Salman Rushdies Midnights Children starts off with the narrator, Saleem Sinai, recollecting the events of his birth. In this first chapter (entitled The Perforated Sheet), Saleem begins by telling how he was born precisely at the stroke of midnight (Clock-hands joined palms in respectful greeting as I came.) in Doctor Narlikars Nursing Home on August 15th, 1947. More importantly, he was born at the precise instant of Indias arrival at independence. The timing of his birth was crucial since according to him, because thanks to the occult tyrannies of those blandly saluting clocks I had been mysteriously handcuffed to history, my destinies indissolubly chained to those of my country. But he says that, at present, he is running out of time. He will soon be thirty-one years old but his body was crumbling and he had no hope of saving his life. And so he must tell his stories. Not just his own but also that of the intertwined lives events miracles places rumors, so dense a commingling of the improbable and the mundane!Saleem begins by telling how his grandfather, during one Kashmiri morning in 1915, hit his nose against a frost-hardened tussock of earth while attempting to pray. The three drops of blood that fell from Dr. Aadam Azizs nose transformed into rubies. And the tears that sprung from his eyes also transformed into gems, this time it was diamonds. The moment that this happened, Aadam vowed never to never again to kiss earth for any god or man. This resolve probably came about because Aadam spent too long a time from home after his education in Germany. Saleem then goes on and describes his grandfathers appearance and that one most striking feature, his nose; nostrils flaring, curvaceous as dancers. Between them swells the noses triumphal arch, first up and out, then down and under, sweeping in to his upper lip with a superb and at present red-tipped flick. Then, on that same morning Dr. Aziz was summoned by the boatman Tai because Ghani the blind landowners daughter was sick. (Side note: Tai and Aadam used to be really tight and it was Tai who told young Aziz about the wonders of his nose. But when Aadam got back from Germany, things went awry between them maybe because Tai hated progress and all. Towards the end of his life, Tai refused to clean and bathe himself.) Back to the sick daughter. When Aziz entered the landowners house he has this weird feeling that told him to run away. Dr. Aziz was soon confused when he entered her room since all he saw was a perforated sheet. Apparently, Ghani thinks that his daughter, a proper young lady, shouldnt be gazed at while shes naked. And so, the young doctor was only allowed to inspect different parts of his patients body through holes in a white sheet. In the next chapter, Mercurochrome, Aziz first talks of Padma; She cant read and, like all fish-lovers, dislikes other people knowing anything she doesnt. Padma: strong, jolly, a consolation for my last days. But definitely a bitch-in-the-manger. Then Saleem goes on and continues to talk about his grandfather and the infamous sheet. Weirdly, through the course of many months, Naseem, Ghanis daughter seemed to have gotten sick plenty of times (but never the same illness twice). Azizs mother, who the young doctor was also taking care of, thought this was a ruse by Ghani to bring Aziz and his daughter together. Through all of the young doctors consultations, he was always only allowed to look through the perforated sheet. But, gradually Doctor Aziz came to have a picture of Naseem in his mind, a badly-fitting collage of her severally-inspected parts. This phantasm of a partitioned woman began to haunt him, and not only in his dreams. And he slowly fell in love with her. When Naseem experiences a headache (this happened when World War I ended), Aziz was finally able to see her face which and that kind of sealed the deal for Aadam. It was also during that year that Azizs father died and his mother followed after some time. His friend Ilse Lubin also came to visit him delivering news of the death of a friend. The young Dr. Aziz then received good news; Agra Uinversity has offered him a job. Breaking the news to Naseem didnt go too well since she didnt want him to leave. Aziz didnt want to leave her either, and so he proposed. On that same day, Ilse Lubin drowned herself in the lake.Aadam and Naseem got married a few months later. The dowry was quite sizeable but Dr. Aziz made one request: that the perforated sheet be included. Saleem interrupts his narration and tells of when he was young he sneaked around and found the perforated sheet and used it as a costume much to the anger of his grandparents. He is then again interrupted by Padma nagging him to eat. And he apologizes, mockingly, on making fun of the fact that Padma was named after a Dung Goddess. He then continues the story of his grandparents during the year 1919. The young couple were staying in Armistrar. It was during this time that Mahatma Gandhi called for everyone to observe a day of mourning because of the pervasive presence of the British Invaders. But this didnt go as planned, violence and riots broke out and Dr. Aziz (against his wifes protests and wishes) ventured out to treat the wounded. He used Mercurochrome and when he comes off stained with it, Naseem freaked out since it looked like he was bleeding. When military troops surrounded them, Azizs nose started to itch and just when a bullet was directly flying to his direction, he sneezes and falls to the ground thereby dodging death. More than a thousand people died at the end of that day. Saleem than interrupts his narration and says that he found a crack on his wrist. Then he proceeds and tells of how in 1947, Tai died due to being shot down by troops when he was protesting the dispute over India and Pakistan.In Hit-the-Spitoon, Saleem starts of by saying that he is falling apart. He has begun to crack all over like an old jugthat my poor body, singular, unlovely, buffeted by too much history, subjected to drainage above and drainage below, mutilated by doors, brained by spittoons, has started coming apart at the seams. Then Padma tells him to get a move on and continue with his story. (Another sidenote: Saleem cant get it up anymore despite Padmas advances.) He jumps ahead to 1943 when his grandfather contracted a highly dangerous form of optimism. And so did a lot of other people. By this time, Aadam and Naseem have moved to Agra. The former has become so imposing and formidable over the years that she has earned the name, Reverend Mother. She also calls pretty much everyone and everything by whatistsname. By this time, the couple already has five children; Alia, Mumtaz, Emerald, Hanif and Mustapha. When Aadam fires their childrens religion tutor, Naseem was beyond furious and she decreed that she will not feed his husband any longer. Things got so bad that even if other people intervened, Naseem refuses to budge. Aadam was slowly disappearing because of not eating anything and Naseem was almost resolved to let him die of hunger except she didnt want to be widowed for a mere principle. In order not to lose face, Reverend Mother pretended to fall ill and Alia finally gave her father some food. And all was right again after that, as if nothing happened.Back in 1942, Aadam met and befriended Mian Abdullah aka The Hummingbird. All this, Saleem recalls from a photograph, by the way. Abdullah just so happens to be the leader of The Free Islam Convocation who seeks to abolish the notion of a separate Muslim state. Include in the photo was Abdullahs paunchy personal secretary, Nadir Khan. Saleem then tells of Abdullahs assassination. The Hummingbird and Khan were in the University campus when they were attacked by assasins. And during all this time, Abdullah was humming and the windows shattered and one of the assassins eye cracked and fell out of its socket. Dogs came to the scene and mutilated the assasins. But the Hummingbird died still. Fortunately, Khan was able to escape and was luckily saved by his run-in with Rashid the rickshaw boy (just on his way back from the movies) in the fields. Rashid went and asked Aadam Aziz for help.That ended the optimism epidemic. In Under the Carpet, Saleem continues and tell of when Aadam went to where the assassination happened. After the hummingbirds death, Aziz took it upon himself to treat the poor. Then one day, he discovered Nadir Khan hiding in the laundry bin. He decide to offer him sanctuary. This didnt go down so well with Reverend Mother. She had a thing or two ta say about this obviously, mainly that the mans presence will corrupt her daughters. But Aadam didnt budge and Naseem vowed never to speak again.And then their life moved on, with a hidden fugitive in their basement. With daughters come suitors, and there were several for the three Aziz girls. Major Zulfikar was besoted by Emerald and Alia was getting closer to the merchant Ahmed Sinai. Mumtaz, with her dark skin, didnt have a suitor. She was the one who tended to Khan. Unexpectedly, the two fell in love and Khan asked for Mumtazs hand in marriage. They were wed secretly. Their marriage causes Mumtaz to move to the basement at night and keep up appearance upstairs during the day.Mumtaz and Khan were pretty happy but this all changed when Mumtaz falls ill. When Aadam gives her a check-up he finds out that Mumtaz remains a virgin even after two years of marriage. This causes an uproar and Naseem to break her vow of silence. Naseem of course, blames this on Aadam.Emerald runs out the house to tattle to her suitor Major Zulfy, who responds immediately. Khan runs out of the house leaving only a note that translates to, I divorce you. All this happened on the same day that the atomic bomb was dropped in Japan.Thenlife again moves on for the Azizs. Emerald goes on to marry Zulfikar. Acurious thing, however, happens at the wedding. Mumtaz and Sinai (Alias suitor) started talking. This causes wind to change since Sinai started to have a liking for Mumtaz. He abandons his pursuit of Alia and asked to marry Mumtaz instead. Mumtaz agrees and Sinai gives her a new name: Amina Sinai. They turn out to be Saleems parents. This of course, causes Alia to swear off men.In the next chapter, A Public Announcement, Saleem starts by enumerating the important events that happened in 1947. Apparently, this moment felt so still that Saleem called it an illusionist January. The he cuts off and complains about a certain doctor who disagreed with him when he said he was disintegrating. Then he continues and tells of when his parents are already living in Delhi. Like his father, Amina resolved to fall in love with her husband one bit at a time. Although, unconciously she is slowly turning her home into the basement she once lived in and turning her husband into Khan.One day, two of Ahmeds associates, came to their home just when Amina had something to announce. Apparently, they had to go to a godown that was burned by Ravana (an organization named after a demon). On the street there is this guy, Lifafa Das, who peddled with a peepbox that showed sites in India. People surrounded him, and this was this one little girl who took it upon herself to start screaming Hindu at Lifafa Das. This causes the formation of an angry mob that ran the peddler off. Fortunately for him, Amina took her in. amidst the crowds protest, Amina defended Lifafa Das. She only managed to drive the mob off by saying that if they hurt the guy, they would have to go through her and she happened to be pregnant. Lifafa Das was so thankful that in exchange for what Amina has done, he offers her a meeting with his cousin who happened to give prophecies. At the end, Saleem notes the presence of Musa, a servant, and how she will be accidentally responsible for destroying the world.In Many-headed Monsters, Saleem ponders the existence of chance. He also introduces his nanny, Maria Periara abnd his childhood stories. Then he continues his tale. Apparently, Amina was only bidding her time and planning when she would take Lifafa Das up on his offer. This opportunity presented itself when Ahmed had to head out, yet again, so he could pay the Ravana so they wouldnt burn down his godown. Amina leaves Delhi with Lifafa and where they went came somewhat as a shock to Amina. Coming from a place of privilege, she was shown a world of poverty and sickness filled with beggars. As they went on to where the seer was, she saw people with broken bones since Lifafas other cousin was some sort of bone-quack-doctor. Meanwhile, Ahmed being his usual unhappy self, delivers the money to the place agreed upon. But there were wild monkeys ravaging the place which caused Ahmed and his partners to hastily scour for their money. Then the Ravana ended up burning their warehouses. Amina was faring better than her husband, relatively speaking. When she entered the room where the seer was, she freaked out because she thought he was floating. But he wasnt really, it was just a cheap trick. Then the seer touched her belly and delivered his prophecy; A son such a son A son, Sahiba, who will never be older than his motherlandneither older nor youngerThere will be two headsbut you shall see only onethere will be knees and a nose, a nose and knees Newspapers praise him, two mothers raise him! Bicyclists love himbut, crowds will shove him! Sisters will weep; cobra will creepWashing will hide himvoices will guide him! Friends mutilate himblood will betray him! All the tragedy that struck his business caused Ahmed to move his family to Bombay where property was cheap.In the penultimate chapter of Book One, Methwold Saleem starts on his diatribe that fishermen were here first. Then he talked of history and how the British were leaving India. They met one such Englishman, William Methwold. Saleem then describes theman and his estate that belonged to Methwold. Saleems parents buys one of the four houses on the estate for a cheap price but on two conditions: hat the houses be bought complete with every last thing in them, that the entire contents be retained by the new owners; and that the actual transfer should not take place until midnight on August 15th. Amina found article in the Indian Times announcing a prize for a child that is born during midnight, at the exact moment of the independence. Of course, she wanted to win. During the course of her pregnancy, they were visited by Wee Willie Winkie, a poor singer who had already been to the estate before and whose wife was also pregnant. But, according to Saleem, the child belonged to Methwold. This came about the first time the singer and his wife visited the estate. Then Saleem, talks about Maria Periera (his nanny!), a midwife, and her relationship with Joseph DCosta who was a rebel. She would have a big role to play later. And Musa is still ticking like a time bomb.The last chapter, Tick, Tock, starts with Saleem recounting everything that compromises his inheritance. This was all the events that he has recounted so far; everything that happened to his grandparents, his parents and even those who are not his family. Everything that led to his birth on that fateful midnight. It was a long list, all those moments and all those years. Then all these events started happening, sometimes all at once and others happened one after the other. Aadam Aziz back in his house felt nostalgic and took out the perforated sheet that pretty much started it all. Wee Willie Winkis wife, Vanita, started going into labor. While Methwold and Ahmed were having cocktails. Then this holy man coms into the estate declaring, I have come to await the coming of the One. The Mubarak-He who is Blessed. It will happen very soon. As soon as the man said this, Amina started to go into labor. At the hospital, she was in a room adjacent to that of Vanita. Back in the estate, Methwold stands at the center of the compound and salutes the setting sun and throws of his wig (yes, he was wearing a wig) and then leaves after distributing the titles of his estate. Then, at the stroke of midnight Amina and Vanita both gave birth to their respective sons. The happy news causes Ahmed to drop a chair on his toe and hurt himself. But something happened amidst all this celebration, one is that Vanita died. The other is what Maria Periera switched Aminas son with that of Vanitas as a sort-of screwed-up tribute to Joseph (who, by the way, was with her sister). Saleem interjects by saying that his parents soon found out about this but they couldnt do anything about it anymore and so he was still their son. Oh, and Amina only got 100 rupees from the Indian Times.