Amazing book. Review on City of Djinns - William Dalrymple

‘City Of Djinns’ is a travelogue written by William Dalrymple.The book is about Delhi. Delhi cannot be ignored. Especially once we know its great history, we are tempted to explore the city.

This is how the book goes:Mr. Dalrymple travels to Delhi and falls in love with the mystical city so very much that he revisits the city and this time decides to do a research on its history.

This book is an account of his nearly an year long research on the history of Delhi. The sea deep history of the Delhi enthralls him...and along with him we are bound to move into a trance where we see Delhi unfold itself slowly-slowly.

The book (starts with) makes us remember the partition time and the riots of 1984.The author meets different people and observes that the scars are still healing up. He is astonished to find that people in Delhi, a city which has witnessed the ugly most face of violence and hatred, are not willing to leave the city.....Delhi and its people have adapted to the ups and downs very well...The author is deeply moved(and so are we)!

He then rolls the time back and takes us to the British rule time and then to Moughals and before them to the Tuglaqs and then further back to the ancient most time of Hindu mythology(Mahabharata)...And that's what the whole book is all about..

But no- its not boring..Read it and you will know!!!!

Now I like the book because the book is written so very well(the language is very simple which is a must for narration)and it takes us back to that time. We can actually feel what it would be to live at that time.

The language is very clear and narration is so perfect that when he talks of the royal era and describes the palaces and the lavishness with which people lived at that time, we get so very envy....I remember reading about the royal lifestyle of Jahanara Begum (eldest daughter of Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal.. Don't worry people, even I didn't know of her till I read the book.Its very normal.) and I was like- Wo ! That’s life...

He has very interestingly written about the great pirs (saints) of that time and the influence they had on people.On the other hand, when he talks of the cruelties of some Sultans and the various political scandals and the way the great battles were fought and so much of massacres and blood shed - heart shivers!!!!

While reading about the shifting of capital from Delhi to Daulatabad and the sentiments of people at that time, we are moved to tears... Delhi has lived through all of this...and lived well!! What I think is that I have been to Delhi numerous times before reading the book and I was never so much interested about the various historical places it still bears.

But after reading the book and knowing something about its history, somehow I feel like visiting all those places (the ancient palaces, Nizamuddin Dargah, Safdurjang etc.). I now have a different respect for Delhi.. People, all I want to say is-read for yourself. It’s a good book. It will make you fall in love with Delhi all over again.