The other thing about this anthology that really makes a difference is that many of the pieces have been translated from Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi
In general, if the theme of an anthology interests me, I will buy it. Not only because I’m curious about the various aspects of the subject I will likely find in the pieces collected in there but also because an anthology is a low risk and low-cost way to discover authors and genres that are new to me.
So when my editor sent me an anthology with Delhi as its theme — Basti & Durbar, Delhi-New Delhi: A City in Stories, edited by Rakshanda Jalil — I was quite pleased, though I am not from Delhi myself and despite several visits there, can’t claim much familiarity with the city. Still, the idea of this anthology, according to Jalil’s introduction, is to tell stories of the place known to non-residents as India’s capital city and to residents as home, so the book is for everyone, Delhiite or not.
Compilations allow readers the freedom to read any chapter at random. But this time, for some reason, I began the book with the first piece in the collection, and only later realised that I had done the right thing. Though the stories and book extracts show different aspects of Delhi and the people who call it home, they have been laid out in chronological order, beginning from the time after 1857 when the city succumbed to the British and ending with glimpses of a possible (and, I’m sorry to say, rather bleak) future. I don’t suppose it really matters whether one reads the book in chronological order or not but seeing the changes in the city as time passed added an extra dimension to the pieces as I read them.
The other thing about this anthology that really makes a difference is that many of the pieces have been translated from Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi. I don’t know how it is for actual Delhiites, but for an occasional visitor like me, the aspects of Delhi portrayed in the translated pieces are quite fascinating. It isn’t that I don’t know that different levels of society live differently from each other and that’s true of all cities and towns, but it’s fascinating to see these different Delhis all coexisting with the glitzy capital city of India most visitors see.
All the pieces in Basti & Durbar are eminently readable. But for me, two pieces are standouts. One is ‘The Walls of Delhi’ by Uday Prakash, translated from the Hindi, and the other, by Vandana Singh, is simply titled ‘Delhi’. Both hit me straight in the heart and I aim to investigate their authors for further reading.
Basti & Durbar, Delhi-New Delhi: A City in Stories
Ed. by Rakhshanda Jalil
Speaking Tiger
pp. 444; Rs 799
