Neelum Saran Gour is the author of six novels, four short story collections, two works of non-fiction and a translation of her own work into Hindi. She has been an active columnist and book reviewer and an academic by profession. Her most recent novel,
Requiem in Raga Janki won The Hindu Fiction Prize and also the Sahitya Akademi Award. Her other books include
Grey Pigeon and Other Stories,
Speaking of ’62,
Winter Companions,
Virtual Realities,
Sikandar Chowk Park,
Song without End, Allahabad: Where the Rivers Meet,
Invisible Ink,
Allahabad Aria,
Three Rivers and a Tree, and
Messres Dickens, Doyle and Wodehouse, Pvt. Ltd.
In the early years of the twentieth century, in what was then British India, culture thrived in the city of Allahabad. In this vibrant hub of musicians, poets, scholars and freedom fighters, Janki Bai Ilahabadi was a musical star, counting among her fans maharajas, poets, judges, nawabs, government officials and multitudes of ordinary people. Popularly known as Chhappan Chhuri, Janki Bai’s career, originating in a nautch house and vexed by many trials and torments, soared to stellar heights lifting her from penury to palaces and even the Delhi Durbar of 1911.
Based on the real-life story of Hindustani singer Janki Bai Ilahabadi (1880–1934), Requiem in Raga Janki is the beautifully rendered tale of one of India’s unknown gems. Moving from Hindustani classical music’s earliest times to the age of the gramophone, from Baiju’s mysticism and Tansen’s magic to Hassu Khan’s stringent opposition to recordings, this is a novel that brings to life a tapestry of music lore through the eyes of a gifted performer.
