By then Esthappen and Rahel had learned that the world had other ways of breaking men. They were already familiar with the smell. Sicksweet. Like old roses on a breeze.

In 2002 Roy responded to a contempt notice issued against her by the Indian Supreme Court with an affidavit saying the court's decision to initiate the contempt proceedings based on an unsubstantiated and flawed petition while refusing to inquire into allegations of corruption in military contracting deals pleading an overload of cases indicated a "disquieting inclination" by the court to silence criticism and dissent using the power of contempt. Bush's visit to India calling him a "war criminal". Until made financially secure by the success of her novel The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy worked various jobs including running aerobics classes at five-star hotels in New Delhi.

Roy’s novel became the biggest-selling book by a nonexpatriate Indian author.