How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Please believe that I am falling apart. I am not speaking metaphorically; nor is this the opening gambit of some melodramatic, riddling, grubby appeal for pity. [...] In short, I am literally disintegrating, slowly for the moment, although there are signs of acceleration. I ask you only to accept (as I have accepted) that I shall eventually crumble into (approximately) six hundred and thirty million particles of anonymous, and necessarily oblivious dust. (1.3.1)
Yeah, you can probably guess from this early quote that facts and the truth are not exactly defined in this novel the same way that we're used to defining them. Is Saleem really falling apart? The doctor who examined him doesn't think so, and neither do Padma or Mary. Who's right? What's true?
Quote #2
Facts: Abdullah had plenty of enemies. The British attitude to him was always ambiguous. Brigadier Dodson hadn't wanted him in town. There was a knock on the door and Nadir answered it. Six new moons came into the room, six crescent knives held by men dressed all in black, with covered faces. Two men held Nadir while the others moved towards the Hummingbird. (1.3.35)
Saleem gives us lots of "facts." There are numbers, detailed descriptions, all the stuff you'd expect from a fact. But it's obvious that he's constructing a myth for Mian Abdullah.
Quote #3
Dogs? Assassins?... If you don't believe me, check. Find out about Mian Abdullah and his Convocations. Discover how we've swept his story under the carpet... then let me tell how Nadir Khan, his lieutenant, spent three years under my family's rugs. (1.3.39)
It's kind of funny how Saleem challenges us to find out the facts about his mythical political leader.