Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity

Mr. Miller's 'Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity' is in many ways different from any other book on this city. He writes in poignant, nostalgic terms about Delhi's magnificent past and cultural heritage, but doesn't dwell on it; instead choosing to focus on the present and future of an ever-changing metropolis. He visits the most obscure of Delhi's landmarks, places like Ghazipur, Nehru Place, Dwarka, and Gurgaon, which most authors would simply skip. He interacts with all kinds and colors of Delhiites, ranging from rag-pickers at a landfill site to an astrophysics professor at DU. His writing style is light and informal, with the occasional dry sarcasm and dark humor that actually made me laugh out loud. At no point does he seem like a foreigner narrating his myopic perspective on an unknown city; he considers Delhi his own and describes it as a Delhiite (the fact that he knows Hindi might have helped, of course). However, his love for Delhi doesn't stop him from describing the ugliest facets of his city in detail, his book has quite a balanced perspective.
A truly great book for anyone interested in my hometown, or maybe just India in general.

Nice read about the author's experiences in Delhi. I liked his unique way of spiralling across Delhi, starting from CP. I wanted to know about contemporary Delhi, this book provided me an insight.
Well, the experiences Sam Miller had were at times not believable, but well, I don't know about Delhi's hidden corners. He talks about many pleasant and unpleasant experiences. The unpleasant ones tends to hurt Delhiite sentiments. Many a times there are quite humorous incidents that keeps the reading light and enjoyable. Overall I think the book portrays a very unbiased opinion on Delhi.