The chapter starts with the yak's milk color
confusion thread which runs throughout the plot. Aliya’s great grandfather also
once aspired to be a scientist in pursuit of resolving the milk color mystery. The
writer is not in any haste while unfolding the story and the characters of the
novel. We see Aliya tracing her forefinger on the pattern of rugs and
remembering her childhood days in Dadi’s bedroom with Samia and Sameer.
Another important character of Taj, the midwife,“
whose veins stood up a centimeter from the back of her hand” is introduced to
the reader. This mysterious entry of Taj and her mother throws light on the
Dard e Dill family’s fake and phony royalness. The ill-fated courtier who
followed Taj although under the command of, ‘the hairless Nawab’becomes a trope
for others for not chasing Taj in the future. Later on, the approach of the protagonists toward Taj, her resembling the physical features of Taj with other
Dard e Dill’s family members, especially with Mariam Apa, and her hidden line
of thinking about Taj’s name not appearing in the family tree raise many
questions in reader’s mind. A sneaking suspicion starts lurking when it comes
to Dard e Dill’s royal nobility and Nawab’sbeing, a “paragon of bravery” when
he “ killed a tiger with his bare hands”. Ironically, the same brave man has
abducted Taj’s mother.
The theme of Not- quite- Twins, once again catches the
reader's attention but in this chapter, the birth of three sons during midnight
at short intervals of times becomes a physical precedent of their being Not-
quite-Twins. Although Aliya’s great-grandmother didn’t plan it the way it
happened successfully and it was a relief for the Dard e Dill family as we, later
on, see how this theme figuratively becomes a binding force between the
characters throughout the novel.
While going through chapter 2 we come across literary
references that depict the writer’s artistic taste. The reference of
Shakespeare's Othello shows the writer’s scholarly grasp on literature, and
although it is added as passing comments still gives an elaborate touch to the
novel. The writer also adds references from Greek mythology while describing
the nobility of Nawab and his heinous act of abduction. Aliya resembles Nawab
as Zeus and correlates Nawab’s seduction to Zeus’s bedding with Leda. The birth
of Helen and Pollux, the offspring of Zeus, and the birth of Castor and
Clytemnestra, issues of Tydareus (Leda’s husband) are also Not-quite-twins.
We also come to know about the names of Aliya’s
grandmother and grandfather i.e. Abida and Akber. Furthermore, they both are
second cousins and her grandfather is among those three sons who are
Not-quite-Twins. Chapter two also discloses that Samia is Aliya’s paternal
cousin. During the conversation with Aliya, Samia starts reciting some lines from a
poem, which is about, “ Seductiveness of Power” which fits Shamsai”s idea of
power corruption. The same idea is shown through Nawab’s character.
The chapter ends with trivial talks of lizards and
squirrels. There is off and on use of words from Urdu diction that gives the Novel
a desi touch as well.
