Safiya is Nur’s first wife. A shrewd old woman with black teeth, she takes pride in having married Nur before Imtiaz—even if she resents Imtiaz for being more beautiful, writing poetry, and giving Nur a son. While Nur spends his time drinking with his friends and Imtiaz spends hers raising her son and writing poetry, Safiya appears to do the housework and the cooking. She admires Nur’s poetry and, unlike Imtiaz, encourages Deven to interview him. She even helps Deven rent a room from the brothel owner down the street. But at the end of the novel, when she mails Deven the bill, it becomes obvious that money was her real motive for helping him.
Safiya Quotes in In Custody
The In Custody quotes below are all either spoken by Safiya or refer to Safiya. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 8
Quotes
Later Deven could not understand how it all come about—how he, the central character in the whole affair, the protagonist of it (if Murad were to be disregarded), the one on whom depended the entire matter of the interview, the recording and the memoirs, to which Siddiqui was no more than an accessory, having arrived on the scene accidentally and at a later stage, and in which he played a minor role—how he, in the course of that evening, had relinquished his own authority and surrendered it to Siddiqui who now emerged the stronger while he, Deven, had been brought to his knees, abject and babbling in his helplessness. How?
Related Characters:
Deven Sharma, Murad , Nur , Abid Siddiqui , Safiya
Related Symbols:
Tape Recorder
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Safiya Character Timeline in In Custody
The timeline below shows where the character Safiya appears in In Custody. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
...won’t be able to afford alcohol—which has ruined his poetry and his voice. Another woman (Safiya) comes to the door, starts harshly insulting Imtiaz, and tries to attack her by jumping...
(full context)
Chapter 7
...the same night. Deven wonders if the older woman who arrived just before he left (Safiya) ended up beating Imtiaz nearly to death. Secretly, Deven is pleased that Imtiaz is sick,...
(full context)
...to another courtyard, where goats are tied up, clothes are drying, and an old woman (Safiya) is starting a cooking fire.
(full context)
Deven realizes that this woman (Safiya) is the one who fought Imtiaz during his last visit. He figures that Nur has...
(full context)
The old woman (Safiya) tells Deven to ignore Imtiaz, interview Nur, and write his book. She says that Nur...
(full context)
Deven gets up to leave, but before he can, the woman (Safiya) tells him not to forget to pay Nur for his time. Poets’ families have to...
(full context)
Chapter 9
...arranging the interview; they are waiting for Nur at the house that his older wife (Safiya) has rented them. Deven passed her an envelope full of cash through the back door,...
(full context)
Chapter 10
...Deven in the first day (the brothel owner) approaches him and asks why he has come—Safiya has already cancelled their room rental. Bulu, the burly bouncer, comes up to kick them...
(full context)
Chapter 11
...may not be as good as Nur’s, she also never received any formal education. Unlike Safiya and Nur’s friends, she was a true “intellectual companion” to him. She attaches her poems,...
(full context)
