Short answers, pulled from the story.
Saleem Sinai was born at the exact stroke of midnight on the 15th of August 1947. This birth coincided with the moment India severed its colonial chains to become an independent nation. His birth was a cosmic accident that bound his life to the fate of his country.
Hundreds of other children born between midnight and one o'clock on the 15th of August 1947 possessed supernatural abilities. These powers ranged from telepathy to physical transformation. Saleem acted as a telepathic conduit to assemble them into a Midnight Children's Conference.
The Emergency was a period when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi suspended civil liberties and ruled by decree. Saleem found himself imprisoned and subjected to the brutal policies of the state during this time. The Emergency marked the end of the potency of the Midnight Children and the start of his resistance.
Salman Rushdie coined the term chutnification to describe the blending of Indian and English elements. This process reflects the cultural hybridity that defined post-colonial India. The novel itself is a chutney, a mixture of different flavors, languages, and traditions that creates a new and unique taste.
Midnight's Children was published in 1981 and won the Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. The novel sold over one million copies in the UK alone. It was hailed as a watershed moment in the development of the Indian English novel.
A film version directed by Deepa Mehta premiered at the Toronto and Vancouver International Film Festivals in 2012. A radio adaptation was broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in 2017. The novel was also adapted for the stage by the Royal Shakespeare Company.