Netherfield Ball – Rakhshanda Jalil’s Book Launch, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
The party secrets.
[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]
One evening The Delhi Walla attended the launch of Rakhshanda Jalil’s book A Rebel and Her Cause: Life and Work of Rashid Jahan.
Hosted at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, the launch ceremony was followed by a discussion on the critically-acclaimed biography. The evening started with the unveiling of the photo exhibition ‘The Life of Rashid Jahan Angareywali’. It took me some time to fall in love with the gallery’s grainy black & white images. I was getting distracted by some of the old ladies in the crowd. Wearing artistic saris, these grey-haired fairies looked like faithful subscribers of some expensive left-leaning English-language literary journal.
One woman in a purple sari appeared as fragile as the solitary diamond hanging around her bird-like neck. Discussing the ongoing general election, she talked of how the fascists were about to take over Delhi. She presented her fears in a steely voice.
Sadly, most of the men were dressed dreadfully; the sandwich too was awful. Perhaps the barbarians have already infiltrated our ranks.
Party with a difference
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🙂