Prologue - The novel opens with Ram Mohammed Thomas being kidnapped by the police at night. This is a normal occurrence for slum dwellers, apparently, and he has been terrified of it for years because, over the course of his life, he has taken lives and committed crimes in order to survive. The police torture him, and question him about the quiz show he starred in, Who Wants To Win a Billion? Ram won the quiz show before the producers had enough money to actually award a first-prize winner, and the police are trying to get Ram to admit that he cheated in order to say that he does not deserve the prize.