My paternal grandfather migrated to India from a small, fertile village called Malakwal in present-day Pakistan, which was hugged as he lovingly used to say-by two rivers, the Chenab and Jhelum. He could never return to those banks after Partition, and yet it felt like he always carried the rivers with him, his disposition nourished and stories painted with their memory. I hadn't thought about this in a long time until I began reading Elif Shafak's newest novel, There are Rivers in the Sky (Penguin Random House), which made me pause and wonder if, for all these decades, the rivers of my grandfather's childhood have been waiting for him to return. After all, nature remembers for far longer than humans.
This memory of water flows through the novel. It is a sweeping tale of one lost poem, two formidable rivers and three protagonists connected to one another across centuries through a single drop of water. Our heroes are Arthur, a child with extraordinary memory, born in the grime of the Thames in 1840; Narin, a Yazidi girl journeying with her grandmother from Turkey to Iraq along the war-torn lands of the ancient Tigris in 2014; and Zaleekhah, a broken-hearted hydrologist living in a houseboat in 2018 London.
Denne historien er fra September - October 2024-utgaven av VOGUE India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra September - October 2024-utgaven av VOGUE India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Current affairs
Elif Shafak’s work abounds with references, memories and a deep love of Istanbul. She talks to AANCHAL MALHOTRA about the significance of home and those who shape our recollections of the past
A drop of nostalgia
A whiff of Chanel N°5 L'Eau acts as a memory portal for TARINI SOOD, reminding her of the constant tussle between who we are and who we hope to become
Wild thing's
Zebras hold emerald-cut diamonds, panthers morph into ring-bracelets that move and a turtle escapes to become a brooch -Cartier's high jewellery collection Nature Sauvage is a playground of the animal kingdom.
Preity please
Two surprise red-carpet appearances and a movie announcement have everyone obsessing over Preity Zinta. The star behind the aughties’ biggest hits talks film wardrobe favourites, social media and keeping it real.
Honeymoon travels
Destination locked, visas acquired, bookings madewhat could stand between a newly-wed couple and pure, unadulterated conjugal bliss in some distant, romantic land? A lot, finds JYOTI KUMARI. Styled by LONGHCHENTI HANSO LONGCHAR
La La Land
They complete each other’s sentences, make music together and get lost on the streets of Paris—this is the love story of Aditi Rao Hydari and Siddharth.
A SHORE THING
Annalea Barreto and Mavrick Cardoz eschewed the big fat Goan wedding for a DIY, intimate, seaside affair that was true to their individual selves.
7 pheras around the buffet
Celebrating the only real love affair each wedding season: me and a feast.
Saving AI do
From getting ChatGPT to plan your wedding itinerary to designing your moodboard on Midjourneytech is officially third-wheeling the big fat Indian wedding
Love bomb me, please
Between breadcrumbing, cushioning and situationships, the language of romance seems to be lost in translation. SAACHI GUPTA asks, where has the passion gone?