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'There was nothing wrong in it,' Dada Bhai said, his head bent towards the cold, unyielding floor. 'Sir?' asked Tapan, who had followed him out, just as he had ushered him in personally. 'A boy and girl loved each other. There was nothing wrong in what Sanaz did. Love. That is what is halal for me.' Valmiki would not be contained, she knew, whenever the news reached him. He would rage within. Waste away in the cavity of his chest. She needed to bundle up all her nerve and pack it inside her. Convey to him soundlessly that he was fortunate to be loved for two years. Two years! An eternity for someone who had not got two whole hours of it in her life.  'A whiff of rosewater is enough...' On Makar Sankranti when the kites soar high, Sanaz' wings are brutally clipped. She is found dead in her room and what follows is a trail of questions hiding violence in their midst; of corrosive human behaviour. The ugliness and degenerate behaviour of the many a char

 A Man From Motihari.  You will not be far off the mark, if this title reminds you of George Orwell. Eric Arthur Blair, the noted English novelist better known as George Orwell, was born in Motihari. And so was Aslam Sher Khan, the protagonist of A Man From Motihari . The connection doesn't end here...Aslam was delivered in the same bungalow where Orwell was born; Aslam's delivery was aided by a midwife, who was Orwell's nanny. This 'Lady in White' has constant presence in Aslam's life, something like a talisman.   But no, this is not a novel redolent of ghosts stories. Or shall we say it, A Man From Motihari is not the conventional ghost story. Instead its author Abdullah Khan touches upon the 'ghosts' of Babri Masjid, Godhra riots, bomb blasts in Varanasi, the agitation against Citizenship Amendment Act, all seen through the eyes of Aslam Sher Khan, a banker and an aspiring writer from small town India.  Khan has deftly woven the past and present of o

This interview was first published in Sakal Times Ambika Shaligram Rana Safvi’s third book in the Delhi trilogy series, Shahjahanabad – The Living City of Old Delhi – would strike a chord with the most. After all, who hasn’t heard of Purani Dilli, as we know it now? The other two books in the trilogy include Where Stone Speaks: Historical Trails in Mehrauli, the First City of Delhi and The Forgotten Cities of Delhi. They have been published by HarperCollins. Shahjahanabad or Purani Dilli was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Old timers, descendants of noblemen from Mughal court and members of the Hindu Kayastha community, who moved with Shah Jahan from Agra, still live there. They refer to Shahjahanabad as ‘shehr’.  Shah Jahan decided to build this city because he found Agra and Lahore forts less spacious for his retinue of dignitaries. He finalised the present location between Firozabad and Din Panah for Qila-e-Mubarak (Red Fort) and laid the foundation. The city of Sh

  An interview with Bhakti Mathur, who has been penning, Amma, Take Me series, introducing her children to various faiths. The interview was published in Sakal Times  Ambika Shaligram Published on :  05 Jan, 2020 , 9:18 am On her trips to India, Bhakti Mathur and her two boys, Shiv and Veer, often visit religious shrines and places of worship. The Hong Kong-based former banker has an agenda up her sleeves — firstly, to introduce her children to the country of their origin and the many festivals and mythology tales that make India a very vibrant and inclusive country. Secondly, the interactions, questions and the introspection that occurs finds its way through the books that Mathur has been writing for her children and other readers their age.  Her first book was Amma Tell Me About Holi! in 2011 and now she is working on a new series — Amma, Take Me — in collaboration with Puffin Books. So far Mathur and her kids visited Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirupat