Amir Khusrau-poet, courtier, mystic, musician-straddled the worlds of politics and religion and helped forge a distinctive synthesis of Muslim and Hindu cultures. His poetry in Persian appealed equally to the Delhi sultans and to his Sufi sheikh, Nizamuddin Auliya. It was appreciated not only in India, where his Hindavi poetry has survived through a lively oral tradition, but also across a cosmopolitan Persianate world that stretched from Turkey to Bengal.
Khusrau’s poetry has thrived for centuries and continues to be read and recited to this day. But despite his vast literary output, there is a dearth of translations of his work. In the Bazaar of Love offers new translations of Khusrau’s poems in Persian and Hindavi, many of which are being translated into English for the first time. Paul Losensky’s translations of Khusrau’s ghazals, including his mystical and romantic poems, comprise fresh renditions of old favourites while also bringing to light several little-known works. Sunil Sharma brings us many of Khusrau’s short poems, including those belonging to the qawwali repertoire, as well as a mixed prose-and-verse narration ‘The Romance of Duval Rani and Khizr Khan’.
The first comprehensive selection of Amir Khusrau’s poetry, In the Bazaar of Love covers a wide range of genres and forms, evoking the magic of one of the best-loved poets of the Indian subcontinent.
Newly-wed Sancha is excited about sailing with her husband, an officer in the merchant navy, on board the Sea Hyena. But Chief Officer Aaron Andrews is keeping a secret from his wife-a month before she arrived, the chief cook was found dead in the meat locker, his death ruled an accident. First Engineer Harsh Castillo is enamoured of his best friend Aaron’s bride, but that’s the least of his problems. The demons he’s battling have a stronger pull on him.When money is stolen from the captain’s safe, the inquisitive Sancha makes a game of finding the thief. What she finds, instead, is a murder. With the evidence implicating her husband, Sancha is at a crossroads-should she tell Raghav Shridhar, the investigating officer, about the money or should she give her secretive husband the benefit of the doubt?Love on the Rocks by Ismita Tandon Dhankher is a romantic thriller that tests the bonds of love and marriage against a backdrop of suspense, intrigue and psychological undercurrents.
Rabindranath Tagore reinvented the Bengali novel with Farewell Song; blurring the lines between prose and poetry and creating an effervescent blend of romance and satire. Through Amit and Labanya and a brilliantly etched social milieu; the novel addresses contemporary debates about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ writing; the nature of love and conjugality; and the influence of Western culture on Bengali society. Set against the idyllic backdrop of Shillong and the mannered world of elite Calcutta society; this sparkling novel expresses the complex vision and the mastery of style that characterized Tagore’s later works.
Right in the middle of a buzzing Malaysian city is a magnificent forest, now a piece of prime real estate and the perfect setting for a swanky theme park. The trouble, however, is Sellamma, the old woman who owns the forest land, and refuses to budge. Sumitra, who works for the Social Reconstruction Department, is given the challenging task of convincing the old lady to move into a welfare home. A great believer in her people skills and a focused professional, Sumitra is used to tackling all kind of cases. But, somehow, Sellamma eludes her manoeuvres. Instead, Sumitra finds herself falling under the spell of the lazy afternoons she spends with the old woman and her dog, listening to stories by the gushing river. Bewitched by the hidden sounds of the forest that punctuate the ageless woman’s narrative, she begins to reflect on her life and choices. On her death, Sellamma leaves Sumitra with yet another choice by bequeathing the land to her. Set in a mesmerizing landscape, and illuminating the eternal struggle between the old and the new, Between Lives reveals to us a journey of self-reflection and the hope of recovering what is lost forever to humanity.
It is their last evening together. Maya, Sandra and Derek, graduate students at UC Santa Cruz and house-mates for three years, are preparing for dinner with Uncle Prithvi, the house-owner. It’s a cheerful and quirky household: Sandra is prone to ‘Orkut attacks’; Derek silently pines for the wistful-looking Afghan boy in the photo on his wall; Maya, who has the hots for Derek, is inexplicably terrified of the ocean; and the elusive Uncle Prithvi communicates through notes he leaves all over the place.
Sad at parting, perhaps forever, and half tipsy, Maya, Sandra and Uncle Prithvi play a game of wapping stories as they wait for Derek to arrive. As the evening progresses, we learn their deep, dark secrets and hidden fears. Sandra, abandoned at birth, talks about growing up in an orphanage with her precious twin, disabled Solana, only to be separated by circumstances; Uncle Prithvi rues the loss of his beloved daughter, whom he betrayed when he sought a new life with Karen in the US. Maya, the narrator, can’t bring herself to open up-except when alone. And Derek avoids revealing himself altogether as he doesn’t turn up at all.
Finely crafted and deeply felt, Table for Four is a rumination on the burden of secrets, of learning to let go and accepting the betrayals and losses in our lives.
Buddhadeva Bose’s greatest novel When the Time Is Right is a grand family saga set in Calcutta during the last two decades of British rule. Of Rajen Mitra’s five lovely daughters; it is the youngest—the beautiful; intelligent Swati—who is the apple of her father’s eye. As she grows from an impetuous; spirited child to a lonely young woman; Swati is witness to the upheavals and joys of the Mitra family even as the country slides towards the promise of independence and the inevitability of war. Anxious to ensure that his daughters find suitable husbands; Rajen-babu realizes it is only a matter of time before his favourite child too must leave home. While the boorish entrepreneur Prabir Majumdar decides that she will make him a fitting wife; Swati finds herself increasingly drawn to Satyen; the young professor who introduces her to a world of books and the heady poetry of Tagore and Coleridge. First published in Bengali as Tithidore in 1949; When the Time Is Right is a moving tale of a family and a nation.
Samira, a Pakistani-American, returns home to her family in North Carolina after being dumped by her boyfriend of eight years (for her best friend), fired from her job (because she ended up in jail) and finding herself on the FBI’s terror watch list (after trying to run over her ex). But living at home with her somewhat eccentric and almost-dysfunctional family proves to be both tricky and exhausting. Between learning to make aloo kofta curry, entertaining cousins from Pakistan, watching her mother spiking the punch with Captain Morgan rum, nursing her broken heart and having the Pakistani American Council foisted on her by her father, Samira cannot escape situations that are challenging, comical and, quite often, downright bizarre. Welcome to Americastan is a hilarious, delightfully irreverent yet thoughtful look at the Pakistani community in America—the double lives led by the young who debate the significance of animal sacrifice while sipping cocktails; atheists who agree to having a maulvi perform their wedding just to please their parents; and parties with an open bar, but only for the goras! With effervescent humour and wit, Jabeen Akhtar turns every stereotype of Muslim–Americans on its head in this quirky, refreshingly candid debut novel.
Pakistan may be making headlines—but Butterfly is set to conquer the world.
‘Everyone knows me. All of Lahore, all of Karachi, all of Isloo—oho, baba, Islamabad
—half of Dubai, half of London and all of Khan Market and all the nice, nice bearers in Imperial Hotel also…No ball, no party, no dinner, no coffee morning, no funeral, no GT —Get-Together, baba—is complete without me.’
Meet Butterfly, Pakistan’s most lovable, silly, socialite. An avid partygoer, inspired misspeller, and unwittingly acute observer of Pakistani high society, Butterfly is a woman like no other. In her world, SMS becomes S & M and people eat ‘three tiara cakes’ while shunning ‘do number ka maal’. ‘What cheeks!’ as she would say. As her country faces tribulations – from 9/11 to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto—Butterfly glides through her world, unfazed, untouched, and stopped short only by the chip in her manicure. Wicked, irreverent, and hugely entertaining, The Diary of a Social Butterfly gives you a delicious glimpse into the parallel universe of the have-musts.
