NurJahan's Daughter by Tanushree Podder
Off late, I have been into a frenzy of reading so many books [Star world channel not getting telecasted by the cable guy and hence missing "Castle" series could have atributed to this frenzy].
But it has been a long time since I got this satisfaction on reading a book.This book on Laadli(Nurjahan's daughter by Sher Afghan and hence a step daughter of Emperor Jehangir) is very engaging. I have always been fascinated by history. I thought it will be just another book but I could hardly keep the book aside once I started reading.The only other series of books I used to read this way was Harry Potter series. But after reading this book, those books seem so distant to me. This book gave me a feeling as if I was just hidden behind a curtain and was able to see all that is happening right in front of my own eyes. The author has really done a very commendable job. It is hard to believe the author is from our era and this is not book which was written by someone who worked in the court of Jehangir :-)
I don't want to get into the story here as I dont want anyone who reads this post to think they have got a gist of the story and hence might not bother to read the book.
So less said about the story the better. I wonder why books like these never become bestsellers and get ignored by the mass.
Just wanted to do my part in publicising it. And this also gave a good insight of what happened in palaces. Whenever I visited palaces, I have always wondered about the everyday chores of the royalty - like will there be really servants who will be fanning them all through the time they sleep, how will their restrooms look like, when they travel city to city - how does the tent work out, will the tents be a comfortable alternative to their royal beds, etc. Questions like these have always lingered my mind and I have wanted someone who has witnessed or been in those era to narrate them to me :-). While Tamil authors like Kalki and Sandilyan have satiated my curiosity a bit , they being male went on to describing things from a man's point of view. But here, I see Tanushree's view - what a striped golden zari will make a difference to a muslin cloth or shabnam and all the colors and hues which matter,...
Sorry - if you are getting a wrong picture. This isn't about clothes and grandeur..It is about what was getting noticed. For example, when the emperor shifts from Agra to Lahore or Kashmir, along with the royal entourage, nobles, merchants and beggars also move with them as there is where their livelihood is going to be...
Okay, let me stop my rantings here.... Dont miss this book - that's what all I have to say now.
Feel like visiting all the forts and palaces by Mughals after reading this book. Especially, want to look around the house where Laadli spent her last days with her daughter Arzani and mother Nurjahan, Anarkali's tomb, Meena Bazaar, emperor's palace in Agra, seven thrones of Shah jahan including Peacock throne, etc.
Is there any book on Aurangazeb? Especially about the time, when he was given as hostage to Jehangir in return of pardon to then Prince Khurram and Arjumand's lives(Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal) for Shahjahan's rebellion?
But it has been a long time since I got this satisfaction on reading a book.This book on Laadli(Nurjahan's daughter by Sher Afghan and hence a step daughter of Emperor Jehangir) is very engaging. I have always been fascinated by history. I thought it will be just another book but I could hardly keep the book aside once I started reading.The only other series of books I used to read this way was Harry Potter series. But after reading this book, those books seem so distant to me. This book gave me a feeling as if I was just hidden behind a curtain and was able to see all that is happening right in front of my own eyes. The author has really done a very commendable job. It is hard to believe the author is from our era and this is not book which was written by someone who worked in the court of Jehangir :-)
I don't want to get into the story here as I dont want anyone who reads this post to think they have got a gist of the story and hence might not bother to read the book.
So less said about the story the better. I wonder why books like these never become bestsellers and get ignored by the mass.
Just wanted to do my part in publicising it. And this also gave a good insight of what happened in palaces. Whenever I visited palaces, I have always wondered about the everyday chores of the royalty - like will there be really servants who will be fanning them all through the time they sleep, how will their restrooms look like, when they travel city to city - how does the tent work out, will the tents be a comfortable alternative to their royal beds, etc. Questions like these have always lingered my mind and I have wanted someone who has witnessed or been in those era to narrate them to me :-). While Tamil authors like Kalki and Sandilyan have satiated my curiosity a bit , they being male went on to describing things from a man's point of view. But here, I see Tanushree's view - what a striped golden zari will make a difference to a muslin cloth or shabnam and all the colors and hues which matter,...
Sorry - if you are getting a wrong picture. This isn't about clothes and grandeur..It is about what was getting noticed. For example, when the emperor shifts from Agra to Lahore or Kashmir, along with the royal entourage, nobles, merchants and beggars also move with them as there is where their livelihood is going to be...
Okay, let me stop my rantings here.... Dont miss this book - that's what all I have to say now.
Feel like visiting all the forts and palaces by Mughals after reading this book. Especially, want to look around the house where Laadli spent her last days with her daughter Arzani and mother Nurjahan, Anarkali's tomb, Meena Bazaar, emperor's palace in Agra, seven thrones of Shah jahan including Peacock throne, etc.
Is there any book on Aurangazeb? Especially about the time, when he was given as hostage to Jehangir in return of pardon to then Prince Khurram and Arjumand's lives(Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal) for Shahjahan's rebellion?
posted by Fathima Sagar | 9:30:00 pm
11 Comments:
Good promotion for the book...hope people reading this post will also read that book ...Me?, he he ennanga namakellam antha porumai kediyathu...
Good promotion for the book...hope people reading this post will also read that book ...Me?, he he ennanga namakellam antha porumai kediyathu...
Blah..Blah...Blah...
I like your blog. That might be because I have been to Hyderabad and my daughter is often there. Thank you for sharing this...
hello. thank you for sharing this , i will read the book. i have a blog of my own but the problem is that i think no one visits it! please help and visit :
http://everyonething.blogspot.com/
Thanks
Alica90
Hi Fathima, Nice blog! How to add the Glitter Effect Mouse Pointer to your Blog
hey just visit http://guidetotastyfood.blogspot.com... yum food :-)
Dear Fathima...thank you very much for your lovely piece on Nurjahan's Daughter. I am very happy that you liked the book.
A sequel to the book - Escape from Harem has just been published. You will like it as much as you liked Nurjahan's Daughter, if not more, I am sure...
Tanushree Podder
Author
May be you are the right person to ask this. I am not sure how to handle 'fiction based on history'. I was reading ponniyin selvan and I lost interest at the chapter where adita karikalan gets killed and read no further. Not because he was killed but because the gap in history was getting filled with imagination. I later learned that some characters are purely fictional too and I don't know how much of the story is imagination. It was darn good while it lasted, especially the SriLankan phase of the story. I tried plotting the locations on google map and the distances travelled sometimes seemed absurd. But I ignored it. I probably would have read the whole thing if the tag of 'based on history' was not used. It seems like an insult to both history and fiction.
Although, like you have mentioned, some of the descriptions do give plausible explanations on how life would have been and I enjoyed them (in ponniyin selvan).
Does it bother you at all that gaps in history get filled with imagination?
May be I will read this book telling myself that it is purely fictional.
Sojourner, I have come across this quite sometimes. The issue with the fictional stories based on history is that, with time, we don't have a clarity of the extent of the mix up. If we discard the whole writing(or movies too) as fiction, then no harm; but we end up believing that the fictional part is also history, that skews the facts.
But again, if we think back, how much of the history we have today is a fact - most part of it is hearsay(so left to the imagination of the person who tells it). If we go by the inscriptions or scriptures, it is being written or carved by the historians whose head was staying in the neck by the mercy of their king.
Well that is life. We tell what others want to hear.
Fair enough. I guess we get only versions of the past... just like when two people describe the same thing they might describe it differently.
Thanks.
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