The Kashmiri Storyteller

At the sight of the setting sun and the first whispers of the night breeze, Javed Khan pulls at the smoke in his hookah and turns to his audience. Kamal, Shashi, Anil, Madhu and Vijay always turn up at this hour, eagerly waiting for the old man to entertain them. Javed begins with grand stories of kings and princes, magical animals and treacherous traders. He tells them stories masked in all the hues and colours of his beloved Kashmir, stories of the monkey bride, the man who was swallowed by a mosquito and a beggar who angered a ghost. This collection of stories from Ruskin Bond will surely entertain and while away the evening hours just as effectively as they would have if Javed had read them out loud to the reader in person.