Synopsis The present book is a pioneering attempt at evaluating Anita Desai's classic novel in Custody. This work in five chapters studies the bogged characters representing the past world of Urdu culture. It starts with the male/female divide and the purdah that divides the worlds of the characters, and analyses the reasons of the Urdu/Hindi, Muslim/Hindu rift of the post-Partition India. Next, the link between space and movement and the failure of the main character to be a worthy recipient of the Urdu literary tradition are revealed through a study of Anita Desai’s Poetics.