A celebration of the latest honour won by Salman Rushdie, 'Best of the Booker'

Midnight's Children was an epoch-making novel in many ways.  It not only contributed a fabulously new way of using English in Indian novels but also took an equally new look at the problems of colonialism, history, migration and fragmentation.  The novel is superb in its technique too.

"She (Padma) attempts to cajole me from my desk: 'Eat, na, food is spoiling.'  I remained stubbornly hunched on paper.... Padma snorts.  Wrist smacks across forehead.  'Okay, starve, starve, who cares two pice.'"  That's an extract from the novel.  The Indianism in the English used will not escape anybody's notice. 

Indianism, however, is not the only thing that's special about the language in Midnight's Children.  Language acquires a new life, a rare vigour, in his narrative.  For instance, look at this description of the arrival of spring in Kashmir after a long snow-ridden winter.  "The world was new again.  After a winter's gestation in its eggshell of ice, the valley had beaked its way out into the open, moist and yellow."  All the sensory perceptions enter into his narrative making the reader feel that he/she is watching a movie rather than reading a novel.  We can see, hear, smell, taste, and even touch some of those things that he writes about.

History

History is presented in a uniquely novel way in Midnight's Children.  The history of India is linked inextricably with the life of Saleem, the protagonist.  Saleem is born at the same time when India wins Independence.  He is "mysteriously handcuffed to history, (his) destinies indissolubly chained to those of (his) country."  Saleem plays an active role in the history of his country.  He is responsible for the language riots of the 1950s, he plays a pivotal role in the Indo-Pak war and the Emergency makes him feel drained out.  The Jallianwallah Bagh massacre is reported as an eyewitness account of Saleem's grandparents. 

History becomes fiction is Midnight's Children.  The novel indirectly questions the objectivity of history.  However, Rushdie didn't mean the novel to be historical either.  There is a place in the novel where Saleem cuts up seemingly important political newspaper articles at random and then rearranging them to create a new view of reality.  The re-created reality is sent to Commander Sabarmati because it can prove that his wife was unfaithful to him.  It leads to the murder of the wife and subsequent imprisonment of the Commander.  History can be a dangerous thing!

Colonialism and Neo-Colonialism

The novel is also an attack on the British colonialism.  Chapter 7 is titled 'Methwold'.  In that chapter Bombay is represented in its pristine beauty and it is a microcosm India.  This primeval world is shown to be overrun by different invaders beginning with the Portuguese followed by the East India Company.  Regret and nostalgia mark Rushdie's narration in this chapter.  The nostalgia turns to anger as the narrative begins to challenge the myth created by the British of having come to civilize India. 

Methwold is a caricature, a symbol of evil and moral degeneration.  Rushdie uses him to convey his views about colonialism.  His name rings in the meaning of 'myth world'.  The British created their own myths and used them for controlling the people of India.  Like India's last Governor General, Lord Mountbatten, Methwold too insists that India should retain the economic and political framework of the British.  Rushdie reminds us that though they left India finally, the British did not forget to leave us with many a legacy.

Fragmentation and Migration

Saleem becomes a homeless wanderer.  His sadness echoes the expatriate's feelings.  He passes through many kinds of exile.  His first exile is in losing the home of Vanita and Wee-Willie-Winkle from his very birth.  The discovery that his blood group belongs to neither his father nor his mother is responsible for another exile.  Later he is exiled from Bombay to Karachi. 

Midnight's Children remains a great novel 27 years after its publication.  It will surely be read by many more thousands of readers in the future.  In the words of William Walsh, the novel "combines the rush and fluency of Mulk Raj Anand, the speculative and metaphysical habit of Raja Rao, the shrewd psychological acumen of R K Narayan with the linguistic wildness, inventiveness and fantasy of G V Desani.  Its astonishing staple is composed of elements of magic and fantasy, the grimmest realism, extravagant farce, multi-mirrored analogy and a potent symbolic structure..."