Down the ages —from Dilli to Delhi
Reviewed by H Kishie Singh

Perpetual City
by Malvika Singh Aleph 
Pages 136 Rs 295

The book tugs at the heartstrings of those of us who lived in Delhi in the 1950s and 1960s. Painting a picture with words is not easy but Malvika Singh has done a marvellous job. She traces its blooming from the founding by Suraj Pal through its metamorphosis under the Khiljis, Tughlaks, Lodis and the Mughals who made Delhi a grandiose city to the British Imperial City. During this time it was ravaged, razed and raped but it held firm. The Perpetual City.

Malvika Singh moved from Bombay to Dilli and fell in love with Dilli. Slowly she absorbed Dilli by the simple process of osmosis through the food, music and as she walked the gallis of Shahjahanabad, saw the
magnificent Jama Masjid, the Red Fort and a myriad other monuments. Much as she loves these monuments there is pathos and anguish as she describes them today, seeing there their misuse and mutilation.

When some areas were "cleaned up" Dilli lost its soul. Malvika describes it thus: "The idiocy of our politicians and bureaucrats not withstanding, life continues to flourish around Jama Masjid." Memories gush out simply by the names she mentions, Curzon Road, Irwin Road and of course Kings Way and Queens Way. The names are gone but not the memories.

Malvika is a foodie. Volga, Gaylords, Standards, Kwality, Alps and Moti Mahal are some of the excellent eating places she remembers and talks of. She recalls when the site for New Delhi was being decided, Edwin Lutyens, Herbert Baker and S.C. Swinton reconnoitered the Ridge for a suitable site. Viceroy Lord Hardinge shot down the proposal saying, "If you tamper with Nature, Nature will destroy you". This should be a clarion-call for our builders today.

The neglect of monuments like the magnificent Jama Masjid evoke anguish

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