Of White Hairs and Cricket Character Analysis

The Narrator

The story’s narrator and protagonist is a 14-year-old Parsi boy living in Bombay, India in the 1960s. He is Mummy and Daddy’s son and Percy’s younger brother. At the beginning of the story… read analysis of The Narrator

Daddy

Daddy is Mummy’s husband, Mamaiji’s son-in-law, and the narrator and Percy’s father. Daddy used to be a cricket player in school and can’t accept that his body is declining as he gets… read analysis of Daddy

Mamaiji

Mamaiji is the narrator and Percy’s grandmother, Mummy’s mother, and Daddy’s mother-in-law. Although she was once “handsome,” Mamaiji is now a very old woman with white hair, failing eyesight, and a… read analysis of Mamaiji

Mummy

Mummy is Daddy’s wife, Mamaiji and Grandpa’s daughter, and the narrator and Percy’s mother. When Mummy comes into the dining room with a plate of toast cooked over the Criterion stove in… read analysis of Mummy

Viraf

Viraf is the narrator’s best friend; they used to play cricket together on Sunday mornings. After the narrator sees Viraf and Dr Sidhwa meet outside and then go into Viraf’s flat, the narrator goes… read analysis of Viraf

Viraf’s Father

Viraf’s father is a fat, older man whom the narrator sees on his sickbed with a needle in his arm and a tube in his nose. The narrator overhears Viraf’s mother talking about how… read analysis of Viraf’s Father

Viraf’s Mother

The narrator overhears his friend Viraf’s mother talking about how she has tried for years to convince her husband (Viraf’s father) that since he is older and overweight, he needs to take… read analysis of Viraf’s Mother

Dr Sidhwa

Dr Sidhwa is the doctor who lives closest to the Firozsha Baag building complex and regularly makes house calls for sick people in the building. He is known as a pious Parsi man, and the… read analysis of Dr Sidhwa

Pesi

Pesi is one of the narrator’s friends and Dr Mody’s son. Pesi used to make the narrator laugh by talking about his father passing gas, making the narrator wish that he felt comfortable… read analysis of Pesi

Percy

Percy is the narrator’s older brother. Percy is in college, and because Daddy thinks he needs to focus on his studies, he never has to pluck white hairs from his father’s head like the… read analysis of Percy

Minor Characters

Dr Mody

Dr Mody was the narrator’s friend Pesi’s father and, formerly, the apartment building’s resident veterinarian. The narrator compares the crow’s feet at the corners of Dr Sidhwa and Daddy’s eyes to Dr Mody’s before his death.

Najamai and Tehmina

Najamai and Tehmina are two old women who live in the Firozsha Baag building complex. They accused an employee of the building, Francis, of stealing, and now he doesn’t work in the building anymore. The narrator resents them because he believes they wrongly accused Francis.

Grandpa

Grandpa was Mamaiji’s husband and Mummy’s father. Since Grandpa’s death, Mamaiji has spent most of her time spinning thread.