Translated from the original (in Urdu), Mirages of the Mind is a witty account of life in our subcontinent in the twentieth century. The characters are well fleshed out and rather endearing with all their eccentricities – from Qibla and Mirza to Basharat and Khan Sahib. We see Kanpur in the pre-partition days; then Karachi, through the eyes of the quick-tempered and intimidating Pathan, Qibla. The 90s saw this era captured in serials and telefilms, but for the most part this cultural landscape has disappeared from public memory in the twenty-first century. Attempts like this one to translate works into English are a welcome trend.