This coincidence of birth has consequences he is not prepared for:telepathic powers connect him with 1,000 other 'midnight's children' all of whom are endowed with unusual gifts. Inextricably linked to his nation.

Born at the stroke of midnight at the exact moment of India's independence, Saleem Sinai is a special child. However, this coincidence of birth has consequences he is not prepared for:telepathic powers connect him with 1,000 other 'midnight's children' all of whom are endowed with unusual gifts. Inextricably linked to his nation, Saleem's story is a whirlwind of disasters and triumphs that mirrors the course of modern India at its most impossible and glorious.

Introduction

Book One

The perforated sheet

Mercurochrome

Hit-the-spittoon

Under the carpet

A public announcement

Many-headed monsters

Methwold

Tick, tock

Book Two

The fisherman's pointing finger

Snakes and ladders

Accident in a washing-chest

All-India radio

Love in Bombay

My tenth birthday

At the Pioneer Caf~

Alpha and Omega

The Kolynos Kid

Commander Sabarmati's baton

Revelations

Movements performed by pepperpots

Drainage and the desert

Jamila Singer

How Saleem achieved purity

Book Three

The buddha

In the Sundarbans

Sam and the Tiger

The shadow of the Mosque

A wedding

Midnight

Abracadabra