the sections where dalrymple and his wife immerse themselves in the life of delhi were pretty terrific, but i was bothered by the (not unexpected) western-centric slant of the history elements - constant references to western touchstones. i think his writing develops away from this the more time he spends in india, if "nine lives" is any indication.

What a chronicle!

just read this on the flight to Delhi (from Britain ironically?) and i think i have an adventure to embark on during my week here, tracing Dalrymple’s footsteps through the book and experiencing the same neighbourhoods and landmarks, 30 years since this was published. i wonder how much has changed, but more importantly how much of the city’s old spirit survives?
(to be updated)

Really enjoyed this. makes me want to visit Delhi now.

I knew very little about India history in general and Delhi in particular and this book helped me start to absorb what Delhi is all about.

This was great. Dalrymple remains my authorial discovery of the year. His evocation of Delhi as a city perched precariously between the present and a mythic, ancient past is fantastic.

An exploration of the many identities of Delhi, loosely structured around a year that Dalrymple and his wife spent in the city in his 20s. I read this book at the recommendation of an Indian friend of mine to remedy my own ignorance of Indian history.

Perhaps due to my very low starting base, I found the whole book rather informative. Dalrymple writes from a British/Scottish perspective, which I imagine may be irritating to people who know Delhi from another point-of-view, but as I am somewhat familiar with the British mindset, I found his explorations a rather amenable starting point. I did not get the sense that I was getting real understanding of the phenomena and events described in the book, but I did get good storytelling which interested me in the events and the stories he did describe.