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:
1st 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
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:
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
Shaman: the main character