Delhi: Adventures In A Megacity (PB)‘A book that is . . . as eccentric and anarchic as its subject’—William Dalrymple In this extraordinary portrait of one of the world’s largest cities, Sam Miller sets out to discover the real Delhi, a city he describes as being ‘India’s dreamtown— and its purgatory’. He treads the city’s streets, including its less celebrated destinations—Nehru Place, Pitampura and Gurgaon—places most writers ignore. His encounters with Delhi’s people, from ragpickers to members of the Police Brass Band, create a richly entertaining portrait of what the city is and what it is becoming. Miller is, like so many of the people he meets, a migrant in one of the world’s fastest growing megapolises and the Delhi he depicts is one whose future concerns us all. Miller possesses an intense curiosity; he has an infallible eye for life’s diversities, for all the marvellous and sublime moments that illuminate people’s lives. This is a generous, original, humorous portrait of a great city; one which unerringly locates the humanity beneath the mundane, the unsung and the unfamiliar. |
Contents
Prologue | 1 |
In which the Author is dazzled by the | 15 |
An Early Intermission | 34 |
A Second Intermission | 58 |
A Third Intermission | 79 |
A Fourth Intermission | 102 |
In which the Author discovers a | 107 |
A Fifth Intermission | 124 |
An Eighth Intermission | 186 |
A Ninth Intermission | 208 |
A Tenth Intermission | 226 |
In which the Author is phlebotomized | 231 |
An Eleventh Intermission | 246 |
A Twelfth Intermission | 263 |
Acknowledgements | 283 |
Copyright Acknowledgements | 293 |
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Common terms and phrases
airport asked became become began Birla Brahma Kumari British building built bungalow camera Campa Cola capital centre Connaught Place corpse cremation death English eyes Feroze Shah Kotla foreign Gandhi Geocaching Gurgaon head Hindi Hindu House huge hundred India Indian inside Internet Jantar Mantar killed land later live looked Ludlow Castle Malcha Mahal Marg metres Metro migrants mobile phone modern mosque Mother Dairy moved Mughal Muslim nearby Nehru Noida Old Delhi park past photograph plastic pointed police population Purana Qila railway Raisina Hill realized residents Ridge river road rubbish sari Seelampur seemed sewer shopping malls signboard Sikhs Singh smile South Delhi spiral station streets subcities suddenly tell temple there’s Tihar told tourist trying turned urban Vasant Vihar walk wall wandered West Delhi woman women word Yamuna