Sexual Identity
Aftab is born as a hermaphrodite, but has inclination towards effeminate side of his personality. Since, he is the first ‘boy’ of the house, his parents decide to get him treatment to prevent his female characteristics to take over. When he leaves their house to join the gharana of hijras, a band of transgender people notorious for extorting money in return for their blessings, his father ostracize him. He is ignored thereafter. After being accepted, he faces a humiliating prospect when he comes in his sleep soiling his sari. He is ashamed for having a penis and decides to have a surgery to get a vagina. A quack doctor performs the surgery to remove the penis, but the vagina he creates doesn’t work, and Aftab, after becoming Anjum, realizes that can’t orgasm anymore. Finally, she realizes that other people had been controlling her sexual identity which leads the inner conflict in her.
Religious Intolerence
The novel is based against a backdrop where different religions frequently clash against each other, particularly the 2002 Gujrat riots and the 1990 Kashmir insurgency. Arundhati Roy doesn’t go into the detail of these events but focuses on the aftermath as if to point out that root of the problem doesn’t negate the outcome, or vice versa. The religious tension becomes a key in many of the events that occur later in the book
Struggle to fit with the normal
All the major characters in the book, Anjum, Tilo, Musa, are trying to find a place where they would be considered normal. Anjum, who is a transgender feels emotionally drained and conflicted due to lack of love in her life. Tilo feels slighted by her mother who refuses to acknowledge Tilo as her biological daughter, Musa tries to live life like a normal person but is conflicted due to empathy with Kashmiri terrorists. None of these characters feel that they belong in the world they live in and strive to find a place where they can be accepted and happy.
Identity Crisis
Another theme in the book is the identity crisis that almost all characters feel in some way. Anjum is conflicted due to her status as a transgender which is not considered respectable in India. Musa becomes sympathetic towards the Kashmiri people fighting for freedom, which is branded as terrorism by the state government. He is named as a terrorist, but believes himself to be a freedom fighter. Tilo becomes embroiled with him as she is caught harboring an enemy of the state, which is technically a seditious activity.
Freedom
While the theme of freedom is more apparent in later part of novel, where Musa is literally fighting for freedom in Kashmir, it is also an important part of Anjum’s life who wants to be free of Duniya’s rules for being in world, which is the reason why she left her gharana of hijras, to live in a graveyard where wouldn’t have to follow anyone’s rules. Tilo strives to be free of a marriage of convenience which she agrees only to thwart suspicion for being friends with a terrorist.
