Shah Jahan’s love for kakris and tarbuz… the secret of Purani Haveli… Shashi Kapoor’s sweet tooth… the story behind the Pir of Bachon Ka Ghar… the miracles of the Sufi saints…the Mughal emperors’ love for Gangajal…. All this and more in this refreshing bouquet culled from the gardens of myth and truth that RV Smith has frequented for six decades to bring to his readers these stories in The Hindu and The Statesman. Smith Sahib knows the gossip and legends that spilled over in the city streets, the whispers that once floated down its lanes and bylanes... what a Delhi Christmas was like in the 1890s, how New Year was celebrated after the siege and slaughter of 1857 and how Durga Puja came to Delhi and Jaipur. These stories keep the secrets of the cities safe from being lost forever.\n\n