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Taoos Chaman Ki Mayna / طاؤس چمن کی مینا
افسانوں کا مجموعہ۔ ساہتیہ اکیڈمی ایوارڈ یافتہ۔
- GenresAudiobook
246 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2013
5 people are currently reading
121 people want to read
About the author
Naiyer Masud
27 books25 followersNaiyer Masud (1936–2017) was an Urdu scholar and Urdu-language short story writer.
Naiyer Masud was born in 1936 in Lucknow. He did two separate PhD degrees in Urdu and Persian, and was a professor of Persian at Lucknow University. He started publishing his fictional work in the 1970s, of which four collections have appeared so far. Two collections of selected stories have appeared in English translation as Essence of Camphor and Snake Catcher, the former later also translated into Finnish, French, and Spanish. Besides fiction, he has several volumes of critical studies of classical Urdu literature to his credit and has also translated Kafka and numerous contemporary Iranian short stories. In 1977 he visited Tehran at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture, Government of Iran. He was the recipient, in 2008, of India’s highest literary award, the 17th Saraswati Samman.
Naiyer Masud was born in 1936 in Lucknow. He did two separate PhD degrees in Urdu and Persian, and was a professor of Persian at Lucknow University. He started publishing his fictional work in the 1970s, of which four collections have appeared so far. Two collections of selected stories have appeared in English translation as Essence of Camphor and Snake Catcher, the former later also translated into Finnish, French, and Spanish. Besides fiction, he has several volumes of critical studies of classical Urdu literature to his credit and has also translated Kafka and numerous contemporary Iranian short stories. In 1977 he visited Tehran at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture, Government of Iran. He was the recipient, in 2008, of India’s highest literary award, the 17th Saraswati Samman.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 18, 2020
خوبصورت کہانی ہے۔
معصوم سی فلک آرا کی کہانی۔
اور اس کہانی کے پس منظر میں قابل رشک شاہی تہذیب کی جھلکیاں دیکھنے کو ملتی ہیں۔ تاہم یہی شاہی تہذیب بلاآخر عبرتناک تباہی سے دو چار ہو جاتی ہے۔
معصوم سی فلک آرا کی کہانی۔
اور اس کہانی کے پس منظر میں قابل رشک شاہی تہذیب کی جھلکیاں دیکھنے کو ملتی ہیں۔ تاہم یہی شاہی تہذیب بلاآخر عبرتناک تباہی سے دو چار ہو جاتی ہے۔
April 28, 2024
طاؤس چمن کی مینا، کا وزن تمام بقیہ افسانوں سے بڑھ کر ہے. ایک افسانے میں جاہ و حشمت سے لے کر انسانیت کا زوال بیان کرنا اتنا آسان نہیں ہوتا بشرط یہ کہ آپ کا نام نیر مسعود ہو۔
April 20, 2024
The stories in this collection are abstract to the point of obscurantism. While many carry passages with great atmosphere and poignance the overall impact is one of bewilderment and uncertainty. To the extent that they are symbolic, the symbolism is so vague and that one can't quite fathom it. I have sympathy for the point of view that the symbolism doesn't have to be obvious but here the question does arrive that what is the point of most of these stories. Some would say that they don't have to have a point but at least I find that - well, rather pointless. Having said that, Naiyer Masud's fascination for what he deems the transience, brevity and ultimate meaningless of human existence reflects in all these stories.
Ancient places, lost or dwindling groups of people, memories and childhood phobias, the supernatural and its interplay with the everyday, ageing, loneliness, changing times and inability to cope with the same - all play a role in these ten stories. "Bai Kai Matam Dar" is powerful both in its exploration of childhood fears associated with brides and death and in its narration of some eerie tales which are then rather ineffectually and inexplicably juxtaposed with the story of an old couple and Khanum (their aged and yet child-like servant woman who fears the police) and an episode involving the looting of the wife's jewellery by neighbourhood women after she passes away. In "Ahraam Ka Mir Mahasib" a Caliph takes on the might of an Egyptian pyramid as a challenge but barely manages to dent its formidable edifice and it appears that its creator is mocking him by divulging a treasure precisely equal to the expenses of the elaborate expedition - or is that a contrivance of the Caliph's chief comptroller. "Noshdaro" revolves around a very old and ailing Hakim and his ageing disciple; the former searches for the forgotten recipe of a miraculous drug called Noshdaro which works when all else fails. Yet inexplicably the old Hakim first seeks the formula and then declines it's use when rediscovered. All three stories start promisingly but then enter a realm of great vagueness and mystery.
"Nudba" revolves around a flâneur who likes to visit wildernesses and remote places, where too he finds small clans of people who live cut-off from civilisation. These people often become extinct and yet no one notices. One day one such mysterious and decrepit group traces him to his dwelling in a city, bringing along a wizened old man who is perhaps the last of his race. They then withdraw in as mysterious a manner as their arrival. "Ray Khandan Kai Asaar" also explores mortality, loneliness and the grind of life that remove all traces of robust people who once lived in breathed - in this case the protagonist whimsically traces a vivacious woman he remembers from his youth who he finds out has been reduced to a pale reflection of her past. Someone real who is now like a a flickering vision of that person - even though one of her catchphrases used to be "I am real and not a perception." The story "Tehveel" is highly obscure even by Nayyar Masood standards - a shop selling odds and ends manned through generations by persons called Nauroz who all go mad, two mysteriously discovered toddlers of uncertain parentage with eyes in which lights go on and off and that give hint of a race that has died out and who are left in the custodianship of the protagonist Sasaan, a ruin-filled surrounding jungle ravaged by windstorms (as trackless and impenetrable as the story itself), and so on and so forth.
"Bun Bast" describes the protagonist's fleeting and chance encounter with a mysterious girl in whose house he takes refuge while escaping what he believes is a suddenly erupting street riot; we learn no more about the nature of the encounter except that it is soon over. "Occult Museum" in turn is about a chance meeting of two old friends, their ramblings in a semi-deserted, disorienting and rather disturbing building and further encounters therein - again all very obscure and unsettling and with a nightmarish quality to them. In "Sheesha Ghat" a man leaves his adopted son at a strange wharf by a large lake near a community of glassworkers where dwells a strange ex-mimic called Jahaz, a strongly built woman called Bibi who lives in a moored ship and whose paramour was an infamous vagabond or rebel, and Bibi's elf-like daughter Parya who was born submerged, floats around on a skiff and wants to walk on water. That's about as much as I could make out of it.
The titular story "Taos Chaman ki Maina" is the most conventional in form and also the most impactful. In the mid-nineteenth century, in a neighborhood of Lucknow in northern Hindustan a young motherless girl invokes her father to get her a hill myna. The father Kalay Khan is the caretaker of birds kept in the enormous, ornate, inventive and beautifully wrought royal cage called Aijadi Qafas wherein dwell forty such birds. Birds renowned for their ability to emulate the human voice and recite beautifully what they hear or are taught. The indulgent father gives in and smuggles out one of the birds for her. However, when he eventually returns it to the cage he gets caught out as the bird recites in the presence of the King and foreign dignitaries the homely verse the little girl had taught her; rather than the elaborate and literary utterances that the rest of the forty were taught to speak. The cage (Qafas is so much more evocative) is located in the Taoos Chaman (the peacock shaped garden — one amongst many laid out in the shapes of animals) laid out by the music, literature, art, knowledge, animal and garden loving Wajid Ali Shah - the last King of the northern state of Awadh. Nawab Wajid Ali Shah is as staunchly benevolent and empathetic as he is ardently aesthetic and epicurean. The transgression is forgiven in a manner that truly epitomizes the Nawab’s grace (the edict is exquisite) but Kalay Khan nevertheless finds himself embroiled in palace intrigue. Meanwhile, the Company Bahadur is looking for every excuse to depose Wajid Ali Shah and in 1856 the British usurp Awadh and exile the King. The story ends with Kalay Khan beleaguered by tragedies personal and civilizational as the world around him changes entirely; fortunately for him he still has his daughter as a source of great solace.
Taus Chaman Ki Maina is an evocative contemplation of a bygone era, a nostalgic evocation of historic Lucknow, and a subtle but impactful post-colonial deconstruction of the idea that Muslim rule in Hindustan was disrupted and displaced because it was decadent and ineffectual. It inspired Anis Ashfaq's novel Parinaz Our Parinday which provides further backdrop and details of the story as well as its impact and interplay with characters set in the era half a century later.
Ancient places, lost or dwindling groups of people, memories and childhood phobias, the supernatural and its interplay with the everyday, ageing, loneliness, changing times and inability to cope with the same - all play a role in these ten stories. "Bai Kai Matam Dar" is powerful both in its exploration of childhood fears associated with brides and death and in its narration of some eerie tales which are then rather ineffectually and inexplicably juxtaposed with the story of an old couple and Khanum (their aged and yet child-like servant woman who fears the police) and an episode involving the looting of the wife's jewellery by neighbourhood women after she passes away. In "Ahraam Ka Mir Mahasib" a Caliph takes on the might of an Egyptian pyramid as a challenge but barely manages to dent its formidable edifice and it appears that its creator is mocking him by divulging a treasure precisely equal to the expenses of the elaborate expedition - or is that a contrivance of the Caliph's chief comptroller. "Noshdaro" revolves around a very old and ailing Hakim and his ageing disciple; the former searches for the forgotten recipe of a miraculous drug called Noshdaro which works when all else fails. Yet inexplicably the old Hakim first seeks the formula and then declines it's use when rediscovered. All three stories start promisingly but then enter a realm of great vagueness and mystery.
"Nudba" revolves around a flâneur who likes to visit wildernesses and remote places, where too he finds small clans of people who live cut-off from civilisation. These people often become extinct and yet no one notices. One day one such mysterious and decrepit group traces him to his dwelling in a city, bringing along a wizened old man who is perhaps the last of his race. They then withdraw in as mysterious a manner as their arrival. "Ray Khandan Kai Asaar" also explores mortality, loneliness and the grind of life that remove all traces of robust people who once lived in breathed - in this case the protagonist whimsically traces a vivacious woman he remembers from his youth who he finds out has been reduced to a pale reflection of her past. Someone real who is now like a a flickering vision of that person - even though one of her catchphrases used to be "I am real and not a perception." The story "Tehveel" is highly obscure even by Nayyar Masood standards - a shop selling odds and ends manned through generations by persons called Nauroz who all go mad, two mysteriously discovered toddlers of uncertain parentage with eyes in which lights go on and off and that give hint of a race that has died out and who are left in the custodianship of the protagonist Sasaan, a ruin-filled surrounding jungle ravaged by windstorms (as trackless and impenetrable as the story itself), and so on and so forth.
"Bun Bast" describes the protagonist's fleeting and chance encounter with a mysterious girl in whose house he takes refuge while escaping what he believes is a suddenly erupting street riot; we learn no more about the nature of the encounter except that it is soon over. "Occult Museum" in turn is about a chance meeting of two old friends, their ramblings in a semi-deserted, disorienting and rather disturbing building and further encounters therein - again all very obscure and unsettling and with a nightmarish quality to them. In "Sheesha Ghat" a man leaves his adopted son at a strange wharf by a large lake near a community of glassworkers where dwells a strange ex-mimic called Jahaz, a strongly built woman called Bibi who lives in a moored ship and whose paramour was an infamous vagabond or rebel, and Bibi's elf-like daughter Parya who was born submerged, floats around on a skiff and wants to walk on water. That's about as much as I could make out of it.
The titular story "Taos Chaman ki Maina" is the most conventional in form and also the most impactful. In the mid-nineteenth century, in a neighborhood of Lucknow in northern Hindustan a young motherless girl invokes her father to get her a hill myna. The father Kalay Khan is the caretaker of birds kept in the enormous, ornate, inventive and beautifully wrought royal cage called Aijadi Qafas wherein dwell forty such birds. Birds renowned for their ability to emulate the human voice and recite beautifully what they hear or are taught. The indulgent father gives in and smuggles out one of the birds for her. However, when he eventually returns it to the cage he gets caught out as the bird recites in the presence of the King and foreign dignitaries the homely verse the little girl had taught her; rather than the elaborate and literary utterances that the rest of the forty were taught to speak. The cage (Qafas is so much more evocative) is located in the Taoos Chaman (the peacock shaped garden — one amongst many laid out in the shapes of animals) laid out by the music, literature, art, knowledge, animal and garden loving Wajid Ali Shah - the last King of the northern state of Awadh. Nawab Wajid Ali Shah is as staunchly benevolent and empathetic as he is ardently aesthetic and epicurean. The transgression is forgiven in a manner that truly epitomizes the Nawab’s grace (the edict is exquisite) but Kalay Khan nevertheless finds himself embroiled in palace intrigue. Meanwhile, the Company Bahadur is looking for every excuse to depose Wajid Ali Shah and in 1856 the British usurp Awadh and exile the King. The story ends with Kalay Khan beleaguered by tragedies personal and civilizational as the world around him changes entirely; fortunately for him he still has his daughter as a source of great solace.
Taus Chaman Ki Maina is an evocative contemplation of a bygone era, a nostalgic evocation of historic Lucknow, and a subtle but impactful post-colonial deconstruction of the idea that Muslim rule in Hindustan was disrupted and displaced because it was decadent and ineffectual. It inspired Anis Ashfaq's novel Parinaz Our Parinday which provides further backdrop and details of the story as well as its impact and interplay with characters set in the era half a century later.
May 6, 2018
The story is set in Lucknow; the first part is before Rebellion of 1857 and second part is after it.
Its a time of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, the time when the Awadh was known as the center of dance, music, art, and literature. As himself, a skilled musician Nawab Wajid Ali Shah created a promising environment for these art forms to thrive.
Nawab Wajid Ali Shah established a garden near Qaiserbagh, this garden has a different section, and one of these sections is Peacock garden (Taoos Chaman).
One day an aviary is put in the garden on the order of nawab, and our protagonist kale khan approached for the position of a guard and in charge of this section of the garden.
Kale Khan, who left his job after his wife's death and now living with his daughter Falak Ara, this opportunity comes as a solution to all his problems.
But all the drama started when Kale Khan, on request of his daughter, without permission took a bird from the aviary and the very next day Nawab decided to visit the garden.
It's a story which presented the human emotions such as self-doubt, greed, generosity, and eagerness to do the right thing, very well.
Its a time of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, the time when the Awadh was known as the center of dance, music, art, and literature. As himself, a skilled musician Nawab Wajid Ali Shah created a promising environment for these art forms to thrive.
Nawab Wajid Ali Shah established a garden near Qaiserbagh, this garden has a different section, and one of these sections is Peacock garden (Taoos Chaman).
One day an aviary is put in the garden on the order of nawab, and our protagonist kale khan approached for the position of a guard and in charge of this section of the garden.
Kale Khan, who left his job after his wife's death and now living with his daughter Falak Ara, this opportunity comes as a solution to all his problems.
But all the drama started when Kale Khan, on request of his daughter, without permission took a bird from the aviary and the very next day Nawab decided to visit the garden.
It's a story which presented the human emotions such as self-doubt, greed, generosity, and eagerness to do the right thing, very well.
November 25, 2020
شاندار افسانے
November 11, 2021
I came to know of Naiyer Masud thanks to @ashharhaque on one of his readings on Clubhouse and I immediately started to look out for books by him, that’s how I came across The Myna from Peacock Garden. It’s a really beautiful book about our protagonist Kale Khan who after losing his wife gets a job at the royal garden where an aviary is set up and he is given the responsibility to take care of the birds. But there’s a dilemma that he is facing, his only daughter Falak Ara desires for a Hill Myna and there’s one at the garden. Whether or not will he steal that bird from the royal garden and how everything will befall before him is what the story is about. This just another beautiful story by the author and has been translated well. The illustrations compliment the story very well and ensures a beautiful experience. Another jewel that must be read.
January 30, 2022
The book started well but I found it very boring as I read ahead. Had some expectations from this as I have loved all the " Katha Books "
Giving two stars only for the daughter and father relationship in this book.
I don't really recommend it.
Giving two stars only for the daughter and father relationship in this book.
I don't really recommend it.
August 3, 2025
This book is a collection of 11 stories. All the others seemed so ambiguous and in limbo to me. It felt like walking through a narrow pagdandi (trail), where you fail to find the manzil (destination). In other words, you keep wandering, trying to seek the meaning and purpose behind the stories but you fail. Some of it went over my head. The beginning was promising, but the ending feels both intricate and bewildering. It feels as though something vital is missing.
“Tehveel” is a complicated yet ultimately meaningless and deliberately obscurantist book. I noticed many loopholes throughout. Although the story is ambiguous, it carries a profound sense of sadness. “Sasaan” didn’t seem to feel the pain when the two girls were taken away from him, but it left me with an immense emptiness. Overall, “Tehveel” is sphinxlike, enigmatic and puzzling.
طاؤس چمن کی مینا ایک باغ میں کئ ایجادی قفس میں رکھے شاہی پرندوں اور جانوروں کی کہانی ہے۔۔ جیسا کہ نام سے ظاہر ہے کہ طاؤس چمن کی مینا، یہاں پوری کہانی پہاڑی مینا کے ارد گرد گھومتی ہے، اس کہانی کی دلکشی، مفصل انداز باقی کہانیوں کے مقابلے میں بہت آسان اور سادہ ہے۔ جیسا کہ نیر مسعود صاحب کا انداز ہے، مبہم اور غیرواضح۔۔ یہاں ایسی کوئ خاص جھلکیاں نظر نہیں آئیں۔ کہانی کے پسِ منظر میں لکھنوی تہذیب کی کئ جھلکیاں ہیں۔ اور اختتام میں اُسی سلطنت کا زوال دکھایا گیا ہے۔ لکھنوی تہذیب کے عروج سے زوال تک کا سفر!
تصویر کشی عمدہ تھی، اختتام تک دلچسپی بندھی رہی۔ کہانی کا ایک جملہ جو دل میں گَھر کرگیا:
” چوری وہاں کی جاتی ہے، جہاں مانگے سے نہ ملتا ہو“۔
مجموعی طور پر کہانی عمدہ تھی۔ نندھی فلک آرا کی معصوم خواہشوں سے گندھی ہوئ تحریر!
“Tehveel” is a complicated yet ultimately meaningless and deliberately obscurantist book. I noticed many loopholes throughout. Although the story is ambiguous, it carries a profound sense of sadness. “Sasaan” didn’t seem to feel the pain when the two girls were taken away from him, but it left me with an immense emptiness. Overall, “Tehveel” is sphinxlike, enigmatic and puzzling.
طاؤس چمن کی مینا ایک باغ میں کئ ایجادی قفس میں رکھے شاہی پرندوں اور جانوروں کی کہانی ہے۔۔ جیسا کہ نام سے ظاہر ہے کہ طاؤس چمن کی مینا، یہاں پوری کہانی پہاڑی مینا کے ارد گرد گھومتی ہے، اس کہانی کی دلکشی، مفصل انداز باقی کہانیوں کے مقابلے میں بہت آسان اور سادہ ہے۔ جیسا کہ نیر مسعود صاحب کا انداز ہے، مبہم اور غیرواضح۔۔ یہاں ایسی کوئ خاص جھلکیاں نظر نہیں آئیں۔ کہانی کے پسِ منظر میں لکھنوی تہذیب کی کئ جھلکیاں ہیں۔ اور اختتام میں اُسی سلطنت کا زوال دکھایا گیا ہے۔ لکھنوی تہذیب کے عروج سے زوال تک کا سفر!
تصویر کشی عمدہ تھی، اختتام تک دلچسپی بندھی رہی۔ کہانی کا ایک جملہ جو دل میں گَھر کرگیا:
” چوری وہاں کی جاتی ہے، جہاں مانگے سے نہ ملتا ہو“۔
مجموعی طور پر کہانی عمدہ تھی۔ نندھی فلک آرا کی معصوم خواہشوں سے گندھی ہوئ تحریر!
March 14, 2023
طاؤس چمن کی مینا ۔۔نئیر مسعود صاحب کے دس افسانوں کا مجموعہ ہے۔ اور سارے افسانے اپنے ناموں کی طرح منفرد اور خوبصورت ہیں۔کہانی، کردار، منظر نگاری اور نثر غرض ہر چیز اپنے آپ میں کمال ہے۔ ہاں اکثر کہانیوں یا افسانوں ��ا انجام آپ کو تھوڑا عجیب لگے۔ باقی اس کتاب میں کچھ بھی ایسا نہیں جس میں آپ کو زرا بھی کمی یا کجی کا شائبہ تک ہو۔ بن بست، ندبہ، نوشدارو، رے خاندان کے آثار، اکلٹ میوزیم، طاؤس چمن کی مینا سب ایک سے بڑھ کر ایک ہیں۔ب
۔
اس مجموعے کا نام جس افسانے "طاوس چمن کی مینا" پہ رکھا گیا ہے۔ اسی واقعہ کو ایک لیکر انیس اشفاق نے "پری ناز اور پرندے "کے نام سے ایک خوبصورت ناول بھی لکھا ہے
۔
بہترین ادب اور شاندار نثر کے رسیا ہیں تو یہ مجموعہ پڑھ لیں۔ نہ بھی پڑھیں تو مرحوم مصنف، پبلشرز ، پرنٹرز کسی کو ذرا بھی فرق نہیں پڑنا۔۔ ہاں آپ انہی گھسی پٹی تحریروں کو چاٹتے رہیں گے۔
۔
۔
اس مجموعے کا نام جس افسانے "طاوس چمن کی مینا" پہ رکھا گیا ہے۔ اسی واقعہ کو ایک لیکر انیس اشفاق نے "پری ناز اور پرندے "کے نام سے ایک خوبصورت ناول بھی لکھا ہے
۔
بہترین ادب اور شاندار نثر کے رسیا ہیں تو یہ مجموعہ پڑھ لیں۔ نہ بھی پڑھیں تو مرحوم مصنف، پبلشرز ، پرنٹرز کسی کو ذرا بھی فرق نہیں پڑنا۔۔ ہاں آپ انہی گھسی پٹی تحریروں کو چاٹتے رہیں گے۔
۔
July 19, 2024
A very ambiguous and abstract set of stories which have a certain air of vagueness to them. They keep you hooked till the end but their endings always leave you unsatisfied or confused.
Even though Nayyer Masoods writing skills are top notch but his storytelling doesn't do justice to it. The only story I was completely satisfied with was "Taus Chaman ki Meena". It's the story of a huge garden filled with animals and birds made under the supervision of darogha Nabi baksh for his majesty. The characters are well crafted and the storytelling is on point with this one. Thoroughly enjoyed the depiction of the scenery of the garden as well, a solid 5/5.
But if it wasn't for "Taus chaman ki Meena", this book would've been rated far less than it is now.
Even though Nayyer Masoods writing skills are top notch but his storytelling doesn't do justice to it. The only story I was completely satisfied with was "Taus Chaman ki Meena". It's the story of a huge garden filled with animals and birds made under the supervision of darogha Nabi baksh for his majesty. The characters are well crafted and the storytelling is on point with this one. Thoroughly enjoyed the depiction of the scenery of the garden as well, a solid 5/5.
But if it wasn't for "Taus chaman ki Meena", this book would've been rated far less than it is now.
March 2, 2021
Nayyer Masud, the acclaimed author of "Essence of Camphor" (Itr-e-Kafoor) is your cup of tea if you like to delve into the dream-like world of illusion and fantasy. Masud broke free from the literary norms decades ago, a transition that is seen avidly in today's English literature and SFF.
"Taoos Chaman ke Maina", in particular, is a romanticized tale of downfall of Mughals. It's a beautiful, beautiful way to narrate on such a gloomy subject, which would otherwise have become run of the mill. Masud is a must read if you are in a writer's block and looking for newer techniques to let your story out into the world.
Its a 4/5!
"Taoos Chaman ke Maina", in particular, is a romanticized tale of downfall of Mughals. It's a beautiful, beautiful way to narrate on such a gloomy subject, which would otherwise have become run of the mill. Masud is a must read if you are in a writer's block and looking for newer techniques to let your story out into the world.
Its a 4/5!
August 5, 2020
My children totally loved this book. They wouldn’t let me stop until we finished it. It was our bedtime story and I read it aloud to my 11 year old and 8 year old - next morning they were talking about it , especially the Myna Falak Aara . Would love to talk about the historical background of the book with the children , thanks to one of the reviews I read above . Coming from a North Indian background, It’s a please to read books with familiar settings and names. Kale Khan , the lovable character will stay with us for a long long time !
May 18, 2024
A beautiful story with small stakes yet such an engaging experience. Pata nahi q pasand aayi, par pakka pata hai pasand aayi
July 8, 2013
Simply charming illustrations , to go along with this simple tale of a frail hearted father’s promise to his daughter. A Hill Myna to love and to keep.
After his wife’s death, Kale Khan roams the streets of Lucknow in a haze and finally lands a job in the Royal Peacock Garden. What his daughter Falak Ara desires most is a Hill Myna and faced with the responsibility of caring for 40 such birds for the Badhshah, Kale Khan contemplates swiping one from the Badhashah many! Vivid descriptions of the garden and the kings men and the streets of Lucknow find a suitable companion in the illustrations by Premola Ghose. ...Complete piece http://roshnisubhash.wordpress.com/20...
After his wife’s death, Kale Khan roams the streets of Lucknow in a haze and finally lands a job in the Royal Peacock Garden. What his daughter Falak Ara desires most is a Hill Myna and faced with the responsibility of caring for 40 such birds for the Badhshah, Kale Khan contemplates swiping one from the Badhashah many! Vivid descriptions of the garden and the kings men and the streets of Lucknow find a suitable companion in the illustrations by Premola Ghose. ...Complete piece http://roshnisubhash.wordpress.com/20...
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