City of Djinns

Before I came to India, I had not realized that the English word ‘paradise’ was borrowed from the ancient Persian words pairi (around) and daeza (a wall). The word was brought west by Xenophon, who introduced it into Greek when describing the fabulous garden built by the Persian Emperor Cyrus at Sardis

would join Bhindranwale and fight these Hindu dogs.’

If I was a young man I

The Muslims have Pakistan. The Hindus have Hindustan. The Punjab is our home

It was a rather heroic story. When some hooligans began to break

Old Mr Puri, her husband, was a magnificent-looking Sikh gentleman with a long white beard and a tin zimmer frame with wheels on the bottom

unique institution which taught village girls how to use knives and forks,

School, India’s first etiquette college

Mrs Puri also controlled a variety of business interests

A Sikh from Lahore, Mrs Puri was expelled from her old home during Partition and in the upheavals of 1947 lost everything. She arrived in Delhi on a bullock cart.