The sky had never made us laugh so hard That it should now force us to weep in recompense. - Wajid Ali Shah Gathering the Ashes is a translation of Ghadar Ke Phool. The preface by the author is from the first imprint when it was published in Hindi in 1957-58. The initial reason for collecting material on the uprising of 1857 was for a novel but as the author started collecting the material he felt dissatisfied and decided to visit the actual site where the ghadar had taken place. Since so little had been written about the ghadar, the author decided to follow the orally transmitted memories and legends that still lived on...