Discussion Guide: The Night Diary, by Veera Hiranandani 1
Discussion Guide: The Night Diary, by Veera Hiranandani
- Kazi, the family cook, describes Nisha’s parents as brave for what they did. What does he mean?
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(Nisha’s father is Hindu but her late mother was Muslim. These two religions have had a long history of being in opposition to one another.)
- Can you think of another fiction story where people from opposite cultures fall in love and make waves?
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(Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story)
- Papa seems to be upset frequently with Nisha’s brother, Amil. Why?
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(Amil is dyslexic at a time when this condition was not recognized or understood (1989). Papa may have the impression that Amil doesn’t take his studies seriously, and Papa is a doctor, so he may expect his son to work hard and be successful the way that he is.)
- India is gaining its independence from Britain. This is supposed to be a good solution, but it makes everything complicated. How?
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(Without Britain’s powerful presence in India, the country starts to become an opportunity for new leadership. The problem now is that there are two main groups that see each other as enemies. Is there any chance that they can peacefully coexist?)
- Amil burns his artwork. What does this symbolize?
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(The artwork is Amil’s intellectual property and since his father will not permit him to pack his drawings, Amil destroys them so that no one else can have them.)
- Nisha wishes Kazi would just dress the Hindu part and just say that he’s Hindu in order to remain with the family. Why doesn’t he go along with this simple solution?
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(For Kazi it would be lying and denying who he really is. He would not be standing up for his freedoms, but rather hiding in fear. This would be the opposite of freedom.)
- The family walks a dangerous road to the (Muslim) uncle’s house (the late mother’s brother). Was this risky?
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(Yes, it was risky. Papa didn’t know if he would be treated like family since his brother-in-law was Muslim and Papa was Hindu.)
- Before entering the uncle’s house, Nisha is held at knife point by a man whose family had been killed by Hindus. How does this situation resolve?
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(Amil warns the stranger that Papa and uncle are coming with guns to protect them. This was quick thinking, since it wasn’t true, but did the trick. Papa, seeing how distraught this man is in his grief, forgives him, quoting Gandhi, “An eye for and eye makes the whole world blind.”
- Why does the uncle lead such a private life?
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(Rashid Uncle has a cleft lip and is self-conscious about people staring at him.)
- Is Nisha wrong to make friends with the girl in the back yard?
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(Obviously, the grave danger is the fact they are on territory that is now exclusively Muslim (Papa is Hindu, the children are half Hindu and half Muslim). There is no danger in making friends, but there is real danger in being discovered by anyone who opposes the Hindu half, which is entirely likely to lead to violence. It’s not fair to Nisha, but this is their new reality.)
- They manage to board a train to cross the border to safety. Does all go smoothly?
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(No. Nisha witnesses much suffering, grief, and violent death. These factors combined with her own personal losses become overwhelming for her. She begins making plans to run away from all of this ugliness.)
- Eventually they reach their destiny and live in a humble one-room flat across the border of safety. Nisha has always experienced difficulty speaking aloud and now does not speak at all. What happens to break this spell?
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(Kazi finds his way to them and decides to stay with them forever. Also, Nisha meets a nice girl at school who would like to be friends, and seems quite patient about Nisha’s condition.)