Midnight's Children Page #3

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...to a life of

accordions and poverty.

Shiva...

As Joe had said,

let the rich be poor...

...and the poor, rich.

Thank you.

Saleem. Saleem Sinai.

Look, janum. Poor fellow,

he's got his grandfather's nose!

Go call the newspapers.

Tell the photographers to come!

"A charming pose

of Baby Saleem Sinai,"

"born on the exact moment

of our nation's independence. "

"We shall be watching over your

life with the closest attention. "

"It will be in a sense,

a mirror of our own. "

"The happy child

of the glorious hour!"

Hold it up.

Look at me.

come, let's go home.

Mary, unable in her

fright to confess her crime,

realized she had been a fool.

She cursed herself...

...but kept her secret.

And decided to make

amends of a kind...

...to a motherless boy.

Mary, isn't it?

- Yes.

From Dr Narlikar's clinic?

- Yes.

Is something the matter?

No. I just wanted to

know if you need any Nanny.

Well, yes, actually I do.

come.

Thank you.

Hi...

First time I saw him

I was just done for him.

Who has come?

Winkie...

...Winkie!

can I come?

- come.

Mary...

Please go give him some money.

Here.

Hold this.

Bless you, baby.

come, come. There there.

Saleem. Baba.

Anything you want to be...

you can be...

you can be...

you want.

...Anything you want to be...

By our tenth birthday,

India and myself...

...were both under

a lot of pressure.

There was growth, there were gains,

there were five-year

plans and good exam results.

Anything you want to-

Mary, please can

you stop singing that.

You can be...

Please, Mary.

But there was also...

...the weight of expectation...

Please, Mary.

...It was a lot to live up to.

Aren't you forgetting

something, Saleem?

Where's my morning hug?

come on!

come on. come on. come on! Yes!

Stop it, Abba, it's embarrassing!

Embarrassing?

What nonsense.

Ammi!

Great things in store for you,

my son! I love you.

come.

And me Abba?

Yes you, too, Jamila.

Jamila, Abba's just joking.

You want green chutney, baba?

Yes, sure. Of course.

What a fine boy!

See if I care.

Jamila!

Yes, Ammi?

coming!

Hey, Saleem.

Suppose it turns out

that you're not that special.

Suppose in the end

you're just normal.

I know.

Anything you want to be...

- Shut up! Stupid.

Anything...

Wife!

Frozen.

Freeze a Muslim's assets they say,

and he'll run back to Pakistan.

Leaving all his wealth behind.

But we must do something!

- What?

Something. We have law courts.

We have to fight!

Fight? How?. With what?

They have shoved my

balls into an ice bucket.

Janum, please.

Though some of his

assets eventually unfroze,

from that moment,

my father entered a deep solitude.

And a strange perfume started wafting

out from under his study door.

Jamila said it was

the smell of stale food,

but it's my belief that

it was the aroma of failure.

When I say 'doggie',

you'll say 'woof, woof'.

What will you say?

Woof, woof!

Woof, woof. Let's go. Woof, woof.

How much is that

doggie in the window?.

Woof! Woof!

The one with the waggily tail...

How much is that

doggie in the window?.

Woof! Woof!

I do hope that dog is for sale...

Shiva, get the money.

Give Shiva some money.

What happened?

Let's go.

I said, let's go.

Bloody rich boy.

Saleem, quickly. come.

Look there.

You see it? It's Sputnik.

Great achievement for Man.

Listen, Saleem,

my achievements have been small,

my ambitions thwarted.

But you, my son,

yours must be big.

Do you understand?

- Yes, Abba.

Hello. No. It's the wrong

I told you this is the wrong number!

Nadir.

Who's..? Who's in there?

Ammi, I swear, I didn't

see anything! Wait a minute, Ammi!

There are voices in my head!

come!

Ammi, I...

Not one word for one whole day!

- Ammi, I...

Not one word.

Shhh.. Not one word.

- Mary, listen...

Shhh... shhh... SHHH!

Saleem! Saleem, listen to me.

We are your friends. We're just

like you! Listen to me, Saleem.

We are your friends.

We're just like you!

We are your friends.

We're just like you!

By the morning,

I had discovered that...

...I could somehow control

the volume of the voices

...through my nose!

Fear left me,

and I was thinking, "Man!

This is better than

All-India-Radio!"

Abbu, Ammi:

Mary, please can

I have your attention?

You have something to tell us?

An apology, I hope.

Ammi, something really

big has happened finally!

But first, please call Abba.

Most certainly not.

What's going on?

I'm hearing voices.

Voices are speaking

to me inside my head.

I really think that Archangels

have started to talk to me.

What's wrong?

Has your brain gone raw?.

Are you growing into a madman?

Oh, Jesus.

What is it?

- Please, move aside.

Abba?

What happened son?

You're hearing voices

inside your head?

Yes.

Still hearing those voices, ha?

Still hearing the voices?

That was necessary...

...to avoid repetition.

Saleem, listen to me!

Saleem listen to me!

Saleem listen to me!

Saleem listen to me!

We are your friends!

Saleem listen to me! Saleem.

Saleem, Saleem listen to me!

Saleem...

Saleem, Saleem listen to me!

Saleem...

Saleem, Saleem listen to me!

Saleem...

Saleem listen to me! Saleem.

Go away!

I don't want you!

Did you see what Abbu did?

Hello? No, it's the wrong number.

When?

Where?

It's the wrong number!

And now she'll go out by herself.

Once upon a time,

there was an underground husband...

...who fled,

leaving loving messages of divorce.

After a lost decade...

...he emerged from

goodness-knows-where.

I watched my mother

and Nadir Khan...

...and I saw the kiss.

The indirect kiss.

I'll be gob-smacked.

Saleem? What on earth

are you doing here?

Don't talk to me! I hate you!

What's happening, darling?

You know what's happening!

I saw everything. I saw it all.

I saw what you did!

What did I do?

No more of these wrong-number calls,

okay, Amma?

Don't go out to see other men!

No more of this glass-kissery!

I hate you!

Saleem!

Saleem, listen to me! Saleem!

Go away!

I told you! Get out of my head!

Saleem! We're your friends!

We're like you!

We're not friends.

I don't even know you.

Never call on this number again.

Saleem!

Saleem?

Saleem, we are your friends.

We're like you.

We were born then, on that night.

You mean my midnight?

That midnight?

Yes, in that first hour.

All of you?

Yes, all of us!

But how can I hear you all?

How can I see you?

We all have gifts.

The closer to midnight

our birth-times,

the greater our gifts.

Who's there?

Saleem and Shiva. Shiva and Saleem.

Both born on the stroke

of midnight both alike.

Same to same.

My gift...

...is to fight.

He's the only one who

can bring us all together.

He's overthrow a government.

Aren't you...

Wee Willie's son?

How's your father anyway?

Talking to yourself?

Ammi is right,

your brain has really gone raw.

Get lost!

See if I care!

Where are you all going?

Why you are leaving?

You'll get better at this.

At what?

This.

children of midnight? No.

Midnight's children.

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