City Dreams – 13 Weird Books on Delhi

Fantasy literature on Delhi.

[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Last night I dreamt that Delhi got a new bookstore in… Mahipalpur! I took a DTC bus to the village and found books that no other city store has. Take a look.

Psychoanalysis of Delhi’s Auto Wallahs
With a new preface by the author, an expat woman in Niti Marg who conducted 57 clinical experiments with the same auto wallah before reaching the conclusion that sex is more important in the dynamics of the psyche than the correct meter fare

On Leprosy and 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games: A Compilation of Facts, Myths, Legends and Misperceptions
A sting operation by acclaimed sports columnist Varsha Bhonsle

Delhi Belly for Beginners
Actor Julia Roberts on her two weeks stay in Gurgaon while shooting for the film Eat, Pray, Love

The Last Agony of the Great Bore : My 50 years in India International Center
RP Sethia, professor of pre-medieval history in Jawaharlal Nehru University

Erections in the City: Anthology of architectural writing on Qutub Minar, India Gate, and other towers in the Capital
Lady Laura Dickinson, foreign affairs attaché in the UK High Commission, New Delhi

Queer Doings in Nehru Park: A definitive history of Delhi’s LGBT movement before the Internet
Mohnish Khamija, professional gay activist

Correct Mispronunciations of Some Old Delhi Landmarks
A guide for English speaking snobs of GK-II, New Friends Colony, Vasant Vihar and Defence Colony
Sidhantha Basu

The Rubáiyát of a Stray Cow in Mehrauli
Rendered into English by William Dalrymple. This bovine classic represents many of Dalrymple’s own ideas and line of thought. As always, writers from the West continue to use Oriental symbols for creative expressions while describing the natives

Life and Love in the Aquarium
Memoirs of 10 Stephanians on what exactly they did in St Stephen’s College, Delhi University. Some well-known contributors are Shashi Tharoor, Kabir Bedi, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Vikram Seth

The Impact of Global Warming on the Ring Road
In a series of experiments, conducted in the course of a single ride in Mudrika bus service, the author explains the volatile emotional makeup of Delhi’s commuters
Anonymous

A Sanitary Crusade through Chandni Chowk
Memoirs of a beat reporter who spent half a decade covering the goings-on in Municipal Council of Delhi

Fart: A Social History as Smelled in the Three Lines of Delhi Metro
Lakshman Guha, winner, 2003 Wolfson History Prize

13,000,000 Guinea Pigs
Daily dangers in Delhi, such as the likelihood of being hit by rich brats’ big cars

How to Pick Up Girls in Khan Market
Mayank Austen Soofi