Bade Pasha like the mothers of brides from other elite Muslim houses of that time would send two women along with the bride. One of them, Khaiser Bee was elderly and in charge of looking after the bride's needs …. The other, Champa, was young, frisky and ugly. She would serve, amongst other duties, as stand-in for her mistress on days she was not available to the master. It was the usual arrangement. .... As Khalajaan often said, “She never betrayed me to the very end and nor did Champa.
I wondered what there was to betray but did not deem it important enough to ask her." Champa never had to stand in for Khalajaan as her husband had no need of her, or his wife for that matter. Her life is almost entirely unremarked on beyond her mistress' appreciation of her loyalty. The book provides a fascinating insight into the lives of the Muslim aristocracy of the erstwhile state of Hyderabad, of how they coped (or didn't) after the state became a part of India.