104th
Blog – “CITY OF DJINNS” by William Dalrymple
Some
books have a different kind of upshot among all the books that we
read throughout life. And, we want to read those books once again for
no different reason, just want to read it again. And, I'm always
eager to find out and have those all the books.
After
completing “Aleph” by Paulo, this is first time, I decided to
transit my reading from a fiction / non-fiction to a travel genre,
and I was feeling gladsome on my decision to prefer a travel
book that was delineate and well-advised by galore of my friends and
leaders. (Thank
you Sir Mudit.)
I'm
not a history buff but “CITY OF DJINNS – A year in Delhi” by
William Dalrymple though listed under the genre of travel book – It
doesn't feel like a travel book at all. It seems like a scintillating
and intelligent memoir of a year spent in Delhi. This is probably the
finest of finest book on Delhi that had been a work that was
completed with a loving and passionate research. I'm not a born and
raised Delhi-wala and born and grown up in numerous small cities of
India; but was always ablaze to ejaculate in this city – just to
know a galore of things. And truly, I was hooked by the artful
content of book so much that I didn't want to put down the book once
I started. A page turner, truly. The writing is of a fine quality,
raising clear echoes of a rich past. I was surprised to find a view
of Delhi so close to mine. While, this book takes you on a delightful
journey to all the nooks and corners of Delhi. And, undoubtedly;
William Dalrymple is simply one of the best travelogue writer.
The
book began with a discussion between WD and the Pir Baba, who share
his experience to live in Delhi from a long ago and had experienced
the Djinns in his dream one night; after fasting and praying for
forty-one days, without eating anything, half-naked in the foothills
of Himalayas and then outlaying
another
forty-one days up to his neck in the river Yamuna. He told WD about
Delhi – it is a city that was devastated and deceased seven times
and the current one is eighth and some counted it as fifteen times
and a few one said twenty one times, yes
exactly you heard me very correct – it is twenty-one times. But,
when WD meets Pir Baba then only he learned the secret that kept this
city viable and returning to new life after so many deceased. Delhi,
said Pir Baba, was a city of Djinns. Though it had been burned by
invaders again and again, still the city was re-built; each time it
rose like a phoenix [ In Greek mythology – phoenix or phenix is a
long living bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn obtaining a
new life from the ashes of its predecessor ] from the fire. All
agreed that the crumbling ruins of these towns were without number.
Set upon a period of a year of his stay in the capital, the narration
opens up beautiful aspects of Delhi, including architectures erected
in the Mughal phase, the Tughlaq phase, the British Raj; even dating
back to the times of the great
Indian epic
“Mahabharata” which has helped to bear testimony to the existence
of this city even thousands of years before Christ.
The
author WD embarks the reader upon a journey to unravel unopened
historical pages of Delhi where he has composed a great mixture of
travel writing and history. When I began to read this book I found
this book as my soul companion who opened my eyes to perceive “City
of cities” in a whole new way. And, with this book, as I turned
every page I found a new “Delhi” with an another vista. The
author provided a different snap and profiles of many residents in
Delhi, past and present. His humorous and provocative description of
how he spent a year in Delhi, with his artistic wife Olivia is
incredible. Mr. Balvinder Singh, a taxi driver of Mr. WD and who has
responsibility for Delhi show, was a notable figure, who later
befriended with William and his wife Olivia. The other two important
characters remains in book every-time and reader enjoyed to read at
times are – Mr. and Mrs. Puri – the Sikh couples that was their
landlords and who also has became friends.
While
reading the book “Our moon has blood clots” by Rahul Pandita, I
had found that Delhi is not only a city that maybe cooped in a word
besides; it has been a long popular past time. First, the people who
are refugees from Kashmir came to this place with a hope of survival
and then the Sikh refugees who came during the riots of 1984 with
same conceptualization. But, this city treated everyone very well and
as equally either he was an Emperor, or was a nomad, or was a refugee
or was a Delhi-wala. One of the first things the reader came across
through this book is that there is two main Delhi's – the great
Mughal old Delhi and the Punjabi New Delhi – each having its own
living border area. Dalrymple's love and understanding of the city is
clearly visible through the myriad stories woven together seamlessly
into the narration. He paints such a life-like picture of all the
characters that the reader instantly connects to them and basically
“gets” them.
His
dedication to the subject and the effort put in each book through
research is remarkable. It is remarkable because even a common Indian
like me didn't fail to gain new insights about the capital of my own
country. There are few non-fictions which make me feel deeply
attached to the story-teller/telling. Dalrymple beautifully makes
transitions between the story of his personal experience and the
nation's history which makes you cling to the book. This book is a
real experience, written by a true travel-writer with a genuine
passion for the history of Delhi. The book itself is extremely well
written, easy to read, and never boring. Writing a fiction and
non-fiction is something different but writing about different
journey surly need a different kind of skill and obviously Delhi need
an extra order of skill.
Some
books have the ability to transport the reader into its own world and
William Dalrymple's City of Djinns does exactly that. This travel
memoir chronicles the one year that spent in the great city of Delhi.
I recommend this book to everyone who wants to know about Delhi,
especially for the people who are passionate about the subject
“HISTORY.”
About
author - ::
Dalrymple's
affair with Delhi began when he arrived here as a callow
seventeen-year-old backpacker, and stayed on for nine months to
explore the alleys of the walled city, while working at Mother
Teresa's home for the dying and the destitute. Many years later he
was back, this time as a precociously talented travel-writer, who at
twenty-two had written a hugely successful travelogue, In Xanadu,
retracing Marco Polo's 12,000-mile route from Jerusalem to China. He
is one of the co-founders of the Jaipur Literature Festival and spent
most of his time between London, Scotland and Delhi (at his Mehrauli farmhouse
in India with his wife Olivia).
Cheers!
Dhitendra
Keep Smiling :-)
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