num_pages: 304
description: A provocative portrait of one of the worlds largest cities delving behind the tourist facade to illustrate the people and places beyond the realms of the conventional travelogue Sam Miller set out to discover the real Delhi a city he describes as Indias dreamtownand its purgatory. He treads the city streets making his way through the city and its suburbs visiting its less celebrated destinationsNehru Place Rohini Ghazipur and Gurgaonwhich most writers and travelers ignore. His quest is the here and now the unexpected the overlooked and the eccentric. All the obvious ports of call make the ancient monuments the imperial buildings and the celebrities of modern Delhi. But it is through his encounters with Delhis peoplefrom a professor of astrophysics to a crematorium attendant from ragpickers to members of a police brass bandthat Miller creates this richly entertaining portrait of what Delhi means to its residents and of what the city is becoming. Miller like so many of the people he meets is a migrant in one of the worlds fastest growing megapolises and the Delhi he depicts is one whose future concerns us all. He possesses an intense curiosity; he has an infallible eye for lifes diversities for all the marvelous and sublime moments that illuminate peoples lives. This is a generous original humorous portrait of a great city; one that unerringly locates the humanity beneath the mundane the unsung and the unfamiliar.
language: English
title: Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity
publisher: St. Martin's Press