The Ministry of Utmost Happiness: Building Paradise in a Graveyard.

This flipped learning activity was assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad to enhance students’ understanding of the novel, and to help them critically analyse, refine, and synthesise its themes, narrative structure, and symbols through the guided use of digital resources and AI-assisted tools.

Click Here : Worksheet 

Video 1 : Part 1- Khwabgah

This video focuses on Anjum’s transition and the concept of the Jannat Guest House.

      

• Character Backstory (Anjum/Aftab):

Anjum was born as Aftab with both male and female genitals. Her mother, Jahanara Begum, initially hid this from the family, hoping the female genitals would "seal off" naturally. Upon realizing the truth, Jahanara's reactions ranged from suicidal contemplation to a deep, protective love for her child, whom she saw as existing "between worlds". At age 14 or 15, Aftab chose to live at the Khwabgah (a house for hijras) as Anjum. After surviving the 2002 Gujarat riots, where she witnessed the death of her companion Zakir Miyan, Anjum moved to a graveyard to establish the Jannat Guest House.

• Specific Symbols:

◦ The Graveyard/Jannat: Represents a "paradise" where death and life coexist and where those rejected by society (the "everything and nothing") are invited.

◦ Old Birds/Vultures: The opening question "where do old birds go to die?" introduces a surreal, magical-realist environment where birds and trees represent the displacement of the marginalised.

◦ Language: The lack of gender-neutral terms in Urdu signifies how identities like Anjum's are forced to live "outside language"

Video 2: Part 2 | Jantar Mantar

This segment addresses political corruption and the characters found at the Jantar Mantar protest site.

• Character Backstory (Saddam Hussain/Dayachand):

Born a Dalit (Chamar) in Haryana, he witnessed his father being lynched by a mob while skinning a dead cow. He adopted the name "Saddam Hussain" after being moved by the dignity the Iraqi president showed during his execution on television. He worked in a hospital mortuary, handling unclaimed bodies of the poor.

• Specific Symbols:

◦ Jantar Mantar: A symbolic "parliament" for the powerless where various protests (Kashmiri mothers, Bhopal gas victims, anti-corruption activists) gather.

◦ The Baby: A newly born baby found abandoned at the protest site serves as the catalyst that eventually links the novel's disparate storylines.

Video 3: Part 3 | Kashmir

This video covers the insurgency in Kashmir and the primary connection between the characters.

• Character Backstory (Tilo/Tilottama):

An architect and set designer who acts as the central link for all characters; she is described as a semi-autobiographical reflection of Roy herself.

• Character Backstory (Musa/Commander Gulrez):

A former architecture student whose wife, Arifa, and daughter, Miss Jebeen, were killed by a single bullet during a security encounter while they were in a garden. This tragedy led him to become a militant leader.

• Character Backstory (Revathy):

A Maoist guerrilla fighter who was gang-raped by six police officers. She is the biological mother of the baby found at Jantar Mantar (Udaya Jebeen).

• Character Backstory (Captain Amrit Singh):

A cruel army officer responsible for the death and torture of human rights lawyer Jalal Qadri. He eventually fled to California, where he killed his family and himself out of madness and fear of retaliation.

Video 4: Part 4 | Udaya Jebeen

The final narrative part explores resilience and how the characters' lives are "stitched" together.

• Character/Plot Detail:

The baby, renamed Udaya Jebeen (Miss Jebeen the Second), is described as having "six fathers and three mothers"—referring to her biological parents, her rapists, and her adoptive mothers, Anjum and Tilo.

• Specific Symbols:

◦ The Dung Beetle (Guih Kyong): A vital symbol appearing at the end of the novel, representing resilience and hope in the face of absolute destruction.

◦ The "Jannat Express": A dark, cynical joke used by military personnel to refer to the killing of militants as "facilitating their journeys to heaven".

 Video 5: Thematic Study

 

This video reviews major philosophical themes.

• Nature of Paradise:

The novel suggests paradise is not an afterlife but a harmonious coexistence achieved on earth through struggle and inclusivity.

• The Cost of Modernisation:

Explores how rapid development leads to land grabbing and the displacement of the poor, metaphorically illustrated by the death of vultures due to modern dairy chemicals.

  Video 6: Symbols and Motifs

This video identifies 11 core symbols within the text.

• Sarmad:

A saint executed for heresy, representing love that transcends religious and social boundaries.

• The Movie Theatre (Shiraz Cinema):

A symbol of military imperialism; it was shut down by militants and converted by the army into an interrogation centre.

• Bharat Mata:

Contrasts the biological motherhood of Anjum and Tilo with the aggressive nationalist concept of "Mother India" used to justify violence.

• Internal Organs:

Roy uses the image of organs (like a liver fighting a spleen) to symbolise the internal trauma and fragmented identities of her characters.

PHASE 2: AI-ASSISTED WORKSHEET ACTIVITIES 

   

The narrative structure of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

The narrative structure of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is deliberately “shattered.” Instead of following a straight, chronological storyline, Arundhati Roy uses a fragmented and non-linear narrative to reflect the deep trauma and broken lives of her characters. The story moves back and forth across time, places, and perspectives, showing how trauma disturbs the natural flow of life and memory. This fragmented structure is not accidental. Roy suggests that a shattered story can only be told by “slowly becoming everything,” by including multiple voices, experiences, and histories that cannot fit into a single, unified narrative.

Anjum: From Khwabgah to the Graveyard (Jannat)

Anjum’s movement from the Khwabgah in Old Delhi to a graveyard clearly reflects her psychological trauma and fragmented identity. Born as Aftab, Anjum initially finds belonging in the Khwabgah, a traditional home for the hijra community. However, her life is deeply affected by the 2002 Gujarat riots, during which she witnesses the brutal killing of her companion, Zakir Miyan. This traumatic experience causes a permanent rupture in her sense of self.

After the riots, Anjum becomes completely withdrawn from worldly life. She loses interest in the glamour, music, and social life she once enjoyed. Her decision to move into a graveyard near a hospital mortuary and establish the Jannat Guest House symbolises her rejection of the “dunya” (the everyday world). By building her home among graves, she creates a space where life and death coexist. This fragmented physical space mirrors her fragmented identity—an existence that lies outside social norms, language, and fixed gender categories.

The Kashmir Narrative: Tilo’s Fragmented Presence

Tilottama (Tilo) represents the shattered narrative form through her incomplete and scattered presence in the novel. Her story is not told directly or continuously. Instead, it is revealed through different sources such as Biplab’s narration, letters, official records, and police files. This broken method of storytelling reflects the larger political and emotional trauma of the Kashmir conflict.

Although Tilo connects all major characters, she often appears indirectly, almost like a shadow or a memory in other people’s accounts. As a set designer and architect, she exists on the margins, quietly observing the political “theatre” around her. The use of fragmented documents—especially Revathy’s long and painful letter—shows that experiences of violence, displacement, and loss cannot be neatly arranged into a single story. Tilo’s fragmented life reflects a nation where history itself is broken, particularly in Kashmir, where disappearances and violence have destroyed the continuity of people’s lives.

The Baby as a Connector: “Becoming Everything”

The abandoned baby found at Jantar Mantar, later named Udaya Jebeen, acts as the key element that connects the novel’s scattered narratives. Her origin is deeply traumatic: she is the child of Revathy, a Maoist guerrilla who was gang-raped by six police officers. This violence lies at the heart of the baby’s existence.

Despite this painful beginning, the baby becomes a symbol of connection and hope. She is described as having “six fathers and three mothers,” referring to her biological parents, her rapists, and her adoptive mothers, Anjum and Tilo. Through this unusual and inclusive form of motherhood, Roy brings together different strands of the novel—gender identity, caste violence, state brutality, and political conflict. The baby unites the graveyard, Kashmir, and revolutionary forests into a single emotional centre. Through her, the novel shows that resilience and hope do not come from a neat, unified story, but from the coexistence of broken, discarded, and marginalised lives.

ACTIVITY B: Mapping the Conflict

(Mind Mapping using NotebookLM)

    

Central Node: Jannat (Paradise) Redefined

In the novel, “Jannat” is transformed from a religious idea of heaven after death into a real, physical space meant for the “living dead”—people pushed to the margins because of gender, caste, and political violence. It is not a place only for the dead, but a “utopian bubble” where those considered “everything and nothing” by society can live together peacefully, outside the world of the “Dunya” (the everyday social world).

Branch 1: Anjum (The Graveyard & Gender Identity)

• Backstory & Geography:

Born as Aftab, Anjum moves from the Khwabgah (the house of dreams) to a graveyard in Old Delhi after surviving the 2002 Gujarat riots.

• Marginalisation:

As a hijra, Anjum exists “outside language” because traditional gendered language in Urdu and English does not provide space for her identity.

• Redefinition of Jannat:

Anjum establishes the Jannat Guest House by building rooms around graves. She welcomes all those rejected by society, transforming a place associated with death into a space of “utmost happiness,” care, and inclusive motherhood, especially for her adopted daughter, Zainab.

Branch 2: Saddam Hussain (The Mortuary & Caste Violence)

• Backstory & Geography:

Born as Dayachand, a Dalit (Chamar) from Haryana, Saddam witnessed his father being lynched by a mob in the name of “cow protection.”

• Connection to the Dead:

He worked in a hospital mortuary, handling the unclaimed bodies of the poor—people whom society refuses to recognise even after death.

• Redefinition of Jannat:

Saddam joins Anjum in the graveyard, searching for a space where his caste identity does not lead to violence. For him, Jannat becomes a place of dignity and emotional healing, where he can move beyond the trauma of his father’s death and create a new family by marrying Zainab.

Branch 3: Tilo (Kashmir, Architecture, & the Shattered Story)

• Backstory & Geography:

Tilo is an architect and set designer who moves between protest spaces like Jantar Mantar and the conflict-ridden Kashmir Valley.

• The Connector:

Tilo acts as the “stitch” that links different forms of trauma. She carries the “shattered stories” of the nation, including the Kashmir insurgency through Musa and the Maoist struggle through Revathy.

• Redefinition of Jannat:

Tilo brings Udaya Jebeen—the baby found at Jantar Mantar—to the Jannat Guest House. Through this act, she helps build a new kind of “paradise” that accepts the nation’s most painful and violent truths, showing that a shattered story can only be told by “slowly becoming everything.”

Key Connections (The Mind Map “Stitches”)

   

     

1. The “Living Dead”:
   All three characters survive forms of social or state violence that destroy their earlier identities—Aftab, Dayachand, and Tilo’s former life in Delhi.

2. Shared Geography of Resistance:
   Their journeys intersect at Jantar Mantar, a symbolic “parliament” for the powerless, and eventually lead them to the Graveyard, which functions as an alternative social space where the state has failed.

3. Inclusive Motherhood:
   The baby, Udaya Jebeen, connects all the characters. With “six fathers and three mothers,” she represents collective survival and resilience that goes beyond biological and social boundaries.

4. Resilience against Modernisation:
   While the external world (“Dunya”) pursues modernisation by pushing aside the poor and the “unclean,” the Jannat Guest House protects and preserves them. It becomes a symbol of hope and survival, similar to the dung beetle (Guih Kyong) that appears at the end of the novel.

Activity C: Automated Timeline & Character Arcs (Auto-mode with

Comet)

Activity C: Automated Timeline & Character Arcs (Auto-mode with Comet)

1. The Journey of Anjum (Aftab)

        

• Birth as Aftab:

Anjum is born as Aftab in Old Delhi with both male and female genitals. Her mother, Jahanara Begum, initially hides this truth from the family, hoping that the female genitals would “seal off” naturally with time.

• Discovery and Reaction:

When Jahanara realises that Aftab’s condition is permanent, she goes through deep emotional shock. Her response ranges from thoughts of suicide to the painful understanding that her child belongs to a “new world” that lies outside existing gendered language.

• Discovery of the Khwabgah:

As a teenager, Aftab follows a hijra named “Bombay Silk” and comes across the Khwabgah, also known as the House of Dreams.

• Transition to Anjum:

At the age of 14 or 15, Aftab moves permanently into the Khwabgah and chooses to live as Anjum. She becomes a successful and well-known member of the hijra community, attracting clients as well as research scholars interested in her life.

• Motherhood through Zainab:

Anjum finds a three-year-old girl named Zainab abandoned on the steps of Jama Masjid. She adopts the child in order to fulfil her deep desire to become a mother.

• Trauma in Gujarat (2002):

Anjum travels to Ajmer Sharif with her elderly companion, Zakir Miyan, during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Zakir Miyan is brutally killed by a violent mob, while Anjum survives only because the attackers believe that killing a hijra would bring bad luck.

• Withdrawal and Displacement:

After returning to the Khwabgah, Anjum is completely changed by trauma. She loses interest in her earlier glamorous life, begins wearing a pathani suit (male clothing), and eventually leaves the hijra community altogether.

• The Graveyard (Jannat):

Anjum moves to a graveyard located near a government hospital mortuary. There, she builds the Jannat Guest House, with rooms constructed directly around graves. This space becomes a sanctuary for people rejected by the “Dunya” (the world).

2. The Journey of Saddam Hussain (Dayachand)

        

Activity  D:  The  "Audio/Video"  Synthesis  (Multimedia  with NotebookLM) Context• Birth and Early Life:

Saddam Hussain is born as Dayachand into a Dalit (Chamar) family in Haryana.

• The Lynching:

He witnesses his father being lynched by a “Jai Shri Ram gang” while skinning a dead cow. The mob falsely accuses them of killing the cow. Dayachand escapes and runs away, carrying a strong desire for revenge against the police officer, Sehrawat, who allowed the murder to happen.

• Adopting the Name:

While living in Delhi, Dayachand watches the execution of the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussain, on television. He is deeply moved by the man’s dignity while facing death and his resistance to American power. Inspired by this, he adopts the name “Saddam Hussain” as an act of self-empowerment and defiance.

• Life on the Margins:

He works in a hospital mortuary, handling the unclaimed bodies of poor people. Later, he takes up work as a security guard, where he faces systemic exploitation as agency owners take 60% of his wages.

• Meeting Anjum:

Saddam meets Anjum at the graveyard. Although Anjum is initially angry that he used a “false” Muslim name, she accepts him after learning about his experience of caste violence.

• Integration:

Saddam becomes a permanent member of the “Ministry” at the Jannat Guest House and eventually marries Anjum’s adopted daughter, Zainab.

3. Chronological Overview of Key Events

          

1. Early Years: Birth of Aftab; birth of Dayachand.

2. Trauma of Dayachand: The lynching of Dayachand’s father in Haryana.

3. Transition of Aftab: Aftab moves to the Khwabgah and becomes Anjum.

4. Adoption: Anjum finds and adopts Zainab.

5. 2002 Riots: The Gujarat riots take place; Zakir Miyan is killed and Anjum is traumatised.

6. Displacement: Anjum moves to the graveyard.

7. Name Change: The execution of the real Saddam Hussein; Dayachand adopts the name “Saddam Hussain.”

8. The Meeting: Saddam Hussain meets Anjum and joins the Jannat Guest House community.

9. 2011 Protests: Protests at Jantar Mantar (Anna Hazare movement); Anjum and Saddam participate.

10. The Connector: A baby named Udaya Jebeen is found at Jantar Mantar and later brought to the Jannat Guest House by Tilottama.

Verification of Motivations

According to the sources, Saddam Hussain’s decision to change his name is a conscious act of defiance and self-identity formation. He is deeply impressed by the dignity shown by the Iraqi president during his execution and sees him as someone who challenged the power of America. By choosing this name, Saddam aligns himself with a figure who resisted a powerful global force, which reflects his own struggle against local forms of oppression such as caste discrimination and police violence. As the sources note, adopting a Muslim name in the present political climate is an unusual and risky choice, making it an act of curiosity, resistance, and rebellion rather than convenience.

Activity D: The "Audio/Video" Synthesis (Multimedia with NotebookLM) Context :

     

The Cost of Modernisation: Resilience Beyond the Dunya

Video Lecture: Cost of Modernisation in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness | Dunya vs Inner World

       

In The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Arundhati Roy presents modernisation as a force that creates exclusion rather than progress. The novel contrasts the Dunya—the external world of development, riots, and economic priorities—with the inner lives of characters who carry this violence within themselves. Riots and wars are not just political events; they become internal wounds that shape fractured identities.

Roy exposes the cost of modernisation through the extinction of vultures, killed by chemicals used in modern dairy practices. Their disappearance symbolises how development erases what is considered unclean or unproductive, mirroring the fate of marginalised communities pushed out of social visibility.

Against this destructive logic, the Graveyard or Jannat Guest House emerges as an alternative space. Though associated with death, it becomes a site of inclusive living where the “living dead”—the rejected and displaced—can coexist with dignity. Jannat exists outside the values of the Dunya, rejecting its hierarchies and exclusions.

Resilience within this space is embodied by the Dung Beetle (Guih Kyong). Small and overlooked, it survives amidst decay, symbolising hope in neglected corners of society. Roy suggests that survival and the future lie not in grand narratives of progress, but in endurance, care, and coexistence.

Thus, while the novel tells a shattered story, it ultimately affirms that resilience is found by embracing what modernisation tries to discard.

Conclusion: Hope in a Shattered World

The ending of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness offers a powerful reflection on survival and endurance in the midst of extreme violence and social fragmentation. This conclusion is shaped mainly through two elements: Revathy’s letter and the symbol of the dung beetle, both of which suggest that hope can persist even in the darkest conditions.

The final section of the novel is marked by Revathy’s long, nine-page letter. Revathy, a Maoist guerrilla fighter, has endured severe trauma—she is gang-raped by six police officers and later gives birth to a child whom she leaves at Jantar Mantar in order to continue her struggle in the forest. In the letter, she admits that she does not know which of the six men is the biological father of her child. As a result, the baby is described as having “six fathers and three mothers,” including Revathy herself and her adoptive mothers, Anjum and Tilottama (Tilo). This letter functions as a final farewell and becomes the last “stitch” that binds together the novel’s fragmented narratives of gender identity, political resistance, and social marginalisation.

Alongside this letter, the novel closes with the image of the dung beetle (Guih Kyong). Though small, overlooked, and associated with dirt, the dung beetle continues its work quietly in the ruined landscape of the Dunya (the world). Its presence suggests that resilience and survival do not belong to the powerful or the “pure,” but to those who persist despite being ignored or discarded by society.

Viewed as a whole, the novel is ultimately not hopeless. Although it presents a deeply “shattered” picture of contemporary India shaped by riots, insurgency, and state violence, it consistently affirms resilience. Even within the Jannat Guest House—a space built among graves—the characters manage to create a small but meaningful world based on care, coexistence, and acceptance.

The presence of the child, Udaya Jebeen, represents the possibility of a future beyond inherited trauma and rigid social divisions. The act of continuing life, forming inclusive families, and accepting difference becomes an act of hope in itself. By choosing coexistence over destruction, the residents of the graveyard demonstrate that a peaceful and inclusive life is possible, even for those considered the “living dead” by the outside world.

In conclusion, while The Ministry of Utmost Happiness depicts a fractured and painful social reality, its ending affirms a quiet but persistent hope found in resilience, shared survival, and the marginal spaces where life continues to grow.

References :

Barad, Dilip. “Flipped Learning Worksheet on The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.” ResearchGate, Jan. 2026,

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/399801292FlippedLearningWorksheetonTheMinistryofUtmost_Happiness.

DoE-MKBU. “Part 1 | Khwabgah | The Ministry of Utmost Happiness | Arundhati Roy.” YouTube, 28 Dec. 2021,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-29vE53apGs.

DoE-MKBU. “Part 2 | Jantar Mantar | The Ministry of Utmost Happiness | Arundhati Roy.” YouTube, 28 Dec. 2021,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr1z1AEXPBU.

DoE-MKBU. “Part 3 | Kashmir and Dandakaranyak | The Ministry of Utmost Happiness | Arundhati Roy.” YouTube, 28 Dec. 2021,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIKH_89rML0.

DoE-MKBU. “Part 4 | Udaya Jebeen and Dung Beetle | The Ministry of Utmost Happiness | Arundhati Roy.” YouTube, 28 Dec. 2021,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH5EULOFP4g.

DoE-MKBU. “Symbols and Motifs | The Ministry of Utmost Happiness | Arundhati Roy.” YouTube, 30 Dec. 2021,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbBOqLB487U.

DoE-MKBU. “Thematic Study | The Ministry of Utmost Happiness | Arundhati Roy.” YouTube, 30 Dec. 2021,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NYSTUTBoSs.

Roy, Arundhati. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Hamish Hamilton, 2017. Accessed 22 January 2026.