book review of delhi
TRANSCRIPT
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7/30/2019 Book Review of Delhi
1/4
The book moves backwards and forwards in time
through the history of delhi. It has as its
backdrop the story of a journalist fallen on bad
times (possibly an autobiographical figure) andhis relationship with ahijra (eunuch)named
Bhagmati.
This vast, erotic, irreverentmagnum opuson the
city of Delhi starts with the narrator,
suggestively Khushwant Singh himself, just
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(South_Asia)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masterpiecehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masterpiecehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(South_Asia) -
7/30/2019 Book Review of Delhi
2/4
Bhagmati, whom he literally picks up from a
deserted road on a hot Delhi summer noon. Having
no place to go after completing her jail sentence
in the dreadedTihar Jail(probably for selling
sex), she begs to be taken under his wing. Thekindsardarobliges, and thus begins a wonderful
relationship of ups and downs in the narrators
life. Bhagmati, neither male nor female but
possessive of great exotic sex appeal, vitalizes
his life amidst the majestic remains of Delhi in its
heyday, and even saves the narrator's life fromthe mad mobs of the 1984anti-Sikh riots.
Displaying his trademark gift of literal humour
and a professional historians control over
narration, the writer takes turn, chapter by
chapter, on the history of the great city and hisown sexual exploits and misadventures
with vilaity mems and lonely army wives whom he
is supposed to showdelhi, other eccentric
journalists, editors and bureaucrats, a half-mad
Sikh ex-army driver, a fanatic gurudwara bhaiji,among many other colourful characters. All the
while the narrator travels through times Delhi
has seen, telling us in a most interesting manner,
as the first person, all the while the narrator
t avels th ough times Delhi has seen telling us in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tihar_Jailhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Sikh_riotshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurudwarahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurudwarahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Sikh_riotshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tihar_Jail -
7/30/2019 Book Review of Delhi
3/4
Shah,TaimurandAurangzebetc. who plundered
and destroyed her, and toMeer Taqi
MeerandBahadur Shah
ZafarwhomDelhidestroyed; he looks through the
eyes of semi-historical characters like Musaddi
LalKayasth, aHinduconvertworking under the
hostileGhiyas ud din Balbanin the fourteenth
centurythe dawn of theMughal Empire, right up
to Nihal Singh, aSikhmercenarywho settles his
historical score with theMughalsby helping
theBritishin crushing theSepoy Mutinyof 1857
the sunset of the Mughal empire, Mrs. Alice
Aldwell, the wife to an English civil servant who
converts toIslamto escape persecution (but still
gets raped), the dynamic, inventive and
shrewdPunjabientrepreneurs who won the British
contracts to buildLutyens's Delhi (Sir Sobha Singh,
the writer's father, was one such person), to an
angry young Hindu youth whose sister was
abducted and raped in Pakistan, and has been
disposed-of fromWestern Punjabduring
thePartition of India, looking for some work ends
up signing up withRashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh(RSS) and takes revenge by inflicting
violence upon Delhi Muslims and accidentally
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadir_Shahhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taimurhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurangzebhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meer_Taqi_Meerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meer_Taqi_Meerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahadur_Shah_Zafarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahadur_Shah_Zafarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayasthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_conversionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghiyas_ud_din_Balbanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mughal_Empirehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercenaryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mughalshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Irelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjabi_peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Lutyenshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Sobha_Singhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistani_Punjabhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashtriya_Swayamsevak_Sanghhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashtriya_Swayamsevak_Sanghhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashtriya_Swayamsevak_Sanghhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashtriya_Swayamsevak_Sanghhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistani_Punjabhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Sobha_Singhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Lutyenshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjabi_peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Irelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mughalshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercenaryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mughal_Empirehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghiyas_ud_din_Balbanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_conversionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayasthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahadur_Shah_Zafarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahadur_Shah_Zafarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meer_Taqi_Meerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meer_Taqi_Meerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurangzebhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taimurhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadir_Shah -
7/30/2019 Book Review of Delhi
4/4
The novel ends with the terrorized narrator
watching hisSikh neighbours mercilessly burnt
aliveby people angered due to the killing ofIndira
Gandhiby her Sikh guards.
Mr. Khushwant Singh claims it took him almost
twenty-five years to complete this novel. He
dedicates it to his son Rahul Singh and Niloufer
Billimoria. 'History provided me a skeleton', he
jokes, 'I covered it with flesh and injected blood and
a lot of seminal fluid into it'.
Urdu Translation:
This novel was Urdu translated by Irfan Ahmad
Khan, Lahore, Pakistan.Khushwant Singh himself
allowed Irfan Ahmad Khan to recover royalty of
his unauthorised publications from the publishers
of Pakistan. Urdu translation publications in
October-1998, April-1999,January-2000,May-2000,
February 2005.
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