—Categories: book review

Book Review: City of Djinns by William Dalrymple

Author: William Dalrymple
Publishers: Penguin Books
Pages: 339

The most important thing that I felt after reading City of Djinns is that Delhi has so many worthwhile places to see, and I should some day be seeing them all. I was speaking to a friend and she expressed the same thing, and said it might takes months to see all those places just within Delhi. And another friend had a head start. He told me over the phone – ‘I have been going to Nizamuddin theses days, visiting those places in City of Djinns’.

That is the charm of the Dalrymple’s excellently written book. Sometimes it takes you right there where he is and in other times you will wish you were there. Dalrymple spends a year in Delhi researching its history and works it backwards from the days just after independence, continuing to the British era and then to Mughals. History doesn’t reveal about the days much before that and he gives up. He has done great research on the topic and the length of bibliography is a good proof of it. And in the process of his research he unearths many monuments still existing but unknown to most of us – like the Nizamuddin Darga, Tughlakh’s fort, Safdarjung’s tomb, Havelis of old Delhi to name a few. He mixes history remarkably well with current day Delhi while he describes his own experiences of living in Delhi as he does his research for the book. It succeeds in making its reader fall in love with the city and at the same time remain cautious about it. An excellent book, needless to say.

—Categories: misc

In a Hurry..

Stumbled upon this while reading Dominique Lapierre’s ‘City of Joy’, the book on Kolkata.

For Kovalski it was a marvelous observation ground. A girl came up to him, gave him a big smile and with authority… Placing a finger on his wrist, she said to him in English.

‘Dada, you must be in great hurry.’

‘Why do you thin that?’ asked Kovalski’

‘Because you have a watch.’

—Categories: misc

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After a burst of postings on India Travel Blog, there is going to be a slowdown, but just for a week. I will be travelling, and may or may not make an update or two from the road. In the meanwhile, a small sneak peek to my Rajasthan trip – an image from Pushkar.

I woke up on a cold morning in Pushkar decided to go for a walk and see the town waking up. There was hardly any activity. A few men were walking on the street and a couple of tiny shops were open making tea. I was wondering if it was worth coming out in the cold. It turned out rewarding after all. A few langurs were sitting in a huddle to escape from the morning cold, still feeling sleepy. A tiny one peeped out from it’s mother’s protections and peered at me inquisitively.