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

Author: Mehru Jaffer
Publisher: Niyogi Books, New Delhi
(Pp 200, ISBN 978-93-86906-22-9, Rs 395)

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 Naresh 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 own terms. And because she is indomitable, she is able to hold together all the other characters in this enchanting collection full of history and imagination.

– Vasu V