City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi

I learnt a lot of my city of birth from WD’s extremely well researched and superbly written mini classic. Thanks

This is an excellently written story of the Delhi that few of us know about. Dalrymple has delved deep into the historical facts to find out the true provenance of many of archeological and architectural remains to be found all over Delhi. His love for the city is evident in the pains he took in his sojourn. An excellent read for anybody visiting the city and those who want to know more about it.I am taking one star for the badly produced Kindle edition, which has numerous typos. It seems to be hastily scanned and published without proper editorial control.

_City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi_ by William Dalrymple is an excellent portrait of a fascinating city. I have to admit, having read a few travel essay books on India that the image I had of the city was of a fairly uninteresting place, a "city of gray bureaucracy" as the author put it. Dalrymple showed me just how wrong I was in this intimate depiction of Delhi, past and present. One of the first things the reader learns in this book is that there is more than one Delhi. The two main Delhis are Mughal Old Delhi and Punjabi New Delhi, each keeping largely to itself, each "absolutely certain of its superiority over the other." Old Delhi has been inhabited for thousands of years, its Urdu-speaking elite (both Hindu and Muslim) having lived in the city for many centuries, the city an ancient one of sophistication and culture, though also a city in severe decline, with many of its once magnificent palaces, gardens, tombs, and mosques, once examples of the "silky refinement" of Mughal architecture now crumbling into ruin, decaying into "something approaching seediness." Many of its citizens are among the last to practice trades dating back to Mughal times, and a large number of them live in exile in Pakistan. In contrast, New Delhi is a growing, booming, bustling city of hard-working nouveau-riche entrepreneurs, largely comprised of people whose roots only go back to the catastrophic days of Partition in 1947, when hundreds of thousands of Punjabi Sikh and Hindu refugees poured into the city. Though I did not get a sense of great conflict between the two Delhis, there was some tension; there are those Old Delhi elites who regard the Punjabi colonizers as unrefined, unsophisticated, vulgar, and even boorish, while there are Punjabis who despise the residents of Old Delhi as "effeminate, slothful, and degenerate." There are however really more than just two Delhis; some count seven Delhis (the current New Delhi being the eighth), while others count 15, 20, or even more. Even New Delhi is he wrote in 1989 not that new; it is a "groaning necropolis, a "graveyard of dynasties." Many different centuries exist side by side, making it a city "disjointed in time," a city of nouveau-riche Punjabi immigrants of the latter part of the 20th century co-existing with Anglo-Indians from the days of the Raj and fakirs, sadhus, and even eunuchs (which really surprised me) that would have been at home during the days of the Mughals. Dalrymple takes the reader to the many amazing sights and experiences of all the Delhis. He visited a Sufi enclave, positively medieval in character, home to mystic dervishes sought by all manner of pilgrims for enlightenment, for prayer, for salvation from djinns, which many - even Sikhs and Hindus - believed in. Dalrymple spent time and effort trying to penetrate the enigmatic society of eunuchs; no longer guarding Mughal harems, they have a complex and hidden society, complete with territories, India and Pakistan-wide council of eunuchs, and a Central School of Dance, where eunuchs learn folk, traditional, and modern dance, performing at households that have had weddings or births (informed of such by their network of informants), their presence seen as both a blessing and a curse. He visited festival celebrations such as Dusshera, the Hindu feast celebrating the victory of Lord Ram over the demon Ravanna, Dilwali, the Hindu festival of lights, and al-vida, "the goodbye," the last Friday of the fast of Ramadan, a major event in the Old City. He journeyed to see pigeon fanciers (a passion of the long gone Mughal court), partridge fights (another Mughal tradition), old Anglo-Indian families (who came to suffer the worst racial prejudice of both Indians and British, most having emigrated to America, Canada, and Australia, the few that remained were as he wrote "the optimistic, the old, or the nostalgic", staying on despite some remaining Indian resentment as well as increasing poverty), and a hakim clinic (hakims being Muslim doctors practicing ancient Greek and Unani medicine, the latter of which was derived from heretical Nestorian Christians, fleeing to Sassanid Persia to avoid Byzantine Empire persecution, passing on their knowledge to the Persians, who in turn passed those skills to early Arab conquerors of Islam, who brought their skills to Central Asia and then eventually to India when refugees fleeing Genghis Khan arrived in the subcontinent in the 13th century). In addition to a tour of places in Delhi, as one might gather the author covered a great deal of history, interweaving it in a skillful manner as it related to his various travels and encounters. Much of the history covered Mughal times though he also covered at length the Raj, Partition, and even as far back as the incredibly ancient times of the great Hindu epic _Mahabharata_, an ancient epic much like the Greek _Iliad_, which like the _Iliad_ has some basis in fact, though it became a story that imposed much later and more elaborate material culture (among others things) from the 4th century AD on what were events that originally transpired in the 9th century BC. The author provided detailed profiles of many residents of Delhi, past and present. Mr. Balvinder Singh, was a notable figure, an "individualist who believes in the importance of asserting himself," a taxi driver who befriended William and his wife Olivia, a hilarious character to read about at times. Also important were Mr. and Mrs. Puri, the Sikh couple that was their landlords and who also became friends, and Dr. Yunus Jaffrey, a gentle scholar of classic Persian, an expert on Mughal times. Notable past figures included the murderous tyrant Sultan Tughluk, the 14th century Moroccan adventurer Ibn Battuta, the highly artistic but brutally cold-blooded Shah Jehan (he constructed the Taj Mahal), William Fraser (an early 19th century Scot who styled himself a local ruler; Dalrymple compared him to Mr. Kurtz from _Heart of Darkness_), and Sir Edwin Lutyens (a fabulous architect who was regrettably quite racist).

I enjoyed this novel . If you have a passing interest in India's fascinating history, you will find it a light but interesting read. Or if you wish to visit the sub-continent and Delhi, it will illuminate your understanding of this complex city. Dalrymple tells the story of a city that has been ruled by Mughals, Sikhs, Hindus, the British and more recently regained its independence. I read it swiftly. Pleasant narrator/author, who added depth to the history, by plumping out past historical figures and including current day Delhi-wallahs in their daily life. I would recommend this novel.

This isn't a guide book. Or a clever fiction that if fun to read because it takes place where you happen to be traveling. This is an deep dive into some hidden aspects of an ancient and fascinating city. Much of which is barely visible in this very modern city, but is still important - essential even - to understanding Delhi.I was lucky enough to read this book while living in Delhi for a year myself. Certain aspects of the city the book covers, like the eunuchs, and part-British Indians are largely faded from the landscape.. many only there if you look hard enough like Dalrymple does. Even if you don't experience them directly, they give context to certain areas of the city... places you might pass over without a second glance take on a whole different perspective.If nothing else stood out from the books, the writers take on the riots after Indira Gandhi's death are worth the read. The subtle undercurrents of tension in India can often be lost on the casual observer. But if you want to understand this complex city, it's worth learning the harshest parts. Often history glosses over the dark parts, but this book dives right in. After all, the Djinn's are the ghosts that make the city what it is. Don't get stuck on the modern veneer, take this book with you and explore the rich and complicated history of Delhi.

Dalrymple is a great story-teller and has is clearly extremely knowledgeable about India. This book offers an interesting perspective on Delhi - I never knew it had such a rich history. That being said the book is a bit winding - not based on any particular chronological order but on Dalyrymple's time spent in Delhi. Nonetheless he presents stories and aspects of Delhi that would otherwise be missed - I think there's a great opportunity to have a Delhi city tour based on this book!

LIKE ALWAYS MEDIMOPS DELIVERY VERY NICE BOOKS

My septuagenarian father-in-law has the heart of a wanderer. So much so that when he first visited my hometown, he used his habitual morning walks to explore various parts of the locality. Like most Indians of his generation, he had never stepped out of his home state till then. So, when he visited the southern part of the country for the first time, he was excited by all the sights he witnessed – cows being milked on the streets, women adorning front yards with rangolis, temples and mosques opening in those wee hours for early morning prayers, restaurants offering fresh filter coffee, etc. Even now, years after that visit, he fondly recalls all those sights and speaks glowingly about the ancient traditions prevailing in my hometown.I often compare myself with him – a man of his age preferring to explore by walking around, in places he doesn’t know, amidst people that speak languages he doesn’t understand. Myself on the other hand, young and with energy, a polyglot to boot, preferring to use private vehicles or book taxis to move around in new places, going from one point to another, seldom stopping to breathe in all that is new and peculiar about that place. He is a traveler by heart, while I am an ordinary tourist, a stranger even in my own place, never having wavered from routes that took me to my college or office, never having seen a major part of my own hometown!The world, luckily for moored mortals like me, is filled with travelers like my father-in-law, people that step into the streets, take in all that smell and sights, get acquainted with the local customs and culture, be a part of the milieu and become one with it. Many such travelers have been able writers too, who could soulfully share their experiences so that people like me could feel a vicarious pleasure. William Dalrymple is one such traveler, an able historian and an interesting writer, full of anecdotes and cutting wit. When he writes a book about his first visit to Delhi, a city with a history that is as old as one of India’s greatest epics, if not more, you can expect it to be a great treat. And, a delight this turned out to be!First published in 1993, during a period when India was soaking up the effects of globalization and privatization, the book recounts Mr. Dalrymple’s arrival in India for the first time, along with his wife, and stay for about a year before his return to his homeland for a brief visit. The book contains two strands. One strand follows Mr. Dalrymple’s arrival, his experience with the prevailing bureaucracy, the quirks of Indians stuck in the transition from the so-far cloistered Indian society, marked by the docile Doordarshan, to the ‘liberal’ Western culture, epitomized by half-clad VJs of MTVs and V Channels. The strand is made colorful by the presence of some interesting characters. His flirtatious landlord and the mildly-grumpy-often-friendly landlady, Mr. and Mrs. Puri, Balvinder Singh the boisterous taxi driver and the ageing Islamic scholar Dr. Jaffery are some of the characters that add vibrant hues to this strand as it moves forward.The other strand travels in the opposite direction, drawing concentric circles in the sands of Time, tracing the history of Delhi backwards, starting from the British Raj and its gory legacy – the Partition of India. Moving backwards in time and moving across a few miles from the lush lawns of New Delhi to the dusty lanes of old Delhi, the second strand takes on hues of blood and tears, beauty and betrayal, vices and virtues. Detailing the now-fascinating, now-revolting Mughal history, describing the early days of sultanates, talking about the little-known Hindu kings like Anangpal Tomar, the book makes an ambitious effort at going all the way up to the pre-historic days of Indraprastha, the famed city of Pandavas, which stood in or around the area where modern Delhi now stands.While the strand that moves ahead in time is full of trademark wit and sarcasm, eliciting chuckles often, the strand moving backwards lends a sense of pathos. The glory of old Delhi, its current decay, the yearning for those days of regal grandeur, the revulsion one feels at the fratricides and parricides that stained Mughal history, the pride for some of the greatest monuments that adorn Delhi’s landscape, the helplessness with which we bid adieu to that glorious past that is being irretrievably lost – this book will take you on an emotional roller coaster.Interweaving these two strands, Mr. Dalrymple has produced a tapestry full of life and longing. As colorful as Delhi’s history, this is a must read for anyone in love with India, its heritage and history. Man, I felt a sigh and a tinge of sadness as I closed the book and kept it aside!AK.

Received it today, three days before the fastest expected date of arrival.Greatly satisfied both by the service and the quality of the book, would definitely suggest the seller!

This is a truly marvellous book that will take the reader places they never thought they would go as evidenced by some commentators who had lived in Delhi, sometimes for years but found sections of the city that they did not even know existed in their city. The author writes of all that he and his wife discovered during there one year of residence in the city.Perhaps the first thing a reader, at least this reader, remembers about Dalrymple’s early description of life in Dehli is the engulfing heat before the Monsoon comes. I remember his thoughts about the personalities of the residents change as the heat sets in. He refers to taxi drivers and bazaar workers as well as people on the streets.Dalrymple explores through significant passages from their books the previous history of the city through its many transformations and the effect these changes have had on the people that lived in Dhlii. He quotes at length from the Muslim medieval writer ibn Batutta when his writing refers to Delhi. Batutta writes at length about northern India; he was employed by the ruler at the time before he moved on to China.I had not read any other books by Dalrymple before this one, but his writing is so good, and the subject matter, the sub-continent, is so compelling I immediately bought other of his titles. It is virtually impossible to finish his books without leaving having obtained much more than you expected.

The author researched the subject and wrote an excellent book about New Delhi, the history of the City, the inhabitants of the City from inception to date, their culture, religions, beliefs and the role the English played in the history and development of India. I found very interesting the portion of the book on djinns and the role of Mughals in the history and development of New Delhi. Coverage of the historical landmarks in New Delhi was interesting and informative. I intend to read all if not most of the author's books as I finished this book, thinking it is well researched, written and informative. I read this book after returning from India and the contents gave me a better perspective of New Delhi. I strongly recommend this book as a travel guide/book to be read before visiting New Delhi especially if one is interested in "old" and not modern day India.