New Books Network Neelum Saran Gour, "Requiem in Raga Janki" (Penguin Viking, 2018)
Feb 4, 2026
Neelum Saran Gour, prolific novelist and award-winning scholar from Allahabad, reimagines the life of Hindustani singer Janki Bai Ilahabadi. The conversation traces Janki Bai’s rise from hardship to musical fame. It explores music lore, the social world of early 20th-century north India, language choices, and the novel’s vivid sense of place.
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From Sweet-Shop Daughter To Star Singer
- Neelum Saran Gour recounts Janki Bai's origin from a poor halwai family and an assault that left her famously nicknamed Chhappan Chhuri.
- Despite disfigurement and brothel danger, Janki trained under Hassu Khan and rose to stellar classical fame.
Stardom's Price
- Gour recounts Janki's career: performing in princely houses, discarding the curtain, and becoming a gramophone-age star whose records sold widely.
- Fame brought wealth but also personal ruin: a troubled marriage, adopted son lost to drugs, and solitude.
Character Intertwined With City And Era
- Requiem in Raga Janki merges character, city, and age so the protagonist carries place and time within her.
- Gour says she surrendered to the subject and let the novel 'breathe its own time' rather than craft it academically.
