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Loading... City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi by William Dalrymple (2003-03-25) (original 1993; edition 1724)by William Dalrymple (Author)
Work InformationCity of Djinns: A Year in Delhi by William Dalrymple (1993)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Dalrymple gives an entertaining history of Delhi, India and the mughals who conquered and architected it. ( ) Between the twenties and the forties, Iris Portal’s youth had been spent in that colonial Delhi ‘In retrospect,’ I said. ‘Do you think British rule was justified?’ ‘....But on balance I think you must never take land away from a people. A people’s land has a mystique. You can go and possibly order them about for a bit, perhaps introduce some new ideas, build a few good buildings, but then in the end you must go away and die in Cheltenham.’ Iris sighed. ‘And that, of course, is exactly what we did.’ ****** I learned a lot of interesting from this book (partridge fights, Mumbai food deliverers' caste, eunuch caste etc.), interviews and dialogues very always a pleasure to read - humorous, lively, yet very often insightful. Why 4 stars then? Well, historical references and vignettes were sometimes a bit thick to wade through. Although there's probably nothing wrong with them and they're more than appropriate, it's just they're hard to digest on the go - one probably should savor them relaxed :) This was the wrong book to read prior to my trip to India. All of the fantastic stories that the author relates seem to end with, "these wonderful sights/monuments/environments/people have all been completely destroyed, and nothing is left except worthless ruins". He makes Delhi seem like a wasteland, all the more disgusting and pathetic in light of its former splendor. The only positive of this book is that the stories he relates are interesting. In short, this book was a major downer. no reviews | add a review
'Could you show me a djinn?' I asked. 'Certainly,' replied the Sufi. 'But you would run away.' This is William Dalrymple's captivating memoir of a year spent in Delhi, a city watched over and protected by the mischievous invisible djinns. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)954.56052History and Geography Asia India and South Asia Northwestern India DelhiLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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