Book Review: “I’m Pregnant, Not Terminally Ill, You Idiot”, by Lalita Iyer

Lalita Iyer’s I’m Pregnant, Not Terminally Ill, You Idiot (IPNTI) is exactly the sort of book I would normally not read, but then, one does strange things when one’s expecting to become a father for the second time. And I’d glad I picked this one up since the best books are those which tell you something you already know.

If you are planning to have a baby or if you have decided to never have one but are curious to know what mothers (and fathers) go through, Iyer’s IPNTI is for you. It’ll tell you how people react in different ways once a mother-to-be announces that the stork has paid her a visit. You’ll get to know how useful (or useless) fathers can be just after the baby is born. You’ll hear the bosses’ point of view when a woman returns to work post-pregnancy. You’ll find out how other single women behave on hearing the proud announcement. What makes IPNTI especially interesting is that Iyer belongs to a westernised generation where it’s normal for a woman to give precedence to her career and not get married or delay the onset of offspring even after getting married. Not every girl who Iyer holds up as an exhibit for her readers is non-traditional, though. There are a few who got married at twenty two and had their first child at twenty three.

IPTNI comes with handy tips for every new mother and mother-to-be, on matters ranging from how to poach a good maid from your friend to the things that one can do to lose the life-giving domestic helper even if one cannot afford to. The book runs to exactly 250 pages and they flip by at an agreeable pace as one takes in the various anecdotes and accounts that make up this excellent read.

Iyer got married when she was thirty eight and became pregnant when she was forty, an age when even her mother had given up hoping. A journalist, in the past she has written for Times of India, Hindustan Times etc. Currently she is Filmfare’s managing editor.

Tipu Sultan's Rockets

Tipu Sultan may or may not have been a bigot, but he was the only Indian ruler to put up any serious opposition to British rule in India. Also, Tipu's rocket battalions were the first of their kind in the world and at the Battle of Pollilur in 1780, Tipu (with the help of his rocket battalions) managed to decisively defeat the British. Later, after the Brits defeated and killed Tipu in 1799 at the Battle of Srirangapatinam, they reverse engineered his rockets and developed the Congreve rockets for their own use. They used it against American troops during the American War of Independence. The reference to "the rockets' red glare" in the Star Spangled Banner comes from such rockets fired from British ships during the Battle of Baltimore in 1814.

Here's a an excellent Youtube video about Tipu's rockets and if you want to know more, read this wikipedia article.

Supriya Sobti Talks To Winnowed About Ragasthan

My friend Supriya Sobti, a fellow alumnus of the London School of Economics and a freelance journalist who has in the past worked for International television and radio networks including Al Jazeera English and the BBC now runs her own media house and content generation company called MOW Productions in Mumbai. An ardent traveller and music fan, she is also one of the organizers of Ragasthan, a musical extravaganza set in the sands of the Thar Desert. Having seen through the first edition, Surpriya and Co are now busy planning Ragasthan’s second edition, scheduled to be held sometime in November 2013. I managed to persuade Supriya to tell me how Ragasthan came into being and her experiences while organising it.


Winnowed: How long have you lived in Mumbai? Are you a Mumbaikar?

I was born in Mumbai so yes in that respect there’s no place else that’s more home to me than this city. Travel has always been at the core of all my activities and I’ve lived outside of Mumbai and the country for a few years. I adapt to places rather easily, so if you ask me, I’d like to call myself a true citizen of the globe.

Winnowed: How did the idea of Ragasthan come to you?

I was a festival virgin until Glastonbury happened in 2008- which till date I rate as one of my best music festival experiences ever!! I’ve been lucky because my journey into this space started off with a bang and until then, although had attended a host of concerts in halls, at parks, on the streets and by rivers, I had no idea that something like a music festival could spell a whole new world of unrestrained joy. Being at a festival with 250,000+ people was like being at an institution of some sort where music education was the main subject on offer with not only new and emerging bands but also unheard of music genres making an entry.



The spirit of camping, adventure, sharing, smiling, dancing and running from stage to stage with old friends and new to catch the next best act listed in the programme schedule cannot be explained, only felt.

I became a festival bunny, saving every penny I could to attend music festivals across England. I’ve been to festivals such as Benicàssim in Spain, Exit in Serbia, WOMAD in the UK and many more and knew someday I had to take a little more than just memories and memorabilia back home. One summer, when I was back in Mumbai on a short break, I bumped into my old college friend Keith who has similar plans and dreams and what’s better is he had a lot of Ragasthan mapped out in his head and voila….the party kicked off!

Winnowed: How did you organize the inaugural edition?

We organized the first edition of Ragasthan from the 16th- 18th of November, 2012. Well, you could call it a house party thrown in the desert for starters! But we had the most stunning location, a terrain that was probably the toughest to work with but magical to say the least. Those who made it to the first edition would know! Nothing beats sunrise in the dunes or a night’s sleep under a blanket of stars. The simplest things made for the most memorable experiences at Ragasthan.

Although we had a very small team, our friends and family have been really supportive and we are very grateful to them. A whole lot of the artists’ – local and international supported us as well and it’s that spirit of community participation that Ragasthan imbibes and thrives on. Our marketing was done guerilla style and although it was a long way off, we are grateful that people actually made the effort to get there. There certainly were times of despair, a lot of oh no moments but nothing can come in the way of an A-team.


Winnowed: Other than Keith, who are your fellow organizers?

A free spirited Anshuman Jeswal, who is into film and television production for over a decade now and a very meticulous Smriti Ahuja who has a PR and marketing background and is also Keith’s partner in their company Spiro Spero Pvt. Ltd. that designs and conceptualizes turnkey projects across the country.

Winnowed: How was Ragasthan different from the existing destination music festivals?

On many counts - Ragasthan drew people to an exotic location, was global in sensibility and design, was the largest camp out festival in India, was eco-friendly in a more proactive manner and a whole lot more.

The intention was to bring together like minded people to form a community to savor both stillness and immense energy in a magical setting with some great music, art and culture from within India and across the globe. The festival has been planned very meticulously factoring in local sensibilities, environmental concerns, rural development and a strong desire to put India on the chart of the top music festival destinations across the globe.

In our first year, we banned the use of plastic so all beverages were served in flasks (provided by Eagle Home) and not glasses thereby setting us on our path of being an eco-friendly festival. Also, given that Chai-Pani is the most basic form of Indian hospitality offerings, we ensured that tea and water were free for all on the festival site at all times. Over the next few years we plan to make optimum use of alternate energy technology to power our festival and plan to work closely with local organisations to help add to the on-going sustainable development programmes and efforts.



Winnowed: How many people attended Ragasthan’s first edition in 2012?

We saw a little over 2,000 people of which a larger chunk stayed on the festival site. We’d like to grow organically and make sure we’re logistically prepared to comfortably host everyone we have on site. So this year, we’re easily looking to double up.

Winnowed: How and why are the destination music festivals getting popular in India?

India has finally come of age with regards to music festivals and suddenly there is a lot out there which is a good thing for festival-goers and music lovers. But festivals are very different from concerts and the experience of a music festival is something that is very unique to Ragasthan.



With so many scenic locations across the country, any place can be turned into wonderland! Urban centres have only that much to offer and destination festivals give people a good enough reason to plan a get-away which will give them an experience different from the mundane. Also the fact that it brings together like-minded people in a completely new setting makes it an attractive get away for those who are looking for something out of the box to do. With a booming youth population, growth in employment, growing internet outreach, exposure to an option to conventional bollywood and a teeming indie industry - all add to the sudden burst of festivals in the scene.

Hopefully in the next few years, India will have established some great festivals of its own which will compete with the likes of Glastonbury, Coachella, Burning Man, Tomorrowland and many others that are often talked about.

Winnowed: What is the USP of your festival?

Ragasthan offers a true complete festival experience. Festivals require you to rough it out anywhere in the world - not because that’s the intention, but you're there for the music, the journey, the art, the experience.

For the artists, other than giving them a surreal setting of starry open skies and the expansive Thar desert, with the most breath-taking sunrises and sunsets from within the dunes, the festival seeks to bring talent (established and emerging) from all corners of the world and have them showcase their skills and collaborate on projects that take them beyond minds and across borders. Did you know that for the first time in India 240 artists lived together in tents in an artist village, with random jam sessions happening all through the day and night? Many artists who are friends played to each other for the first time.

The journey to the destination is a fundamental part of the RAGASTHAN experience. People car-pooling, using social media to hitchhike to the festival, plotting bike-rides, hopping on to the festival bus and then forming a convoy to RAGASTHAN is what spells the start. Camping at the festival is a big novelty as it gives all adventure enthusiasts and outdoor thrill seekers a chance to bring out their own tents and come enjoy with others in the vastness of nature. Also, with the option of luxury camping in swiss tents (with en suite bathrooms) in the desert, at a relatively affordable price, RAGASTHAN has opened the door of a music festival experience to all those who would have otherwise had to travel outside the country to try.

Above it all we believe that the vibe, the energy and the positivity is exclusive to RAGASTHAN and hard to replicate.



Winnowed: What is the experience that your music festival offers?

The experience is only limited by the legs of the festival goer. There were 4 music stages playing over 16 genres of music for a total of 70+ hours, a film screen under the stars, amidst the dunes, with mattresses laid out playing movies until the wee hours, an adventure sports zone with dune rides, hot air balloons, paintball, zorbing etc, workshops, markets, camp sites that extend a kilometer, workshops, bars, beer games, football, sand sliding, long walks, peace and quiet, all night parties for camp residents, open jam sessions the experience is endless.

RAGASTHAN brought together a whole community of people from across India and the world and had them unite for one big reason - the love of festivals.

The state of Rajasthan has long been known for its rich royal cultural heritage and ancient traditions and Ragasthan manages to capture the essence and turn it into an experience of a lifetime - something that each attendee can be proud of.

German philosopher and poet Friedrich Nietzsche, also one of the most influential of all modern thinkers once said: "You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star". In keeping with that, we have just gone on to unveil our 2013 campaign #hellocrazy

Winnowed: You are bound to have made a few mistakes while organizing Ragasthan and learnt a few lessons.

Oh yes, you live and learn. We have a lot of take home pointers from last years edition but to be fair you’re bound to have teething problems when you go out to do something of this scale, in the middle of the desert – not something ever done in this country. We didn’t have a success formula. We didn't have a how-to-do manual. We’ve made one, so this year will be a step up for sure.

Winnowed: In what ways will Ragasthan II be better than Ragasthan I?

Flow of events, logistical convenience, ease in getting around across the festival site, finger licking good food with many more happy people!

Winnowed: Is there anything you wish you could do in Ragasthan but can’t, because this is India?

We’re taking baby steps. Right now, we’re as dreamy, confident and driven as we were when we started out a few years ago albeit with a better business sense and know how. I think there’s a lot to get done and get done right before we start hitting the can’t do note.

Winnowed: Would you like to receive any help from the government in organizing Ragasthan?

Oh most definitely. Last year, we had the ICCR, the Ministry of Tourism as well as the Narcotics Control Bureau on board and hope that they’ll be a constant support.

Music, the arts and culture make for a great platform to bring people together from across the country and the globe. They transcend borders. Artists are the custodians of culture and the government must throw its weight behind festivals and events that promote the rich cultural heritage of India whilst giving everyone in the chain a platform and an opportunity to prosper.

Winnowed: How many people do you expect to attend Ragasthan II?

We’re looking at accommodating close to 5000 people in the city of Ragasthan this year! In addition to that, we’ll be doing mini festivals and run up events across the country.

Winnowed: Before we conclude, please tell me, where do you see Ragasthan in five years from now?

We’d like Ragasthan to be the buzz word amongst India’s young and festival goers world over. It’s where corporate India will meet creative India. We have so many spectacular locations within the country that we need to promote. Talent oozes from every corner and so in 5 years we’d like to see Ragasthan and India on the global map of music festivals!

Since you mustn’t believe it till you see it, here’s a little glimpse of what was….Here’s a MUST WATCH!!! Our 2012 after-trailer

The 2nd edition of Ragasthan will once again be held over a wintery November weekend with a little something for every one in the Thar Desert. You can follow more at www.facebook.com/ragasthan

A Conversation With Sonal Shah, Founder Of Koonik

My friend Sonal Shah, formerly a banker and marketing professional who worked for Kotak Mahindra Bank, was bitten by the start-up bug a couple of years ago. Turning entrepreneur, Sonal started Koonik, an online retailer of baby products. I met her recently and asked her a few questions:

Winnowed: Sonal, what prompted you to quit a secure job and start Koonik?
Sonal Shah: It’s funny actually. In 2011, my husband and I were planning to visit to California. It was going to be my niece's 1st birthday and I wanted to get her some awesome presents. I started searching for 'something good' and 'something different' but ended up dissappointed with every idea that we had. I looked both online and offline but most clothes for babies were very, very boring. Our options would start with 'Mummy's little boy' or 'Daddy's cutie' and end with a little butterfly. I went about looking for plain rompers which I could paint or print with something cool and awesome. And...well, I won't bore you with the rest of the story here. What started as a simple quest to get some awesome clothes for my niece is now, a year later, Koonik. Logically, I think I saw a gap and sat on it for a while. In fact, had my husband not supported me and been ok with us being a single income household till I set up and successfully run Koonik, I would have not been able to take the call. There were many ‘sinking feeling’ moments, but when you have family, friends and colleagues supporting you, things get relatively easier.


Winnowed: Tell us a bit about Koonik? What’s it all about?
Sonal Shah: At Koonik, we make & stock only 'Baby Safe' products. Our clothes are made from 100% soft organic cotton. We use nontoxic dyes and the entire treatment, from growing organic cotton till the final production is controlled, ensuring that nothing harmful goes onto the clothes. Organic cotton is the kind of cotton that we grew up with, much before chemicals and genetically modified seeds found their way to our farmlands. It is the kind of cotton that our Grandma would approve for our little ones!





Besides 100% Organic Cotton clothes, we also make toys. Our cotton softies do not use fur or embellishments that may irritate your baby. The wooden toys are made from Ivory Wood and are painted with natural vegetable, plant or fruit dyes.
At the heart of our efforts, is our simple philosophy – A Happy Baby and a Happy Planet! After all, this planet is where the little one will grow up in!



We launched Koonik in November 2012

Winnowed: Tell me a bit about yourself.
Sonal Shah: I have an MBA in Marketing from the K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research in Mumbai. Prior to starting Koonik, I had spent my entire professional life in the financial services industry; in marketing and digital media. After having worked for over 6 years in the banking industry, I decided that it was ‘now or never’ and decided to take the plunge and turn entrepreneur.

Winnowed: What are your hobbies?
Sonal Shah: I have many but too little time to follow all my interests actively. But I make time to go backpacking fairly regularly. I also love reading (in addition to shopping) about Indian textiles and weaves. I try and read when I find the time, but usually find time only for work related reading.

Winnowed: What would you have done if you hadn't started Koonik? Would you have continued with your salaried job?
Sonal Shah: Definitely. I loved working at Kotak and probably would have never quit had it not been for Koonik

Winnowed: Do you have any partners or are you on your own?
Sonal Shah: Am currently on my own but am now looking for a co-founder

Winnowed: Where's your office located?
Sonal Shah: As a start-up I work out of many coffee shops across the city! It’s just easier to have meetings this way. On a serious note, I have a warehouse office in Borivali and the registered office is Kandivali. I have a serious home office. So essentially I am equipped to work from almost anywhere.

Winnowed: How many employees does Koonik have?
Sonal Shah: We are a small team. 2 of us work full time on Koonik and we have a Man Friday. We have a few designers who work with us part time. But everybody loves to help entrepreneurs, so Koonik’s models are my niece Sara and my best friend’s daughter Fiana. My husband helped me with the logo, blog and photo shoot. Friends helped with design ideas and colours.

Winnowed: Who are your main competitors?
Sonal Shah: Honestly, Organic Cotton and Fair Trade are not buzz words and hence not many are in this space in India. There are a couple of brands that are doing adult clothing in the space. But in the infants’ space, other than a one off season line by Benetton (and likes) I haven’t seen too many established brands. India produces more than 50% of the world’s organic cotton but consumes less than 1%. But things are starting to change and now there are exporters of organic cotton clothing who are seeing potential in the domestic market and launching their lines. But if you look at them, they are still running print based clothing, where as Koonik is focused on the fun slice of a baby’s life designs.

Winnowed: Where are your products manufactured? Do you outsource your manufacturing?
Sonal Shah: Since we design and not just source the apparels, the products are manufactured specially for us. Our entire apparel range is certified 100% soft organic cotton. We work with manufacturers who follow a fair wage policy and have employee friendly practices.

For our toys, we work with NGOs, self-help groups and rural artisan communities. There is incredible talent in India which is wasted for the lack of exposure. Our toys come from small groups who provide livelihood, create employment and gainfully engage the community. And to top all that, these groups are incredibly professional. They are managed efficiently and are ready to scale up as the demand grows for their products.


Winnowed: Do you have a warehouse or more than one warehouse? Where are they?
Sonal Shah: I have a single warehouse at Borivali where all the inventory is stored.

Winnowed: How do you deliver orders placed online? Do you use third party couriers?
Sonal Shah: Customers can log on to www.koonik.com, go through our range, add items to the cart and choose to pay via Credit Card, Debit Card, Net Banking, Cash Before Delivery and Paypal (for international orders). However, we don’t see Koonik as an ‘Online / E Commerce’ venture. Online is a great channel to make our products available in parts of the country where there is no easy access to physical retail. People are shopping online like never before and www.koonik.com is already in place to address that market.

Our products are retailing in 10 stores across 6 cities. We have the list of stores on our site as well. We are working at increasing the number of stores so that customers can find our products at their favorite store around the corner.

Delivery is pretty straightforward. Once a customer places an order online, we ship the item/s via Bluedart or Fedex in Indian or through Indiapost internationally. The customer gets the shipping details from us enabling him/her to track the shipment.

Winnowed: Has Koonik been affected by the current economic climate? Do you expect the Indian’s economy to look up anytime soon?
Sonal Shah: We launched Koonik in November 2012, so in a way we launched in the middle of a slump. But I think it’s the best time to start a business. People are looking for innovative, different and value for money products. The key I think is to tide over difficult times as things only get easier. So in a way, if you can succeed in a slow market, you can be sure about your concept.

I can’t be really sure about the Indian economy, but like all entrepreneurs I too am hoping for a recovery soon. With elections around the corner, I think some exuberance will return as it always does in a pre-election year. However, the overall news flow still seems to be more negative than positive.

Winnowed: What are your long term plans for Koonik?
Sonal Shah: Immediate plan – we plan to hire some interns! We are having a tough time managing all the aspects of running Koonik.

We want to reach out to stores and start stocking Koonik products with them. We want Koonik to be in hundreds of stores, but we have limited stock to send out. We have a plan and a list of stores that we want to partner with and we go about that on an everyday basis. Our focus, for now, is on getting sales up so that we can reinvest the money in expanding the designs and products.

As for the future, we want to expand our range, designs and product categories. We see Koonik as a ‘sustainable’ kiddie brand and there is much to do in the category. In the long term, I want to see Koonik become the most exciting and fun children’s clothing brand in the country.

Winnowed: Would you say that your previous jobs and work experience have helped you in starting Koonik?
Sonal Shah: Absolutely. In fact it is like Steve Job’s famous ‘connect the dots’ anecdote. Every single thing I did at work in the past has helped me with Koonik be it understanding web technologies, vendor management, online marketing and even writing. Once I had decided to try my hand at entrepreneurship, I told my then bosses about my plan. All of them were very supportive and in fact encouraged me to take the plunge. A lot of people tell me that you need huge guts to give up a fairly successful corporate career and start out from scratch on your own, but I think more than guts, it needs a great support system.

In addition to this, having the jobs I did, helped me build savings that I have been able to invest in Koonik and also the comfort that ‘I do not need money for survival’ in the short term. This in turn gave me the ability to take a chance at being an entrepreneur.

Winnowed: Do you regret not having started Koonik even earlier in your life?
Sonal Shah: No regrets at all! Everything has a time and Koonik’s time is now. Ofcourse I do wish that I had started with a co-founder right at the beginning. But at that point, I think I was a bit foolhardy in believing I could manage on my own, plus finding someone with similar values would have been tough. (Koonik strongly focuses on Fair Trade)

Winnowed: Now that you are your own boss, have your working hours reduced?
Sonal Shah:I think the idea of working for oneself is slightly over rated. You need to be extremely self motivated to deal with all the mundane issues that crop up; the ones you take for granted while working at a corporate. According to me it’s tougher running your own venture – and I’ve seen both sides. Having said that, being a self funded start up, the most amazing thing is your company’s ability to be agile and make changes and move quickly to suit the environment. Also the amount of creative flexibility that your own venture can offer, I don’t think can be matched by a corporate job. Do the hours reduce – definitely no! In fact I have worked on almost all weekends and holidays. But being self- employed does offer you a degree of flexibility. I choose to have meetings during off peak hours so that I can avoid traffic, hence save significant amount of time. Overall I think I end up saving the unproductive travel time, but that’s about it. I am always at work!

Winnowed: Is there anything the government could do to help entrepreneurs like you?
Sonal Shah:Make everything a one window approach instead of having entrepreneurs go to various govt. agencies, offices, websites and people to get started. Also, I really would love to see all the filings become just one filing.

Winnowed: Would you be open to VC funding for Koonik?
Sonal Shah: At Koonik, we have many ideas but we are only limited by resources as I am investing our savings in Koonik. I know we will have to choose between slow and steady growth and accepting investors who will give us the money to expand the brand and the market. I want to make sure that we partner with the right people who share our vision and work with us to grow Koonik. We are evaluating both approaches.

Book Review: The Twentieth Wife, by Indu Sundaresan

You can’t help but like Indu Sundaresan’s Mehrunnisa. Just like Maria in Sound of Music, Mehrunnisa is both mischievous and honest, revolutionary as well as dutiful. Far too intelligent for a woman of her times, we are talking late sixteenth century here, Mehrunnisa is her father’s favourite child though she is neither a boy, nor his first born. It’s love at first sight for Mehrunnisa as it is for Prince Salim, aka Jahangir. Mehrunnisa sees Jahangir for the first time at Jahangir’s wedding ceremony as he marries his first wife, Man Bai, a Rajput princess. Mehrunnisa is only eight and she thinks Jahangir is beautiful. She is a constant visitor to the zenana, thanks to fact that Ruqayya Sultan Begum, one of Akbar’s favourite queens, likes her. As she grows older, Mehrunnisa gets to know of Jahangir’s vices – he is addicted to drink and opium, but she continues to adore him.

Jahangir on the other hand sees Mehrunnisa for the first time after she is engaged to be married to Ali Quli, a Persian soldier. ‘Ya Allah! Was he in Paradise? Words from the Holy Book came unbidden to his mind………………………She was all that and more………………..The girl sat on the edge of a goldfish pond, her feet dangling in the water. It was a heat-smothered day, but the courtyard was cool. …………………………….Salim fell headlong in love with a pair of surprised blue eyes.’

One of the best things about Sundaresan’s The Twentieth Wife is her depiction of the state of women in those times and how Mehrunnisa had an uphill fight on her hands at all times. Well-educated, thanks to her father, Mehrunnisa realises very early on that women in the Emperor’s zenana wield more influence than women anywhere else, though they face a number of restrictions too. The harem could play as much a role in influencing the Emperor as the royal court did, especially when the Emperor is the easily influenced, wine/opium addict Jahangir. If history records Mehrunnisa to be a calculating and conniving woman, Sundaresan’s Mehrunnisa is an impulsive girl who doesn’t hesitate to flirt with Jahangir in the hope that Jahangir would persuade his father Emperor Akbar to cancel Mehrunnisa’s engagement to Ali Quli and allow her to marry Jahangir instead. We even see Mehrunnisa intentionally spill a goblet of wine on Jahangir just to make sure he notices her – this happens at the time of Mehrunnisa’s neice Arjumand’s bethrothal to Prince Khurram, the betrothed parties were later known as Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan. Mehrunnisa is very much married to Ali Quli when she does the wine spilling. When one finally gets to the kissing scenes, by this time Mehrunnisa is a widow and a lady-in-waiting to Ruqayya Sultan Begum, we see a proactive Mehrunnisa kiss Jahangir and seduce him.

To top it all, Mehrunnisa knows her price. After Jahangir finally succumbs to her charms and offers to make her his concubine, Mehrunnisa rejects him. No, a concubinage won’t do. Mehrunnisa wants to be a wife, though she’s gonna be the twentieth one. As we all know, Mehrunnisa did get what she wanted.

The story ends immediately after Mehrunnisa weds Jahangir and is bestowed the title Nur Jahan, with the result that we don’t see Mehrunnisa running the empire in Jahangir’s name, as Jahangir spent his days intoxicated with wine and opium, though Sundaresan does show Mehrunnisa dying to play politics and be an administrator even before she marries Jahangir – we see Mehrunnisa wondering why the Emperor doesn’t play the Portuguese against the English. I understand that Sundaresan’s subsequent novel The Feast of Roses is all about Mehrunnisa’s reign after she marries Jahangir. The third book in the Taj Trilogy, Shadow Princess, is the story of Jahanara, Mehrunnisa’s grandniece and Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal’s daughter.

Wars of succession and rebellions by princes wanting to take the crown before the death of their father were common during Mughal times, a practice which actually started with Jahangir. Jahangir failed to win the crown by force and even as he revolted against Akbar, his son Khaurau was making plans to jump the queue and become King. Sundaresan’s book depicts these fights and the various schemes and plots that go with them, pretty well.

Sundaresan writes well, her language simple, but still elegant and even poetic at the right places. Sundaresan’s Mehrunnisa is a lovely lady, beautiful and honest, though impetuous. In one instance, we see Mehrunnisa, in a fit of anger, throw a gold bangle gifted by Jagat Gosini to her daughter Ladli, into a well. Other characters like Jagat Gosini, Ruqayya Sultan Begum, Ali Quli and Jahangir himself are equally well sketched, in depth. The rivalry between Jagat Gosini and Mehrunnisa is especially interesting, since very early on, Jagat Gosini sees a rival in Mehrunnisa for Jahangir’s affections. Mehrunnisa’s father Ghias Beg is another excellent portrayal by Sundaresan. At first we get the feeling that Ghias Beg is a noble and honest man, but later we see that he too has feet of clay.

If there was one thing about The Twentieth Wife that I didn’t like, it is the manner in which Jahangir’s interest in Mehrunnisa waxes and wanes and Mehrunnisa catches Jahangir’s attention time and again, only to run away like a frightened doe at the last minute, though she has been wanting to become his queen since she was eight. Of course, Sundaresan offers various explanations for such capricious behaviour, but I didn’t buy most of it. As mentioned earlier, Jahangir sees Mehrunnisa for the first time when she is already engaged to marry Ali Quli. Jahangir is bewitched and bedazzled by Mehrunnisa, but does not make any effort to find out who she is or pursue her. Mehrunnisa keeps hoping that Jahangir would contact her and arrange for her engagement to Ali Quli to be called off, but nothing happens. A few days later at a Mina bazaar, a veiled Mehrunnisa manages to catch Jahangir’s attention once again, when she audaciously frees two pigeons she was meant to be holding for him, but nothing much happens after that. A few weeks later, a third meeting takes place, this one arranged by Ruqayya Sultan Begum, who hopes that ‘some sense could be drummed into them’. I couldn’t figure out why Ruqayya Sultan Begum would think a meeting would make the couple come to their senses. This time they kiss, Jahangir tells Mehrunnisa that she smells of roses, Mehrunnisa tells Jahangir that her mother makes rose water for their baths and other silly stuff as may be expected in such circumstances. Finally Jahangir offers to send a proposal to her house through the Emperor. As I expected Mehrunnisa to jump with joy, she tells Jahangir that it wouldn’t work, that she is already engaged. Mehrunnisa is worried that breaking off her engagement will dishonour to her father!

Many years pass before Mehrunnisa meets Jahangir again. Jahangir has finally become Emperor, Mehrunnisa has become the mother of a girl and Mehrunnisa's husband Ali Quli has fallen afoul of the Emperor, having sided with Jahangir’s son Khusrau as he rebelled against Jahangir. Mehrunnisa’s neice Arjumand’s is getting engaged to Prince Khurram. Jahangir doesn’t even remember Mehrunnisa and Mehrunnisa needs to spill a goblet of wine on Jahangir to make him notice her. And notice her he does – ‘she had an aristocratic nose, rosebud lips and a slender frame. The court painters would die for a sitting. Her breasts heaved under the silk choli. She was blushing, the colour lending her charm.’ Jahangir is bewitched enough to invoke the Tura-i-Chingezi, the law of the Timurs, whereby any man could be ordered to give up his wife for the King.

We are told that the invoking the Tura-i-Chingezi is an honour for the man ordered to give up his wife and that it would be unusual to invoke it on a rebel like Ali Quli. Nevertheless, Jahangir goes ahead with his plan, though he is warned that Ali Quli would not feel so honoured and might resist. And resist he does, in the process killing the Governor of Bengal, Qutubuddin Khan Koka and getting himself killed. The soldiers who were with Koka ransack Ali Quli’s house and Mehrunnisa is nearly killed or raped! You would think Governor Koka would be properly briefed by Jahangir regarding the object of his affection and that some contingency plans would be made to secure Mehrunnisa, but you would be wrong. If a brave man named Haider Malik had not taken it on himself to protect Mehrunnisa, the Mughal empire’s history, as narrated by Sundaresan, would be different!

It takes Mehrunnisa six months to reach safety, with Haider Malik’s help. Once again she becomes Ruqayya’s lady-in-waiting in the zenana, where she stays put for four years, during which time Jahangir makes no effort to contact her. When a meeting does happen, it is fixed by Ruqayya Sultan Begum, this time because she wants Jahangir to meet Mehrunnisa and induct her into his harem as a rival to Jagat Gosini. We are told that Jahangir ‘was stuck dumb by the sight of her. Four long years. And every day he had thought of her, every night she had come to his dreams. He had known she was in the zenana, but had not gone to seek her.’ But once Jahangir sees Mehrunnisa, all caution is thrown to the winds and a courtship ensues, during which we see Mehrunnisa resist Jahangir, ask for a week’s time to decide and then finally accept Jahangir, only to reject him again when she is offered concubinage rather than marriage.

I was conscious of the fact that Sundaresan’s writing was constrained by history as it actually happened. For example, history does record that when Jahangir finally married Mehrunnisa, she had been in his court for four years. Thus, it is not possible for Jahangir to have married Mehrunnisa as soon as she got back to the zenana after Ali Quli’s death.

Amongst books set in the Mughal period, I would rate The Twentieth Wife much higher than the first two books in Alex Rutherford’s Mughal Quintet, namely “Empire of the Moghul – Raiders From The North” and Brothers At War. I think Dirk Collier’s The Emperor’s Writings is a much better book than The Twentieth Wife, but then, The Emperor’s Writings is a work of non-fiction and its air of authenticity cannot be matched by a work of fiction. It is not uncommon for fiction writers to take extreme liberties when writing fiction based on well known historical figures. For example, in Tariq Ali’s novel based on Saladin the Great, which is part of his Islam Quintet, Ali tells us that crusaders attacked and sacked Mecca. Sundaresan doesn’t take such extreme liberties with her narration.

To sum up, on the whole, The Twentieth Wife is a good read and gives the reader a genuine feel of life in the days of the Mughals.