Interlude
Contains spoilersOverview
This interlude traces Ramy’s upbringing under Sir Horace Hayman Wilson, from prodigy to a practiced performer for English audiences. A humiliating exchange with Mr Trevelyan teaches Ramy to hide and assimilate. Taken to England, he perfects this mask but fears betrayal of self. Anthony Ribben’s return offers resistance, and Ramy immediately agrees.
Summary
Ramy is introduced as a gifted mimic with a prodigious memory, raised in the Calcutta household of Sir Horace Hayman Wilson. Immersed among English elites, he studies Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and classics, dazzling guests with feats of recall and imitation while enjoying their approval.
During a salon debate, Mr Trevelyan uses Ramy and Mr Mirza as props to argue about Indian education. Mr Mirza swallows his pride and agrees with Trevelyan’s framing, exposing to Ramy the danger behind English curiosity and the power dynamics that can humiliate and constrain them.
In 1833 Wilson departs for Oxford as the first Chair of Sanskrit and decides to take Ramy to England. Ramy’s family say goodbye at the docks; his father urges him to remember who he is and to write home, planting a lesson that survival requires concealment.
Ramy internalizes this: lie, hide, and perform the identity the English want to see. In Yorkshire and Oxford he masters code-switching, becoming an object of fascination while defusing threat. He imagines prestigious futures within empire even as he fears losing himself to the act.
By his third year, disillusioned by limited avenues for anticolonial action, Ramy is startled when Anthony Ribben returns “from the dead” and invites him to join their cause. Without hesitation, Ramy accepts, seizing a path that aligns his skills with resistance.
Who Appears
- Ramiz Rafi Mirza (Ramy)
Gifted linguist raised by Wilson; learns to hide and perform; later accepts Anthony’s invitation to resist.
- Sir Horace Hayman Wilson
Patron and employer; nurtures Ramy’s education, then takes him to England as he joins Oxford.
- Mr Trevelyan
Wilson’s guest who publicly uses Ramy and his father to argue colonial education policy.
- Mr Mirza
Ramy’s father; a learned man serving Wilson; models cautious submission and imparts the lesson to hide.
- Mrs Mirza
Ramy’s mother; bids him farewell at the docks, urging letters and prayer.
- Anthony Ribben
Returns “from the dead” and recruits Ramy to a resistance effort, which Ramy accepts.