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City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi

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An interview with the Crown Princess - the last in line of the Mughals who founded Delhi. (See comment 14 for more info.)

City of Djinns : A Year in Delhi - Softcover - AbeBooks

This was all very admirable, but the hitch, we soon learned, was that she expected her tenants to emulate the disciplines she imposed upon herself. One morning, after only a week in the flat, I turned on the tap to discover that our water had been cut off, so went downstairs to sort out the problem. Mrs Puri had already been up and about for several hours; she had been to the gurdwara, said her prayers and was now busy drinking her morning glass of rice water. Moreover the city - so I soon discovered - possessed a bottomless seam of stories: tales receding far beyond history, deep into the cavernous chambers of myth and legend.In the end one is left with the same paradox confronted by lovers of Wagner: how could someone with such objectionable views and so insular a vision have managed to produce such breathtaking works of art? Here was a man capable of building some of the most beautiful structures created in the modern world, but whose prejudices blinded him to the beauty of the Taj Mahal; a man who could fuse the best of East and West while denying that the Eastern elements in his own buildings were beautiful. Although parts of the city still preserved the ways of the Mughal period or even the early Middle Ages, Delhi was nevertheless changing, and changing fast. I cannot recommend this book highly enough....and I cannot recommend it to enough people. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't love it. Throughout all this Dalrymple himself becomes much more than an observer, constantly trying to make connections (sometimes stretching to do so). Indeed, he even finds a personal connection with the city’s past in his wife’s ancestor William Fraser. In Delhi, right of way belongs to the driver of the largest vehicle", shows he wrote the book with exceptional observation.

Travel Reviews: City Of Djinns – Book | Travel.Earth Travel Reviews: City Of Djinns – Book | Travel.Earth

Some said there were seven dead cities of Delhi and that the current one was the eighth; others counted fifteen or twenty-one. All agreed that the crumbling ruins of these towns were without number. But where Delhi was unique was that, scattered all around the city, there were human ruins too…All the different ages of man were represented in the people of the city. Different millennia co-existed side by side. Minds set in different ages walked the same pavements, drank the same water, returned to the same dust.” If you think it is bad now,’ said Mr Lal, taking my application. ‘You should see this office on Fridays. That’s the busiest time.’ My name is Sunil Gupta—please call me Sunny.’ He strode forward and grabbed Mr Lal by the hand, shaking it with great verve. Colonial nostalgia and exoticism is STRONG in this famed account of Delhi. The author's fluid style is a veneer for the ideology underneath. I do not blame the author for writing with the lens of colonial nostalgia; I am simply identifying that he is clearly pandering to audiences the likes of which revel in the "glory" of the Empire. In the introduction itself (2017 edition), WD mentions how CoD is his first best-selling book in India. I think he was as surprised by this outcome as I am; since serious readers of Indian history and/ or readers aware of post-colonial paradigms will be thoroughly disappointed. Horoscopes. These are incredibly important to many people in India, especially around marriage decisions. Even the date of the wedding has to be astrologically chosen, and this can result in wedding jams, with everyone trying to get married at more or less the same time.Subjects studied included Muslim jurisprudence and Quranic studies, and probably astronomy and medicine too. Having your own original opinions was clearly a major flaw in a mirza and, just to be on the safe side, the Mirza Nama offers a few acceptable opinions for the young gentleman to learn by heart and adopt as his own. Among flowers and trees he should admire the narcissus, the violet and the orange..... A gentleman 'should not make too much use of tobacco' but 'should recognise the Fort in Agra as unequalled in the whole world (and)...must think of Isfahan as the best town in Persia.' Throughout all this Dalrymple himself becomes much more than an observer, constantly trying to make connections (sometimes stretching to do so). Indeed, he even finds a personal connection with the city’s past in his wife’s ancestor William Fraser. Teeth-grinding horror episodes of 84 Sikh riots and his conviction to discovery truth behind the story of Mahabharata capture imagination to seemingly endless degree.

City of Djinns - Wikipedia

This is a painstakingly researched book written by William darlymple with a great deal of love and imparting a lot of dignity to the people of Delhi, both, the ones who left and refugees who have tried to make a home here. The old Delhiwallahs who are still feeling exiled and heartbroken, In far-away places, and the resettlers who are trying to make themselves worthy of this city by building expensive but ugly new Havelis of their own, will find their voice and their pain reflected in this book. It’s a must read for anyone who left a place they knew to make a life somewhere else. Read more AS WAS HER HABIT, Indira Gandhi had toast and fruit for breakfast. It was 31 October 1984 and the bougainvillaea was in flower. City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi is a fascinating book by British author William Dalrymple. Released in 1993, it was the result of a year-long stay in New Delhi, and explores the centuries of history present in the city. Part memoir and part travelogue, it paints an engaging and informative portrait of this age-old city. I greatly enjoyed reading the book and would recommend it interested students of Indian History-ancient, medieval, and modern. Long live the story of Delhi. Let's begin with disclaimers, they seem to do good. Here it goes: I found a lot of merits within the book to write home about, as I proceed to do below. It's just that I didn't enjoy it a whole lot nonetheless, due to reasons again enlisted below. As always, the rating, that superficial device, reflects how much I enjoyed the work rather than being any attempt to judge intrinsic value for that'd be plainly wrong and extremely misguided.

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And then, quite suddenly, on the very edge of the dark abyss of prehistory, ancient Delhi is dramatically spotlit, as if by the last rays of a dying sun. The light is shed by the text of the greatest piece of literature ever to have come out of the Indian subcontinent: the Mahabharata, the great Indian epic.

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