The Punjab insurgency has ended, and Ludhiana is trying to emerge from the shadow of the gun. Tejpal is yet to outrun a murderous mob in his dreams. Mr Bakshi is, once more, throwing parties at his palatial home, but they can?t erase the gnawing pain of lost innocence. Gurjant Singh, once the self-styled keeper of Sikh pride, is now a mere goon for hire, and madly in love with Sweety the dancer. And childlike Kailla, always the innocent bystander, has no answers when a visit by the police shakes him out of his dreamlike existence. In this novel of interconnected lives, told with wit, empathy and understanding, Neel Kamal Puri brings alive the stories of a wounded city and its inhabitants?for whom the only way to survive is to remember to forget.