- 112 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
The Djinns of Eidgah
About this book
Ashrafi and Bilal are orphaned siblings stranded and defined by the troubles in Kashmir. 18 year old Bilal is the pride of the region, part of a teenage football team set for great heights, and pushed to the limits by the violence around them. Haunted by hope, his sister is caught in the past, and Bilal is torn between escaping the myths of war and the cycles of resistance. Interweaving true stories and testimonies with Islamic storytelling, the play paints a magical portrait of a generation of radicalised kids, and a beautiful landscape lost to conflict.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access The Djinns of Eidgah by Abhishek Majumdar in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & British Drama. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
SCENE 1
A deep red Kashmiri carpet on stage. Another red carpet of exactly the same design but much larger suspended at an angle in the space. The carpets have floral designs on them. The carpet on the floor has ABBAJAAN, ASHRAFI and BILAL, sitting on their knees, looking at each other and smiling. ABBAJAAN is in his forties, ASHRAFI is seven and BILAL is twelve. Their clothes are spotlessly white.
There are two pillows on the carpet. One small and another slightly bigger. They are both green in colour with black lace-work around the borders of the pillows. The scene is lit in blue. The light must bounce off the clothes of the actors. The suspended carpet is lit to bring out the redness of the red.
ABBAJAAN gestures to the children, suggesting that they should get their pillows. They get their pillows and put them on ABBAJAAN’s lap as he sits cross-legged. They lie down facing up, looking at him. He smiles.
| ABBAJAAN: | Which one? |
| ASHRAFI: | The one in which...the one about Hamza and the flying lamps. |
| BILAL: | No...no...no (Hits ASHRAFI on the head.) We just did that one yesterday. Abbu, the one in which Hamza tries to break the illusion... |
| ASHRAFI: | (Hitting BILAL back.) But Hamza tries to break the illusion in every Dastaan! |
| BILAL: | Yes, but he never succeeds, does he? |
| ABBAJAAN: | OK... OK... OK... Shhh... Now both of you close your eyes...and we will see. If you sleep, we can have everything in our Dastaan... The flying lamps and also Hamza trying to break the illusion of war...and if all goes well, insha’Allah even succeeding at it. |
| ASHRAFI: | (Smiling and excited.) Really... Abbu... Can we have anything we want in our story? |
| ABBAJAAN: | Yes anything. Anything that you want but only if you are good children... (Like a proverb.) If the children are good, the Dastaan becomes the blanket. |
BILAL and ASHRAFI: (Quickly shutting their eyes.) And if the children are bad, the Dastaan becomes the chilling wind...
Silence. ABBAJAAN looks at them. The children pretend to shut their eyes but keep opening them to look at ABBAJAAN. ABBAJAAN looks at them and smiles. Looks up slowly.
As he looks up, the children open their eyes as well and look at the ceiling.
| ABBAJAAN: | Dastaan... Dastaan... |
BILAL and ASHRAFI: Dastaan... Dastaan... (They laugh out in excitement.)
| ABBAJAAN: | Long, long ago...in a place that is much like today. In a place much like this, in the year of the Saturn...there lived the general of the prophet/ |
| BILAL and ASHRAFI: The king...the prophet. | |
| Beat. | |
| ABBAJAAN: | And there was his general. |
| BILAL: | The gallant Amir Hamza. |
| ASHRAFI: | (Pointing at BILAL.) HAMZAAAAAAAHHHH... (She smiles.) |
| ABBAJAAN: | Shhh... |
| The children pretend to sleep again. | |
| ABBAJAAN: | ...and Hamza, the general of the Army of the prophet was fighting the army of the devil.... the evil Gulabuddin...a devil who claimed, that he...that he, may Allah forgive me...that he was Allah...And it was magicians battling magicians...and sorcerers fighting sorcerers, spells falling on spells and illusions creating more illusions...and the world was coming apart by the tricks and passions of the two armies... Hamza’s and Gulabbudin’s army of... (He looks at the children, checking if they have slept.) |
| ASHRAFI: | of... Djinns... (She smiles.) |
| ABBAJAAN softly taps her on the head. | |
| ABBAJAAN: | Yes...of Djinns. Djinns...mighty creations of the almighty...made of scorching smokeless fire...of pure passion and no reason.... And the battle raged over red skies, fiery water, watery ice, green oceans, lavender mosques and a yellow...yellow...moon. And it was illusions fighting illusions, magicians battling magicians and Djinns ravaging Djinns. |
| And it is at this point in the battle that one night, Hamza’s daughter, the little girl... the little girl Fatima came up to him, in his palace...and said | |
| ‘Abbajaan...my dear Abbajaan.’ | |
| ‘Fatima...my dear Fatima,’ replied Abbu. | |
| ‘Abbu...my dear Abbu...my flying lamps have been stolen from the palace. I saw them move away last night, slowly, very slowly on their own...with no one visible... | |
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Scene 1
- Scene 2