Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Corruption, Political Violence, and Capitalism
Resilience and Hope
Gender Identity, Social Division, and Coexistence
Social Hierarchy vs. Social Inclusivity
Religion and Power
Summary
Analysis
In Delhi, even the vultures are dying. Poisoned by a chemical compound found in cow aspirin commonly given to the cows of the city, the vultures have become extinct. But still, a mysterious woman who lives in a graveyard is able to confer with their ghosts, who, according to her, “aren’t altogether unhappy at having […] exited from the story.”
The story opens with an image of destruction so extreme that even vultures—who usually feed on the dead—are dying. This sets readers up for a novel that explores the many ways in which the city of Delhi operates in ways that endanger all of its inhabitants, human and animal alike.
Themes
The woman, who introduces herself as Anjum, has lived in the graveyard behind the government hospital for several months, and it was difficult at first. Surrounded by junkies and the homeless, she endured her fair share of ridicule from the graveyard’s other inhabitants. They called her a “clown without a circus,” or a “queen without a palace.” But once she befriends an elderly, blind imam named Ziauddin, the others in the graveyard leave her alone.
The fact that the graveyard is behind the government hospital is a thinly veiled critique of the quality of medical care in Delhi. The implication is that the government hospital provides such a low standard of care that being interned there is essentially a death sentence; the next step is the graveyard. Additionally, the names that the inhabitants of the graveyard call Anjum emphasize her position on the margins of society. By calling her a “clown without a circus” or a “queen without a palace,” the people in the graveyard are emphasizing the fact that she is a person without a context, without a place in society.
Themes
In addition to listening to music and convening with the vultures, Anjum enjoys reading. She makes a habit of reading the newspaper aloud to Ziauddin. One day, she is reading to him when he asks her, “Is it true that even the Hindus among you are buried, not cremated?” Wounded by his question, Anjum tries to avoid answering, but he persists, asking, “Tell me, you people, when you die, where to they bury you? Who bathes the bodies? Who says the prayers?”
Here, readers realize that Anjum clearly belongs to some sort of social group that is particularly excluded from traditional practices and norms. Hindus aren’t traditionally cremated, so the Imam’s assertion that “even the Hindus among” people like Anjum aren’t cremated lets readers know that she belongs to a group of people that is deemed unworthy of traditional rites of passage.
Themes
Anjum doesn’t answer the question, but by way of response asks the blind old man what goes through his mind when people speak of color. Ziauddin has no reply, and Anjum continues, asking the imam to answer his own question about death: “You’re the Imam Sahib, not me. Where do old birds go to die? […] Do you not think the All-Seeing, Almighty One who put us on this Earth has made proper arrangements to take us away?”
In this moment, Anjum hands Ziauddin’s question back to him. She implies that it is religious leaders’ responsibility to provide answers and solutions to the members of their faith who live on the fringes of society, who do not conform to social or religious norms. She also implies that in God’s eyes, all people are worthy of a respectful burial.
Themes
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To this, Ziauddin has no response, and he ends his visit earlier than usual. Still, Anjum knows he’ll be back—she’s lonely, and she knows he is too. They need each other. In not answering his question, Anjum has respected the secrets of her former home, the Khwabgah—although she didn’t leave on the best of terms, she knows it’s not her place to spill the house’s secrets.
Anjum’s observation that she knows Ziauddin will be back even though she has insulted him draws attention to the ways in which social isolation and marginalization force people to coexist who wouldn’t normally associate with one another.
Themes
