Character List

The Crooked Line

Ismat Chughtai

Kinship Terms:

Amma: mother

Abba: father

Apa: elder sister

Bhai/Bhaya: brother; also cousin

Khala: maternal aunt (mother’s sister)

Mamun: maternal uncle (mother’s brother)

Chacha: paternal uncle (father’s younger brother)

Chachi: wife of Chacha

Nani: maternal grandmother

Dadi: paternal grandmother

Bara/Bare/Bari: big (for elder sister, elder brother etc)

Manjhle: middle
Chota/Chote/Choti: little (for younger)

Character List:

1^st half of the novel: Pg 1-183:

In alphabetical order (for easy reference):

Abbas: Shaman’s cousin (son of Shaman’s father’s younger brother), for whom competition breaks out for marriage (109-115)

Ajju: aka Ejaz, see Ejaz

Alma: Shaman’s Christian friend (first appears 121) in the missionary college

Bari Apa: the eldest of Shaman’s sisters

Bilquis: Shaman’s friend at primary school, the sister of the principal

Miss Charan: Shaman’s beloved teacher at her first school

Ejaz: Shaman’s cousin to whom she was sort of engaged in childhood (102-108); returns later (148, 156)

Iftikhar: Alma’s friend (first appears 128), with whom Shaman is to be have a very interesting friendship (see 173-178)

Jalees: Bilquis’ sister

Manjhu: another of Shaman’s elder sisters

Miss Mumtaz: Shaman’s first teacher at school, whom she hates

Najma: Shaman’s friend at primary school, for whom Shaman has great affection

Narendar: brother of Prema, friend from mission school, who declares he loves Shaman

Naseema: the daughter of a navab (noble) who attends Shaman’s school for a period (with her sister Cuckoo)

Noori: Shaman’s niece, the daughter of Bari Apa

Peena: the sweeper’s daughter, who eats dirt with Shaman

Prema: Shaman’s (Hindu) friend in the mission school, daughter of Rai sahib, sister of Narendar (who declares love to Shaman)

Rai Sahib: father of Prema, to whom Shaman declares love

Rashid1: cousin of Bari Apa’s late husband, a doctor who treats Bari Apa’s “seizures” (44)

Rashid2: brother of Bilquis, with whom Shaman has flirtation

Rasul Fatima: Shaman’s roommate at her first school, her “devotee” whom Shaman locks in the prayer-room

Saadat: Shaman’s roommate after Rasul Fatima, a good friend of Najma

Satil: another political activist, always debates Alma, but for whom Alma has strange feelings (163)

Shaman: the main character

Unna: Shaman’s wet-nurse