If you have ever been to Delhi or intend to visit you owe it to yourself to read the City of Djinns by William Dalrymple. Nothing brings Delhi and its history more alive than the vibrant tapestry of Dalrymple’s words. It is difficult not to get lost in the threads of the past and present so expertly woven through the book.

Much of Dalrymple’s research was conducted while he spent four years in Delhi with his wife from 1989 to 1993. The story is of course about a couple who spend a year in Delhi surrounded by humourous and totally identifiable characters like his landlady, Mrs. Puri, a batty taxi driver, Balvinder Singh, the servants and Indian government employees. The author’s encounters with the survivors of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the eunuch he encounters touch a chord.

The beauty of the book is in the way it takes you on a journey through each layer of Delhi’s 3000-year-old history, linking present experiences to past occurrences. Starting with the upheaval of the Partition and then moving backwards in a voyage through time with the imperialistic era of the British Raj, the rule of the Mughals and lost underground tunnels of Shahjahan’s period, Mohammad-bin-Tughlak’s eccentricities, Prithviraj Chauhan’s legends and finally the Indraprastha of the Mahabharata.

Each layer of Delhi’s history is uncovered through the author’s encounters with the people of the present Delhi. Dalrymple’s words bring to life Delhi’s parties, weddings, funerals, Islamic scholars, healers, Anglo-Indians, eunuchs and the totally arcane Indian bureaucracy. City of Djinns is more than just a travelogue, the humour and passion with which it is written definitely makes the book a page-turner that anyone who has any associations with Delhi will identify with.

On the other hand, if you want a complete, exhaustive view of Delhi multiple past reincarnations Khushwant Singh’s Delhi is the book for you.