The Night Diary

Nisha classifies everyone she knows as Hindu, Muslim, or Sikh, trying to determine who will stay or go. She has so many questions and no one will answer her, so she resolves to wake up early and meet Papa at the breakfast table, where she will ask the questions she wants answered.

Papa is not at breakfast, and Amil tells Nisha how the boys at his school are dividing into groups and “a Hindu boy called a Muslim boy a very bad word [..] [and] they got into a big fight” (32). Nisha and Amil take a secret path to school to avoid a group of boys who pick on Amil. Nisha thinks it is because Amil is skinny, bad at sports, and taunts the boys by drawing funny pictures of them.

Nisha suggests telling everyone at school that their father is Hindu and their mother was Muslim, thinking both groups would accept them. Amil, having a better understanding of the growing division between Hindus and Muslims, tells Nisha it’s a stupid idea and that she should go back to not talking.