Summary

The fourth section of The Night Diary begins with Nisha’s letter to her mother on August 21, 1947 and ends with her letter on August 31, 1947. Because of Amil’s slip-up with the water, everyone is severely dehydrated, and all Nisha can think about is her body’s aching need for water. As they keep moving forward, they hope to come across a village with a well. Yet, when they do find a village, many other people migrating towards the border with the ‘new’ India are also there, and fights break out over who can get some of the precious liquid for their family. Nisha realizes others, like them, are fighting for survival.

The family then camps out under a tree near the village and eats mangoes to hydrate their bodies, but Amil vomits his. He is in the worst shape of all of them, so...