Animal's People

At the approach of Muharram, when Animal has bet Farouq he’d walk across the coals, Animal begins preparing for his impending death. At Chunaram’s, the friends engage in a discussion about religion. Animal believes that “the main reason for having a religion is to cheat death and live again” (207). He wonders how religions, which are about “I, me, mine” (207), can leave any room for God. Animal appreciates that Zafar believes “heaven was invented by the rich and powerful to keep the poor from rebelling” (207). However, Zafar also believes “that deep down all people are good” (207). Animal feels “there’s no evidence for it” (207).

Farouq criticizes Animal for “pretend[ing] to be an animal so you can escape the responsibility of being human” (209). Animal retorts that others have treated him like one. Farouq argues that this is no longer relevant, as he has friends who care about him.

Elli says her father “risked his life” near fire “for his family” (211) and asks for Animal’s reason; Animal doesn’t tell her he is doing it “to impress” Nisha (211). He tells Zafar that before he dies he wants to ride in a car at 100 miles per hour. Zafar takes him at three in the morning. Animal thinks, “if I did not hate you I would love you,” in regard to Zafar (212).

The night of the coal walk, Zafar arranges for Animal to be forbidden from walking. Animal seethes with jealousy at Nisha’s closeness with Zafar and cannot bring himself to feel happy for them. Though he knows she will never be his, he still imagines touching her: “A creature in love, its brain is truly fucked” (214).

Animal overhears Elli speaking with Somraj, who muses on “how so many musics are running together” (215)—the marsiyas, or laments, are all in different languages, though the theme of defiance is the same. Somraj says that rather than trying to “distinguish the sounds” (216), he is “try[ing] to hear it all together” (216) as it makes “a new music” (216).

Animal attempts to sneak onto the coals but is stopped. Farouq puts him on his shoulders. With the sounds of prayers in their ears, Animal imagines the terror the people must have experienced the night of the industrial accident. He envisions his dying mother leaving him at someone’s doorstep. He thinks of Elli’s desire to heal Animal’s back and Somraj’s lungs. When they walk across the coals, he has a vision of Ma Franci’s Apocalypse. He faints and nearly falls into the fire; Farouq saves him, only later to tell him, “I should have let you die” (222).

Animal eavesdrops from the mango tree as Elli and Somraj sit on the terrace and discuss the ex-husband Elli left in America. She went to medical school and he went to law school. They went together to demonstrations against the war in Iraq and in support of gay rights. They worked long hours and became “the sort of people they once despised” (224). Elli, who “wanted nothing to do with” (224) weekend golf trips and fancy dinners, did not fight to save the marriage. She tells Somraj she wants to treat his cough; he tells her he can’t let her as long as others are not allowed to seek treatment.

Zafar becomes very sick and recuperates at Nisha’s house. He has a dream in which he is flying about the city when a crow offers him three wishes. When Zafar asks to see the face of his enemy, the crow shows him a building full of chemists, public relations consultants, and lawyers, saying, “The Kampani has no face” (229). Animal confronts Faqri about the pills and learns they contain datura, a poisonous plant.

Farouq has been friendly with Animal since the coal walk, and the two put their differences behind them. One night, after teasing Animal over the fact that Animal has never had sex, the two go out for bhang, a cannabis drink. Farouq tells Animal he wants to take him to a brothel. In his intoxication, Animal imagines that he sees Khã-in-the-jar next to several other jars with similarly-disfigured fetuses. Khã announces that they are the “Board of Directors.” They, like the Kampani, never die. Their goal is “[t]o undo everything the Kampani does” (237). Animal tells them the Kampani is “too big and powerful” (237) to be changed, and that “it will go on for all eternity” (237). The figures in the jars turn into “symbols of justice” (237) as beautiful as angels. They ask him to “release” them.

Animal wakes up naked with Anjali, the young prostitute who used to tell him he was good looking. He had merely talked for a long time with Anjali before falling asleep. He asks how she ended up doing the work she does, and she explains why she doesn’t leave. When Anjali realizes he’s a virgin, she offers her services. Animal asks only that he be allowed to look at her. He marvels at “the most powerful thing in the world” (243) which is “where life begins, where I began, where we all begin” (244). He thinks of the men she lies with and how “not one” of them “has ever understood what he is defiling” (244).