Phoolsunghi

<p><i>'Babu Sahib! You must have heard of a </i>phoolsunghi<i>--</i><i>the flower-pecker</i><i>--</i><i>yes? It can never be held captive in a cage. It sucks nectar from a flower and then flies on to the next.'</i> <p/>When Dhelabai the most popular tawaif of Muzaffarpur slights Babu Haliwant Sahay a powerful zamindar from Chappra he resolves to build a cage that would trap her forever. Thus the elusive phoolsunghi is trapped within the four walls of the Red Mansion. <p/>Forgetting the past Dhelabai begins a new life of luxury comfort and respect. One day she hears the soulful voice of Mahendra Misir and loses her heart to him. Mahendra too feels for her deeply but the lovers must bear the brunt of circumstances and their own actions which repeatedly pull them apart. <p/>The first ever translation of a Bhojpuri novel into English <i>Phoolsunghi</i> transports readers to a forgotten world filled with <i>mujras</i> and <i>mehfils</i> court cases and counterfeit currency and the crashing waves of the River Saryu.</p>