book review of delhi

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)


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


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


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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Sikh_riotshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Sikh_riotshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Sikh_riotshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indira_Gandhihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indira_Gandhihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indira_Gandhihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indira_Gandhihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Sikh_riotshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Sikh_riots

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