Part 2 Chapter 5 Summary

Until things quiet down in Karachi, Bilquìs sleeps in a cavernous dormitory with 39 female Hyders under the supervision of tiny old Bariamma. The women lie awake, waiting for conjugal visits from the "forty thieves." This is the "old village way" of dealing with the shame of sex, which marriage does not remove. All conceptions are, thus, immaculate and all births virginal. Bilquìs' dormitory neighbor, 18-year old cousin Rani Humayun, soon to be wed to millionaire Iskander Harappa, decries such backward stupidity. Rani shocks Bilquìs by suggesting the dormitory is a cover-up for wife-swapping orgies. Bilquìs examines a genealogy in the family Qur'an and discovers Rani and her own deceased mother-in-law are the only female Hyders in their generation. Bilquìs' head spins, finding she has 11 legitimate uncles, at least 9 illegitimate ones and...