As explained in a news report, this is a new era for India because the British have finally ended their rule over the country. With what is happening, Pakistan is demarcated for Muslims and an unprecedented migration has started as people are crossing different borders. However, with these new changes, violence and riots broke out across the country as people fled, and to really understand what was going on, we have to go back to 1942.
It is there that we find Aisha running from a British soldier. Finally catching up to him, she turns and throws a rectangular dagger into his chest (So Aunt Ruby is right, she did kill a guy once). Aisha arrives at the center of the village to find a man outside explaining to her neighbors that this is their home and if they have to fight for it, they will. His speech is interrupted by a group of soldiers who break up the crowd and send everyone home.
Aisha wanders and finally finds a field of roses to sleep in. She is awakened by the same village man who politely asks her to stop sleeping on his roses. He asks if he can help her with anything, but Aisha is short with him and refuses any help. However, he still offers her food and a place to sleep inside by inviting her into his home. Aisha hesitates, but that evening she accepts his proposal.
The man asks if Aisha has a name or if he should just call her “hungry”. When Aisha doesn’t answer, he pushes further, noting that he knows she’s not British and not from this village, so what’s she doing here? When Aisha says she likes his roses, he begins his favorite poem: “When the soul lies in this grass, the world is too full to speak of it. What you seek seeks you…” Something in Aisha changes, she interrupts him and tells him her name, and he finally tells her his: Hassan.
Some time has passed and Aisha and Hassan are living together as a happy little family – with a baby on the way. When their child Sana is born, Ayesha spends her time caring for the little one, and Hassan notes that their newborn sees Ayesha as “magic”.
Time continues to pass and Sana begins to grow up, but with all the changes happening around them in India, Hassan is nervous about the family’s future as the separation looms. When one of their neighbors stops by, Hassan’s emotions boil as he shouts that their village is divided and no one will buy roses from him or sell milk to Aisha anymore. As the neighbor leaves and Aisha closes the door, she notices a shadowy figure outside and knows exactly who it is: Najma.
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