Acknowledgements
Information about the princely state of Sirohi is difficult to find. The history supplied in the Afterword was gathered from conversations with Krishna Sobti and from a variety of internet resources, especially www.indianrajputs.com and www.royalark.net.
I am indebted to many people for helping make this project come to life. Asad Zaidi not only sent me a copy of the book but also helped me get permission from Krishna ji to translate the work. Mangalesh Dabral assisted greatly in these matters as well: a large dhanyavad to both gentlemen. I am very grateful to my agent, Kanishka Gupta, for facilitating the process of finding the right publisher, to my editor, Ambar Sahil Chatterjee, for his sensitive handling of the material, and to my meticulous copy editor, Rachita Raj, for all her fine-tuning. I am forever indebted to Krishna Sobti for giving me permission to translate her work and generously sharing her time when I had many questions to ask. Many luminaries come and go in Krishna ji’s sitting room, and from them I learned as well, in particular, Rupalee Verma and Ravindra Tripathy. As always, Aftab Ahmad was very helpful with sticky translation issues, as were Jasdeep Singh and Dalpat Rajpurohit. Thanks also to Manan Ahmed and Salman Hussain for their ongoing support. My Twitter community continues to be invaluable, and I am full of gratitude that I have access to such a large group of thoughtful interlocutors, despite the many evils of the platform. When all is said and done, Krishna Sobti is very difficult to translate, and any errors are very much my own. Without the support of my family, none of this work would have been possible: I am grateful to my husband, my daughter, my parents, my in-laws and my three cats for their patience and understanding.
This translation is dedicated to my daughter, Serafina, who travelled great distances and endured much to help me complete the project. Though she may not read the book for many years, she has already soaked up much of the information by sleeping off her jet lag on Krishna Sobti’s fainting couch, drinking Krishna ji’s exquisite fresh pomegranate juice and enthusiastically wearing her midnight-blue Sobti-designed outfit to special functions.
THE BEGINNING
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HAMISH HAMILTON
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Hamish Hamilton is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com
This collection published 2019
Copyright © Rajkamal Prakashan Pvt. Ltd 2016
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ISBN: 978-0-670-09119-5
This digital edition published in 2019.
e-ISBN: 978-9-353-05476-2
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A Gujarat Here, a Gujarat There Page 19