Book Excerpts

In 2003, at a time when politicians and other establishment figures of Tamil Nadu were caught up in a surge of Tamil chauvinism, a group of men and women, setting themselves up as guardians of Tamil culture, objected publicly to the language of a new generation of women poets, particularly

Nusrat’s father Fateh Ali Khan was diagnosed with throat cancer and died in March 1964, just when Nusrat was appearing for his school-leaving exam. Shortly before his death, one of Nusrat’s sisters, Kaniz Fatima, recalls an intense moment: ‘When our father was going to leave us forever, he called us all around him and asked us to

On 13 October 1948, a baby boy was born to Fateh Ali Khan’s family—Pervez Fateh Ali Khan, also known by his nickname, Paiji. He was the first boy, born after four girls, which made him the centre of attention and everybody’s darling. His birth was celebrated with great ceremony. Many reputed musicians, like Bade Ghulam

Her voice floats in a whisper towards me. I ask: What? Come again? Rain, she repeats. Rain? Then, as if teaching a small child, she repeats once again, spelling out the letters, enunciating each one slowly: R A I N You mean it’s raining? No, rain, she insists. This time her

The Magic Within, by Manal Shakir The scene before Adnan was familiar. Childhood memories flooded his mind as he stared at the tent’s bright red-and-yellow-striped tarp. Long ago he had visited a circus with his father and the magic that had ensued within the great tent was now returning mysteriously,