Summary

Not long after a quarrel between his mother Bipti and his father Raghu has sent Bipti to her own mother’s house, Mr. Biswas is born around midnight, “in the wrong way,” and with an extra finger. His grandmother, lamenting the fact that she is doomed to have bad luck, immediately takes steps to prevent evil spirits from entering the house, but the midwife says that no matter what they do, the boy will “eat up” his own parents. The next morning a pundit comes to name the child and cast his horoscope; he predicts that the boy will grow up having some undesirable qualities as well as an unlucky sneeze. The pundit prescribes some rituals that the family must perform to help ward off the bad luck, including keeping the father away for twenty-one days. He also advises them to keep the child away from...