Hi Friends,
This is the second time Khushwant Singh has disappointed me. I started Khushwant Singh with ‘Train to Pakistan’ which indeed is a commendable effort by KS to paint the picture of the barbaric and insane times of division of India in 1947 and following Hindu – Muslim – Sikh riots.
Second I read, ‘I shall not hear the Nightingale’ which gives you an erection every 20 minutes. The novel is full of vividly described intimate scenes of a husband and wife and the wife’s unfaithful encounters with a complete and comprehensive lack of story.
Delhi, which is my third and probably last Khushwant Singh book is a similar one to the one described above. The novel has a complete and comprehensive lack of story, is full of colorfully described sex scenes between the author and ‘Bhagmati’ who is a female hijra (hermaphrodite) prostitute.Infact, the author has devoted a complete chapter in describing the kinds of farts. The chapter is indeed a funny one to read but in wider scheme of things it is quite useless, out-of-place, boring, must be skipped and a complete wastage of time, ink and paper.
The Story (I wonder if there was one!)
There is NO STORY at all. The author starts by describing Delhi and comparing it with certain things, giving analogies and all this to drive home the point that Delhi is unique and the people of Delhi love it and can not leave it and settle at some other place. While the author uselessly takes a quite philosophical look at describing Delhi, the whole view-point is quite logic less.
I mean I have never ever observed that kind of devotion towards Delhi from any of the people I have met and talked to. 100% of times, people living in Delhi tell me that there is lack of electricity, water, the local bus service is over crowded, the city is polluted, mismanaged, the life is very fast and very hectic. Though they also tell me that Delhi is full of opportunities, it is a great place for education with some of the best undergraduate and postgraduate courses and colleges over there (Delhi University predominantly), there is a lot of money in Delhi provided one knows how and where to make it, the city never sleeps and some thing or the other concerning all and sundry is always going on.
But none of the people seem to be satisfied with their lives in Delhi. Yet, the story goes on.
History of Delhi
Suddenly, KS becomes a historian and starts to tell us about the history of Delhi. This effort is quite good in the initial chapters; infact the starting of novel is quite interesting and motivates to read on. But in between somewhere the story starts its grip and gets dull and then keeps on getting dull.
The author’s sexual encounters with ‘Bhagmati’ and certain other ladies make the novel worse as they suddenly appear out of no-where. While in one chapter the story goes on with ‘Bhagmati’ or certain other lady in there with the author, the other chapter will suddenly tell you about ‘Nadir Shah’ or ‘Aurangzeb’ or ‘Mir Taqui Mir’.
Even when describing the history the author is not very convinced, I mean the story has been made from what the author has heard from other people, I doubt if some serious research has gone into it.
And then suddenly in the middle of it, you are not sure what are you reading – the history of Delhi, author’s sexual encounters with Bhagmati or some other lady, author’s personal life getting full of trouble as he is getting old, a memoir, what is the haven’s name are you reading?
That is what occurred to me and I ruthlessly started skipping things, went through chapters very quickly and finally felt relieved when I had finished this book.
WHY YOU SHOULD NOT READ THIS BOOK?!
This part of the review is very important, why you should not read this book?
For one, I am not sure what the book is? Is it an account of Delhi’s history, is this a book that tells about the life in Delhi, about devotion of people of Delhi towards it, is it an account of Khushwant Singh’s sexual intimacies with ‘Bhagmati’ or other women which have been explained in great detail, what is hell’s name is this book about?
So, I don’t know as what I should recommend you this book. If you want to know about life of Delhi, go to ISBT, Delhi and take a metro to Chandni Chowk or Karol Bagh or Cannought Place (CP as we call it) and see what Delhi is about, go to North Campus and see Delhi University, go to Jama Mazjid or Qutab Minar etc and see for yourself, live for some days, travel in a local bus in a peak hour and travel in Delhi Metro and you will find for yourself what life in Delhi all about.
If you want to read history of Delhi, this will be the last book you should read.
If you want to read a good novel for entertainment purposes, this is the last book you should read.
If you want to read some soft porn, then perhaps you can consider it!!
Finally
This book is a complete wastage of time, a useless effort at telling the history of Delhi. I mean a person who writes that Aurangzeb was a Mughal emperor who did good things for Hindus and Sikhs and granted money to build Hindu temples must be sick. Besides, if he is an author he hasn’t done any research to prove his point.
This book is an utter failure if this is an attempt to write fiction.
THIS BOOK SHOULD NOT BE READ, IT IS UTTERLY UNREADABLE.
Happy Reading (something else that this book),
Khagesh Gautam
