Anita Desai, In Custody

Nur did not respect the Hindi language, and when Deven offers Nur his letter of introduction, he is deeply embarrassed when Nur reads it aloud and responds sarcastically to Murad’s flowery and worshipful phrasing. When Nur asks if he teaches Urdu, Deven admits with embarrassment that he teaches Hindi in order to earn a living, but that he loves Urdu and writes in Urdu. When Nur mocks him, Deven speaks passionately about how his adored father taught him to love Urdu and its poetry.

The initial encounter between Deven and Nur is notable for several factors. First, it
develops the motif, or repeated imagery, of the tension around the co-existence of Urdu and Hindi. The tension around the languages, as portrayed here, is significant because of how it affects the Deven/Nur relationship, rather than significant because of its existence. Second, the description of the first Deven / Nur encounter is significant because it sets the stage for the developments and conflicts in that relationship throughout the remainder of the book. Third, it introduces the crowd of fans and hangers-on that eventually prove an even greater obstacle to Deven achieving his Nurrelated goals than they do here.