City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi

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The book followed his established style of historical digressions, tied in with contemporary events and a multitude of anecdotes. For Dalrymple, Delhi is a city of accumulated losses, haunted by its innumerable fallen rulers, the locus of empires that have been lost and – though not actively remembered – not quite forgotten either.

City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi

B. Lal, referred to in the ancient Indian epic The Mahabharata as Indraprastha, was in the ninth century B. The author in his discussions with Professor Lal is disappointed since as per the Professor in the ninth century B. The young gallant should never ever be seen walking on foot, and should at all times carry funds enough 'for the expenses of a palanquin' which he should regard as 'the best of all conveyances'.That civilization flourished for one thousand years undisturbed until certain people came along and denied that that great mingling had taken place. Mr Singh’s taxi stand lay behind the India International Centre, after which it took its name: International Backside Taxis. The descendants of the once mighty Mughals, now impoverished; Anglo-Indians and Britishers trying to fit into Indian society after the fall of the Raj; practitioners of traditional Unani medicine from Central Asia; sadhus; caligraphers, and eunuchs all make an appearance in the text.

City of Djinns - Wikipedia

The reason for this, said Sadr-ud-Din, was that the djinns loved Delhi so much they could never bear to see it empty or deserted.

Lodging with the beady-eyed Mrs Puri and encountering an extraordinary array of characters – from elusive eunuchs to the last remnants of the Raj – William Dalrymple comes to know the bewildering city intimately.

City of Djinns - William Dalrymple - Google Books City of Djinns - William Dalrymple - Google Books

Nor your precious Hindustan Ambassador ever again crumple in a collision—like the one we had with the van carrying Mango Frooty Drink.I think the main part of the city must probably have been to the south — through the Humayun Gate towards Humayun’s Tomb. Over the course of a year he comes to know the bewildering city intimately, and brilliantly conveys its magical nature, peeling back successive layers of history, and interlacing innumerable stories from Delhi’s past and present.