stitches the shattered stories of Anjum and Tilo together, embodying a radical vision for a new political future.

The baby’s journey provides the direct link between the novel’s two halves. She first appears at the Jantar Mantar protest site, a microcosm of India’s myriad struggles. She then reappears in the care of Tilo, who arranges for her to be brought to Anjum at the Jannat Guest House. This physical movement forges a tangible connection between the novel’s disparate narrative threads.

More profoundly, the baby, Miss Jebeen the Second, is a symbol of a new, messy, and non-traditional form of nationhood. Her origin is steeped in trauma: she is the child of Revathy, a Maoist guerrilla raped by six policemen. She is, therefore, a product of the very state violence the novel critiques. Yet from this origin, she becomes a symbol of radical connection. The narrative identifies her as the child of "three mothers" (Revathy, Tilo, and Anjum) and "six fathers." She physically embodies a new polity forged not from pure ideology but from the violent intersections of its peoples. She is the living antithesis to a bordered nation-state, a being who unites disparate women, conflicting histories, and irreconcilable worlds into a resilient, unconventional family. Through this single character, Roy demonstrates that the deepest traumas can also be the source of the most profound connections.

Conclusion: The Ministry as a Coherent Mosaic

In The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Arundhati Roy demonstrates that a fragmented, polyphonic structure is the only authentic form for narrating the "shattered story" of contemporary India’s marginalized communities. By refusing a simple, linear plot, the novel performs a postcolonial critique, mirroring the chaotic and overlapping realities of lives fractured by personal, communal, and political trauma. The individual arcs of Anjum and Tilo represent these distinct yet interconnected forms of suffering, which are masterfully interwoven through the symbolic figure of the baby, who herself proposes a future beyond the nation-state.

The novel’s ultimate achievement is its structure. By "becoming everything"—a rhizomatic mosaic of broken people, conflicting histories, and disparate places—the narrative constructs its own "Ministry of Utmost Happiness." This ministry is not found in a traditional paradise but in the radical inclusivity of the Jannat graveyard, a heterotopia built from fragments. It is here, on the margins of the state, where the shattered find solace, form an unconventional family, and discover a new way to be whole together.



Activity B: Mapping the Conflict




Activity C: Automated Timeline & Character Arcs


Anjum's Journey in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Anjum, born as Aftab to Muslim parents in Delhi, discovers her intersex identity early and moves to the Khwabgah hijra community at age 15, undergoing gender transition surgery to fully embrace her femininity. She thrives there as a prominent hijra, admired for her beauty and interviewed by media, while raising adopted daughter Zainab with help from Saeeda. In 2002, during a pilgrimage to Gujarat with Zakir Mian, she survives the riots—sparked by the Godhra train burning—where Zakir is killed, but Anjum is spared as killing hijras is considered bad luck; this trauma transforms her, making her withdrawn and prompting her to dress Zainab as a boy for safety before leaving the Khwabgah. Traumatized, she relocates to a Delhi graveyard behind a government hospital, gradually building "Jannat Guest House" as a refuge for outcasts.

​

Saddam Hussain's Journey

Originally Dayachand, a Dalit Hindu, Saddam witnesses his father's lynching by a mob during Dussehra festivities; falsely accused of cow slaughter after an official demands extra bribe for transporting a dead cow carcass, his father is handed over to the crowd by police. This cow protection violence leaves Saddam seeking vengeance against the police officer, leading him to work odd jobs like mortuary assistant, bus conductor, and security guard while plotting. He renames himself Saddam Hussain after watching the Iraqi leader's execution video, drawing inspiration from its dignity as an act of defiance against both American imperialism and local oppression. He arrives at Anjum's graveyard home, becoming her first long-term guest, helping launch Jannat Guest House and Funeral Services.

​

Chronological Timeline

  • Birth (pre-1970s): Aftab (later Anjum) born intersex in Delhi.
  • Age 15 (c. 1980s): Aftab joins Khwabgah permanently, transitions to Anjum.
  • 2002 Gujarat Riots: Anjum survives massacre on pilgrimage; Zakir Mian killed; she returns traumatized, leaves Khwabgah for graveyard.
  • Post-2002 (Dayachand era): Saddam sees father's lynching during cow vigilante mob violence.
  • c. 2006: Saddam renames himself after Saddam Hussein's execution.
  • 2010s: Saddam meets Anjum at graveyard, joins Jannat Guest House.

​

This timeline aligns with novel events, emphasizing Anjum's riot-induced trauma shifting her from communal life to isolation, and Saddam's name change as defiant reclamation amid personal and imperial oppression. Verification against summaries confirms motivations, as direct transcripts remain inaccessible.

​


Activity  D:  The  "Audio/Video"  Synthesis 


Building Paradise in Roy's Graveyard (Click to listen to an audio podcast)




References: 

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  The Unbreakable Spirit of Maya Angelou Hello Everyone! Happy Teacher's day!! We, the student of Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University have celebrated the Teacher's Day 2024 virtually. This  blog is to highlight my participation and to request you to watch my video. For the event of Teacher's day I have created a short video lecture on the Author- Maya Angelou. I hope you'll manage your precious 15 minutes of time and watch my video to get information or learn about the author. https://youtu.be/qImEVD0xjig?si=nu6QM8uglO3_xe9W I've prepared a quiz based on the video where you can test your understanding and can earn an e-certificate. The link of the quiz is given in description and comment of video and you can attempt the quiz from here also... https://forms.gle/PUbPGTvaFX3HxVN9A You can find this video as a TED-Ed lesson where I've given the sources for the deeper understanding. I hope you'll visit that also ...
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The Poet's Insight

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THE POET'S INSIGHT: ANALYZING WORDSWORTH'S POETIC PHILOSOPHY, FUNCTIONS AND LANGUAGE (Considering him as a critic.) 'Bridge Course: Wordsworth's Preface' assigned by Dilip Barad Sir. The Art in William Wordsworth's Preface to the Lyrical Ballads . INTRODUCTION: Wordsworth's ideas in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads marked a significant shift from the prevailing neoclassical poetry of  the 18th century. He aimed to remove what he viewed as artificial limitations and bring poetry back to a more genuine, emotionally powerful form. Wordsworth emphasized natural expression of strong feelings and the use of everyday language. This approach contrasted sharply with the formal, structured style of neoclassical poets.  "Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher." As we examine Wordsworth's views through the questions provided, we'll see how his ideas challenged neoclassical norms and helped shape Romantic poetry.   Q.1 Why does Wi...
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W.H. Auden's Poems

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Auden's Poems This blog highlights Auden’s enduring influence and the continued significance of his insights in today’s world, It's assigned by Prof. Dilip Barad sir as a part of thinking activity, For background reading and more information visit  W.H. Auden’s poetry remains profoundly relevant in understanding the complexities of human nature, politics, and art. His works, written during times of great historical turmoil, reflect on war, totalitarianism, morality, and the role of poetry in shaping society. Through poems like " September 1, 1939" , " In Memory of W.B. Yeats" , and " Epitaph on a Tyrant" , Auden critiques authoritarianism, explores the power and limitations of poetry, and contemplates the fragility of civilization.
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Comparative Analysis of Chaucer, Spenser and Shakespeare

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Comparative Analysis of 3 well-known Poets Thinking Activity assigned by Dilip Barad Sir  Comparative analysis of Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare as poets. Focus on their poetic styles, themes, contributions to English literature and their influences on subsequent literary traditions. Introduction: The age of Chaucer is one of the most important era of the history of English literature as it gives the new ideas and themes to English literature. The central figure of this era Geoffrey Chaucer is widely regarded as the Father of the English literature. From this age new ideas and features are widely spread in English literature. After this age Spenser became a central figure after a long time during 16th century. The time period of 14th century to early 17th century is known as Chaucer to Shakespeare the main figures of the ages in English literature.    A brief introductions of the poets:     Geoffrey Chaucer. Geoffrey Chaucer was a 14th-...
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Heroism and Memory in Hemingway’s "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

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Exploring Robert Jordan and the Flashback Technique: "For Whom the Bell Tolls" This blog is part of thinking activity assigned by Megha Trivedi ma'am for the unit "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway. In what ways is the flashback technique used in " For Whom the Bell Tolls" ? Introduction Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls exemplifies a masterful use of the flashback technique, seamlessly weaving past and present to deepen both character development and narrative complexity. Through this literary device, Hemingway provides a multidimensional perspective, particularly on the protagonist, Robert Jordan, while enriching the broader themes of the novel, including loyalty, sacrifice, and the moral ambiguities of war. The flashbacks not only illuminate the characters’ psychological landscapes but also anchor their present actions in a tapestry of memories, ideologies, and emotions. By employing this technique, Hemingway transforms the novel into ...
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Aristotle's Poetics : Death Of a Salesman

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Tragedy I have studied during B.A. program and The tragic protagonist in that tragedy and it's hamartia.. -Bridge Course: Aristotle's Poetics assigned by Dilip Barad Sir ~'DEATH OF SALESMAN' as tragedy and the character of Willy Loman and the concept of hamartia. Introduction: 'Death of a Salesman' is written by an American playwright Arthur Miller. This play is often considered as a modern tragedy in the Aristotelian tradition. It primarily is a portrayal of Willy Loman's downfall. The concept of hamartia is a centre to Death of a Salesman and is a key element of Aristotelian tragedy too.  Death of a   salesman: A tragic exploration of the American Dream:-                                                          A Pulitzer Prize winning work that the author describes as "the tragedy of a man who gave his life, or sold it."   Fir...
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Assignment- Paper:-102: Literature of the Neo-Classical period

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Assignment-102:The Unreliable Narrator as a Satirical Device in A Tale of a Tub This blog is an assignment component for Semester 1, Paper No. 102, focused on the Literature of the Neo-classical period. Assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir from the Department of English, MKBU. It explores the topic- Reader response and narrative distrust in a tale of a tub. Personal Details Name: Smruti Jitubhai Vadher Batch: M.A. Semester-1 (2024-26)  Roll No.: 29 Enrollment no.: 5108240034 E-mail address: vadhersmruti@gmail.com Assignment Details Paper No.& Name: 102- Literature of the Neo-classical period Paper code: 22393 Subject: The Unreliable Narrator as a Satirical Device in A Tale of a Tub Date of Submission: 20th November 2024 Submitted to: Smt. Sujata Binoy Gardi, Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.  Table of Contents  -Abstract - Introduction - Historical Context - Self-Undermining Authority: The Narrator’s Contradictions -Madness as a Meta...
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An Artist of the Floating World

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Understanding Kazuo Ishiguro’s " An Artist  of the Floating World" Through Key Discussions As part of our study on Kazuo Ishiguro’s An Artist of the Floating World , this blog is a flipped learning task assigned by Prof. Dilip Barad Sir, Here is the link for the background of task- Research Article  or  Professor's Blog . Below, you will find a series of videos that delve into essential aspects of the text, including the author’s background, the significance of the title, character analysis, narrative strategy, major themes, and important passages .
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