Love and Life in Lucknow:An Imaginary Biography of a City

Love and Life in Lucknow is a tribute to the colourful citizens of the city. The soul of this volume of stories from Lucknow is the voice of ordinary citizens. A poetry-spouting vegetable vendor is the protagonist in one chapter. In another chapter, Nares, the rickshaw man, struggles to follow his dream of playing Laila on stage. There is a midnight journey into the abode of the Baba of the Bottles, after which Bano Bua takes to the road on a citywide search for the elusive Tamboli Begum. Bano Bua is free-spirited and lives on her terms. And because she is indomitable, she can hold together all the other characters in this enchanting collection of history and imagination.