Memory of Light

Product Description

Preparations for King George the Third’s fiftieth birthday gala are in full swing in Lucknow. As poets and performers vie to be part of the show, Chapla Bai, a dazzling courtesan from Kashi, briefly enters this competitive world, and sweeps the poet Nafis Bai off her feet. An irresistible passion takes root, expanding and contracting like a wave of light. Over two summers, aided by Nafis’s friends, the poets Insha and Rangin, and Sharad, himself in love with a man, they exchange letters and verses, feeding each other the heady fruit of desire. When Chapla leaves for home, they part with the dream of building a life together. Can their relationship survive the distances?
Narrated in the voice of Nafis, Memory of Light weaves an exquisite web of conversations, songs, reminiscences around a life-changing love.

About the Author

Ruth Vanita taught at Delhi University for 20 years and is now professor at the University of Montana. She was founding co-editor of
Manushi, 1978-90. She is the author of several books, including
Love’s Rite: Same-Sex Marriages in Modern India (2005);
Gender, Sex and the City: Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India 1780-1870 (2012); and
Dancing with the Nation: Courtesans in Bombay Cinema (2017). She is the co-editor of
Same-Sex Love in India: A Literary History, and has translated many works of fiction and poetry from Hindi and Urdu to English, most notably
Chocolate: Stories on Male-Male Desire by Pandey Bechan Sharma ‘Ugra’ (2008). This is her first work of fiction. She divides her time between Missoula and Gurgaon.