City Improbable: Writings (R/E)

Delhi is the twin of pure paradise a prototype of the heavenly throne on an earthlyscroll Amir Khusrau. A city of contradictions where ancient traditions and modern aspirations jostle for space Delhi has often been compared to a phoenix rising from the ashes. Its three thousand years of eventful history have witnessed the rise and fall of several empires a process that continues today. City Improbable brings together writings by immigrants residents refugees travellers and invaders who have engaged with Indias capital over different epochs. Babur shares his earliest experience of the city and Amir Khusrau praises the fine lads of Delhi Ibn Battuta and Niccolao Manucci record the glories and follies of prominent rulers William Dalrymple and Khushwant Singh provide intriguing accounts of the threshold period that saw the coming of the British and the waning of the Mughals. Poets and storytellers Meer Taqi Meer Ghalib Yashpal Kamleshwar Ruskin Bond narrate their versions of the city. Contemporary Delhi is featured in a variety of vignettes the bureaucracy the Emergency the anti-Sikh violence lovers and joggers in Lodi Gardens the citys Sufi legacy as well as its changing cuisine. Among the new pieces in this expanded edition are Sam Millers account of his experiences in the suburb of Noida Mantos story about a girl from Delhi leaving the city during Partition Jarnail Singhs unflinching recollection of the massacre of Sikhs in 1984 a photo essay on Shahpur Jat by Karoki Lewis and a composite narrative by the young writers of the Cybermohalla Collective about the making of a resettlement colony. About the Author Khushwant Singh is Indias best known writer and columnist. He has been founder editor of Yojana and editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India the National Herald and the Hindustan Times. He is the author of classics such as Train to Pakistan I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale and Delhi. His latest novel The Sunset Club written when he was 95 was published by Penguin Books in 2010. His nonfiction includes the classic two volume A History of the Sikhs a number of translations and works on Sikh religion and culture Delhi nature current affairs and Urdu poetry. His autobiography Truth Love and a Little Malice was published by Penguin Books in 2002.