City Sighting – Arundhati Roy, Around Town
On the Delhi-based author’s 48th birthday.
[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi
November 24, 1961. That’s when Arundhati Roy was born. On her 48th birthday, The Delhi Walla presents a few Delhiwallas seen with The God of Small Things, Ms Roy’s first novel.
In Nizamuddin East (A Hindustani classical singer, his mother is always upset with him for not being as crazy for books as she is)
In Defence Colony Market (An India-born Tibetan, she has seen Julia Robert’s Pretty Woman more than a dozen times)
In Videocon Tower, Jhandewallan Park (A radio jockey, she loves talking about Jane Austen’s women and men, off the air)
In Nizamuddin Basti (A butcher by trade, he is in love with two girls)
In Connaught Place (Fond of Arundhati Roy’s political essays, he died of cancer in 2009)
In Kasturba Gandhi Marg (A Bombay-based book collector and seller, he can get you any book you want)
In Jorbagh (Thanks to her passion for EM Forster’s A Room With A View, she always address friends as ‘Dearest’)
Near Barakhamba (Although carrying the persona of a non-bookish South Delhi girl, she secretly reads Alice Munro)
In Lodhi Garden (A small-town boy, he aspires to be India’s most famous model)
In Majnu ka Teela (Inheritor of a Tibetan restaurant, he wants to make a new life in USA)
At St Stephen’s Chapel (Her life is not known)
In Nizamuddin Basti (One of the best qawwals in Nizamuddin Dargah, he is also a body-builder)
In Hanuman Road (A no-nonsense Bengali girl, she often hauls up people peeing on roadsides)
In Lodhi Garden (One of India’s bestselling novelists, he is in love with Arundhati Roy’s first novel)
In Nizamuddin East (A long-haired, soft-spoken sufi, he married a Hyderabad girl on Arundhati Roy’s 48th birthday)
In Ring Road (A convent-educated girl who grew up reading Sidney Sheldon, she married a Bombay boy on Arundhati Roy’s 34th birthday)
Though I cant understand and laugh off Ms Roy’s strange support for the wrongdoers on the earth – Terrorists, Maoists and anything anti Hindu.
But I do feel its people like her who are an integral part of our system. After all dissent and debate are the cornerstones of our democracy and I respect that.
Anyways Happy Birthday to her and I wish her a long life.
PS: I would become a fan of her if one day she also takes up the issues of Kashmiri pandits (minorities) with equal zeal 🙂
people from different walks of life loves reading Arundhati Roy.i too love reading her.In Nepal,after release of her novel GOD OF SMALL THINGS, many people thought she was communist hater and some communist fanatics didn’t like reading her. I too bump into one of communist fanatics, i said i love reading arundhati Roy. He disgustingly said Roy launched propoganda against communist.But now she is viewed as communist sympatizers.
I searched about the meaning of her name some yeras ago, and i found Arundhati means wife of 7 Rishimunis in hindu mythology.it is mentioned in Sriswasthani Barta Katha.
pyaaaar diwana hota hai ,mastaana hota haiiiiii.hahhahahah b day bhi yaad hai soofi sahab ko:).
HAPPY B DAY MAAM JI.may awl ur dreams cum true
Happy Birthday, AR. Thanks for sharing, Mayank!
She’s one of my favorite authors…this is a beautiful tribute. Were the pictures taken at different times or was this specifically designed for this photo essay?
That’s nimpipi in the jeans and black top! Yaay!