Day 2

The Night Diary

 Let’s talk about the story!
● Nisha is 12 and writing in a diary that Kazi had given her to
keep her thoughts as the events about to happen unfold
● Amil can’t read well because “the words jump around the
page”
● Papa doesn’t treat Amil the same way he treats Nisha because
he gets frustrated with Amil
● Nisha is close to Kazi. She loves cooking with him
● Nisha likes to write instead of speak because if she gets it 2
 Let’s talk about the story!
● Nisha is confused about the idea of partition and the way people
want to separate Hindus and Muslims
● Nisha’s mother was Muslim and her father is Hindu
● Kazi tells Nisha about how brave her parents were because their
families were against the marriage. Their friends married them
in secret and then they moved away
● Nisha begins to think of people as the religion they practiced
because of the way things change. Children start fighting each
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Big questions
✔ What do you think motivates Nisha to write to her mother
in her diary?
✔ Why do you think it is easier for Nisha to write her
thoughts than speak them?
✔ Why do you think that Amil struggles in school so much?
Why does this affect his relationship with Papa, do you
think?
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Words for question #12
✔ Pakistan
✔ Jinnah
✔ Independence
✔ Nehru
✔ India
✔ British
✔ Lord Mountbatten
✔ Gandhi
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Fun facts: Meaning behind the
names
✔ Do some Googling--what do the following character names
mean in Hindi?
○ Amil
○ Nisha
✔ Kazi is Muslim, so look his name up in Urdu, the national
language in Pakistan!
✔ Note that Hindi and Urdu are very, very similar languages.
They are mutually intelligible, share 70-80% of their
vocabulary, and have the same grammatical structure, but they 6
Hindi and Urdu in conversation
https://artsci.wustl.edu/ampersand/hindi-and-urdu-conversatio
n

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The role of food
✔ In the interview we watched with Veera Hiranandani, she
said that food is a way for Nisha to express herself
without having to talk.
✔ Looking through the pages you have read so far, how does
Nisha use food to express herself and communicate her
feelings?
✔ Continue to keep an eye out for this as you are reading!
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Some historical characters (p.
15)
✔ Jinnah
✔ Nehru
✔ Lord Mountbatten
✔ Gandhi

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Muhammad Ali Jinnah
✔ Attorney and founder of the All-India Muslim League
✔ Key leader in the All-India Home Rule League
✔ Originally a huge proponent of Hindu-Muslim unity
✔ Later said that because there were so many less Muslims
in India, they were treated unfairly and should have their
own country.
✔ Became the first leader of Pakistan.
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Jawaharlal Nehru
✔ First Prime Minister of India after Independence
✔ Called for Indian independence from Britain
✔ Pushed for a modern, democratic India
✔ His birthday is still celebrated as Children’s Day in India

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Lord Mountbatten
✔ British Naval commander in WW2
✔ Oversaw the Partition of British India
✔ Wanted a quick withdrawal from India, partially because he
feared civil war in India and partially because he was eager to
return to the Navy.
✔ Preferred the idea of a united India and liked Nehru, but
couldn’t get Jinnah to agree so he gave up and allowed
Partition.
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Mohandas Gandhi
✔ Leading proponent of nonviolent resistance, which he used to force the British
out of India. His nonviolent methods inspired MLK!
✔ Before Partition, led nationwide nonviolent campaigns against poverty and the
caste system (particularly attacking the idea of “untouchables”), and fighting for
women’s rights.
✔ Undertook hunger strikes during Partition to protest religious violence and
opposed a divided India.
✔ Was assassinated in 1948 by a Hindu nationalist who thought he was too nice to
Pakistan.
✔ His birthday is a national holiday in India, and he is often called “Bapu”, which
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means “father” in his native Gujarati.