The Song of Distant Bulbuls

Simrita Dhir

ISBN 10: 9354474179 / ISBN 13: 9789354474170

Published by Speaking Tiger, 2023

About this Item

In the autumn of 1939, seventeenyearold Sammi has been married for only twentyone days when her husband, Hari Singh, an officer in the British Indian Army, is summoned to fight in WWII. The heartbroken couple bid each other goodbye. Sammi awaits Hari Singh s return in her village, Aliwala, a syncretic hamlet with Sufi bearings in the hinterland of Punjab. It is 1946 but there is no word from Hari Singh. He has been gone for nearly seven years. Caught between her two feuding brothers, Jasjit and Kirpal, the now twentythreeyearold Sammi clings to her husband s memory. India is on the brink of gaining independence from the British. Jasjit worries that independence will damage ageold communal bonds and separate him from his closest friend, Zulfi Sheikh. Meanwhile Kirpal plans to solidify his social standing by forcing Sammi to marry his boyhood friend, the influential Bachan Singh. Will Sammi be forced into a second marriage or will she find the courage to step out of the narrow alleys of Aliwala in search of a new life? Inspired by true events, The Song of Distant Bulbuls is set in a singularly turbulent time in world history. The novel poses epic questions: is happiness an elusive goal? Is love the ultimate aim of human life or a means to something else? What does it take to realize who one truly loves and how much?

Seller Inventory # 150448

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Song of Distant Bulbuls
• Publisher: Speaking Tiger
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9354474179
• ISBN 13: 9789354474170
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

In the autumn of 1939, seventeen-year-old Sammi, has been married for a mere twenty-one days, when her husband, Hari Singh, an officer in the British Indian Army, is summoned to fight in the Second World War. The deeply-in-love couple bid each other goodbye. Sammi awaits Hari Singh’s return in her village, Aliwala, a syncretic hamlet with Sufi bearings in the hinterland of Punjab.

It is now 1946. The Second World War has ended, but there is no word of Hari Singh, who has been gone for nearly seven years. Caught between her two feuding brothers, Jasjit and Kirpal, the now twenty-three-year-old Sammi, perseveres in the face of the uncertainty that looms over her.

As a determined India makes a concerted bid for freedom from the British, Jasjit worries for his sister, Sammi’s mounting agony and the rising Indian National Movement converging in his mind. Also weighing upon him is the lament that Indian Independence will sever age-old communal bonds and separate him from his brother-like friend Zulfi Sheikh.

In the changing political scenario, Kirpal seeks desperately to solidify his personal and social standing by coercing Sammi to marry his boyhood friend, the influential Bachan Singh.

Will Sammi be forced into a second marriage with Bachan Singh? Or will she muster the courage to step out of the narrow alleys of Aliwala in search of a new life?

Inspired by true events, 'The Song of Distant Bulbuls' is a moving saga of immutable love and deep friendships, human bonding and failing, set in a singularly turbulent time in world history. Spanning rural Punjab, the Princely City of Patiala and the Southeast Asian Theatre of the Second World War, the novel poses epic questions: is happiness an elusive goal? How does one know right from wrong? Is love the ultimate aim of human life or a means to something else? What does it take to realize who one truly loves and how much?