Price: ₹325
Pages: 213
ISBN: 9789381017098
"The central character of my life was the House itself; anoldman- house as houses go ..... A larger-than-life presence,brooding and funny at the same time, it still permeates my dreams.They are situated in that house. I once resided in it, now itresides in me. I could not belong to any other."
When nine-year-old Ayman arrives in Hyderabad in the early1950sto come and live at the Hussaini Alam House, she littlerealizesthat the house, and its many inmates, will come to haunther lifeand shape her destiny as she grows to become a woman. Thehouse isruled over by her grandfather, a dignified despot, whomeveryonebut Ayman, her mother and sister, call Sarkar (master). Hermother,the eternal rebel, is irreverent, progressive and acommunist: abomb waiting to explode. Ayman herself alternatesbetween being theugly duckling of the house and its littleprincess. Huma Kidwaissensitive and vivid portraits of thecharacters who teem around theHouse, offer a window into thecustoms and mores of a traditionalHyderabadi Muslim family.Narrated by the 40- year-old Ayman as sherecalls the events of herpast, The Hussaini Alam House is an elegyto a vanished way of life,a lovesong to the people she has lovedand lost, and apsychologically nuanced portrait of the women ofthe household asthey tread a fine line between societysexpectations and their ownyearning for freedom.