Free Salt and Saffron by Kamila Shamsie Page B

didn’t mention the first pair. You want to hear about them?’
    â€˜I want to hear. Anything. Just keep talking.’
    I had heard their story for the first time at Baji’s flat that morning, between the time Samia first pointed out the starson the family tree and Rehana Apa mentioned the not-quites who cost us the Taj Mahal. So perhaps I should have mentioned it earlier, but I think you’ll agree it fits in better here.
    Cast your mind back to Baji’s crowded flat and the unrolling of the family tree.
    â€˜Hang on just a little tiny minute,’ Samia said. ‘Who’re these two miscreants?’ Right at the top of the page beside the name Nur-ul-Jahan, the founder of Dard-e-Dil, victor of the Battle of Surkh Khait, were the names of his two wives, Kulsoom and Shahrukh. Their names were starred.
    Kulsoom I knew. Her father, Qadiruddin Shah, fought alongside Nur-ul-Jahan during the Battle of Surkh Khait in 1423. There is nothing original in Qadiruddin’s story. Scion of an old royal line from Persia, Qadiruddin dreamt of restoring his family to its former debauchery, but lacked the means and the ability to do so. In the Central Asian marauder, Nur-ul-Jahan, Qadiruddin saw, as his memoirs report, ‘a man so high in ambition that he would tear out his own liver and eat it to secure advancement’. Which means, I suppose, that Nur-ul-Jahan had ability, while Qadiruddin had only the knack of recognizing ability in others. Determined to tie his fortunes to those of Nur-ul-Jahan, Qadiruddin presented himself to Nur in the ceremonial garb of the kings of Persia and, by his own account, so impressed the hardened military man with his manner and deportment that, within minutes of their introduction, Nur-ul-Jahan offered Qadiruddin the position of advisor. (Many of my relatives find this account somewhat suspect, since Nur-ul-Jahan was from the royal and cultured Timurid line and was hardly likely to be taken in by some old Persian robes. It is true, however, that his grandmother,Tamburlaine’s daughter, was married off to a man known more for his warmongering than for his finesse, and it was in this man’s tribe that Nur-ul-Jahan grew up. It is also true that Nur-ul-Jahan had many many advisors.)
    After the Battle of Surkh Khait and the little skirmishes that followed, a marriage was arranged between Qadiruddin’s daughter, Kulsoom, and the new ruler, Nur-ul-Jahan of Dard-e-Dil (no one knows why he chose that name for his realm). Shortly after providing the new royal family with an impeccable Persian lineage to add to their somewhat diffused Timurid blood, Qadiruddin was poisoned.
    I had heard enough stories of Nur-ul-Jahan to know the name of his wife, so when Samia pointed out the starred names on the family tree I recognized immediately the name of Qadiruddin’s daughter, Kulsoom. But her not-quite-twin, this Shahrukh character, I had never heard of.
    Baji laughed at Samia’s and my confusion. ‘Poor Shahrukh! Exiled to the fringes of history.’ She leant back in her chair and smiled, and I knew from her expression (such a familiar expression! I’d seen it often enough on Dadi’s face) that she was about to tell a wonderful story. ‘Qadiruddin’s wife had died in childbirth and the baby, Kulsoom, was suckled by a wet-nurse. This wet-nurse had a daughter, Shahrukh, born the same day as Kulsoom. They say Shahrukh’s father was Qadiruddin’s brother, but this may just be a rumour born of the fact that Kulsoom and Shahrukh were twinned in appearance, voice and mannerism. Qadiruddin himself could not tell them apart. Now, after the marriage of Nur-ul-Jahan and Kulsoom, Qadiruddin’s enemies told Nur that Qadiruddin had sworn he would nevertaint his own bloodline with that of a barbaric marauder, and so he had given Shahrukh – illegitimate daughter of a wet-nurse – to Nur in marriage.’
    â€˜That’s why Nur poisoned