Delhi OMG!

For anyone wanting to know what ails the big bad Delhi, this book is a must read. The city of Delhi has a very peculiar character in how it manages to erode its inhabitants’ character – let it be surpassing queues, overtaking on road from wrong side, having the right contacts for school admission, stealing electricity from your tenants generator, conspiring with your colleague to pull someone down or being forced to watch from trees inspite of having a legitimate ticket at Ferozeshah Kotla – the list is endless. If Delhi was a person Rudeness and High handedness would be its identical twins

The story of the main protagonist Dinesh unravels like any other citizen of capital, someone who has the normal aspirations for a comfortable existence but how his character gets repeatedly tested amidst the shallowness of Delhi forms crux of this novel. Dinesh moves on to get a job after completing education but it is only after he is left alone in the city post his parents moving down South that his real battles begin. He is duped by his colleagues at work, the landlord tries to fleece him, his job at a posh Diplomatic Mission shows him ugly side of picturesque places, daughter’s school admission turns all about contacts, even the next door aunty wants additional free vegetables while shopping; in short he meets rough characters at every turn and if this was not enough also visits one of the better known locales in city – GB Road. No he doesn’t visit for pleasure but is moved by the innocence of a young kid whom he views only for a brief moment during a short official visit (people do official stuff there too! see Delhi never ceases to surprise). Years later he tries to hunt her down still believing the brief innocent spark he had noticed in her blue eyes but little does he realize that chasing innocence in Delhi will always be futile

While I was living in Delhi I never realized how a certain crudeness had become essential for existence, its only now having moved away that I am able to appreciate and also amazed by the lack of challenge at other places. Right from a school kid who enriches his vocabulary with all the profanities to a naïve first-timer at DDA office who discovers that nothing moves without bribes, Delhi has a dirty way of robbing innocence and making monsters of anyone wishing to survive there. Coming back to the book, it is a telling commentary on snobbishness of Delhi; the narrative manages to capture and encapsulate the contagious hollowness of the city which unnoticeably and gradually rubs on its inhabitants forming an ever present and unpleasant part of their permanent personality. The book itself is indeed well written and manages to capture the attention of the reader right from start, nowhere does it lapse in narration and keeps one hooked till the end. Importantly it manages to trigger a thought process, a significant hallmark of any good read; and even while reading through the pages, one can get so enamored by the depiction of Delhi that it is hard to say if the main character Dinesh is actually an unknown fictitious person and not the bloke next door. What I liked best about the book is the subtle reference to the ills that plague the city; nowhere does the author go over board or abuse the rough character of the city, only understated hints are dropped on what ails Delhi

Thought provoking, well paced narrative and absorbing till the end…..Delhi OMG surely rocks, go for it guys!

OMG

That was precisely my first reaction to this debut novel:-)

The book very effectively & at times humorously encapsulates many shades of this melting pot called Delhi. And the city has a palpable living entity in the novel with it's queer, weird & grey value systems. It's also a growing up & 'rites of passage' novel .One can easily identify & connect with the protagonists' angst & agonies as he goes thru life..The myriad collage of observations about the city & it's people are astute & relatable .

In many ways it's a middle class novel with the struggles of an individual, negotiating personal career goals & coming to terms with the invisible snake & ladder race. Dinesh' aspirations & his journey typically represents a cross section of society which is trying to survive in a cruel, ruthless world of wheeling dealing.

Dinesh also somewhere becomes a holier than thou figure & a conscience keeper of a city caught in it's vortex of contrasts & ironies.Stylistically many chapters end with aphoristic statements which makes the book subjective. Friends , Family , Parents ,in many ways provide the backdrop against which Dinesh can be evaluated .

The women in Dinesh' life need a special mention , while the first three women including the wife remain sketchy & at best remain as foil characters. Vandana the abused child however takes centerstage. Vandana's life thru the eyes of the author, brings to fore ,his compassion & convictions .She becomes a running thread & provides a continuum to the author's chief concern .. 'the vulnerability of the girl child , issues of trafficking ,abuse . And that perhaps is the greatest strength of the book which raises it from just being a collection of colourful vignettes of Delhi.

Lot many experiences are packed in about 300 pages & sometimes one is floundering in a sea of information. One can make out that fact, fiction & information is constantly jostling for creative space. 'Maximum is minimum' literally becomes the metaphor of this creative outpouring.

The irreverent tone, blase attitude & use of expletives makes the book organically a Delhi book written by a true blue Delhiwala.

All in all, it was a very rewarding experience to read the book & one hopes that it is only the first one of a series :-)

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A gripping story that you won't want to put down. Through its powerful story, the book is a page turner and covers all themes of life; i.e. good and evil, friendship, love, pain, betrayal, heartache, joy & self redemption.

Delhi OMG looks at how the main character, Dinesh, deals with situations in his past and how those situations shaped who he become.

I was drawn in by Dinesh's relationship and love with mankind, especially his father. I sympathized with him, cheered for him and felt angry with him at different points. The character became real to me, and it was difficult for me to put the book down and leave his world.

I highly recommend this book because you are certainly going to relate to this book and want to talk about it when you finish.

I am a very experimental reader and generally read ANYTHING. I love fiction, travelogues, philosophy, non-fiction, memoirs, financial books, occult etc.
My fav authors are - William Darlymple, Bill Bryson, Grisham, Forsyth, Khushwant Singh, Suketu Mehta, Wodehouse, Sam Miller etc.

There are very very few books that i may have picked up and then regretted my decision of buying those. Delhi OMG is one of those.

I am a delhite who has travelled and lived in various cities across India(Delhi, Chennai, Bombay, Bangalore, Hyderabad etc) & abroad(US, Korea, Spain, UK) and therefore i am very much aware of the stereotypes associated with Delhi, most of which are incorrect. For example - everyone is Delhi is rude, pretentious, loud, show-off and 'unclassy'.

Unfortunately, Mr Nair has completely failed in showing the true Delhi. All over the book, the only thing that one can see is stereotypes. What is worse is that Mr Nair has attached stereotypes at a even more granular level i.e. south delhi, west delhi etc etc.

If anyone really wants to KNOW about delhi's history, the best book available is Khushwant Singh's - Delhi. Sam Miller also has done an excellent job of taking this forward and has given an excellent account of the modern day Delhi in his book "Delhi - Adventures in a Megacity" !

Anyway, the reasons i did not like this book -
1. The narration was jumpy. Many important events 'just happened' suddenly without much ado. Mr Nair just suddenly got married and that was it. Mr Nair just bought flats like that.
2. He claims that ALL delhites are show offs but he conveniently forgets it when the protagonist boasted of buying two flats and a penthouse in delhi within a span of 10 years working.
3. Also Dinesh seemed to go through a LOT of change of heart throughout the book - He hated a character and after two chapters he suddenly becomes friends with him again without any reason given etc.
4. "Maximum for Minimum" - This quote really got my goat. He has used it for EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. Every second para ends with maximum for minimum. C'mon, it is not so bad and even if it is, it is a country wide attitude NOT delhi.
5. There are many flaws with it and it'll be a long list if i start writing about all of those.

Lastly, i have bad habit(OCD) of completing every book that i start reading and believe me, mid-way i had to really try hard to carry on reading this book. Somehow i finished it but it felt an utter waste of time.

Don't waste your time on this. There are better books out there on Delhi written by much better authors - william darlymple, Sam miller and Khushwant singh.

Mesmerizing and captivating, Delhi OMG! is an enchanting walk down the memory lane for any-one who has grown up in Delhi. A thoroughly captivating read, it becomes un-put-down-able after the first few pages as Nair's prose weaves the memories so vividly that you are instantly transported to your school days and the juice kicks in!!

Try to read it when there are less breaks anticipated because you will keep wanting to come back and resume reading. Empathy flows out for Dinesh as you read on from one evocative incident to another , to the description of the places where he lived, encounters he had, and the precautions he took ,fighting tooth and nail but getting sucked into the vicious Cycle of hope , trust, manipulation and a resolution not to get into it again!

Nair is courageous in putting up matters of evils present in society which almost all of us have had firsthand experience with and does not mince words in his narrative.

There is definitely a missing reference to all the fly over bridges and lately metro work that seemed to have been going on forever in Delhi , something that twisted and turned a delhiite's s life every other day, throwing up a challenge of finding a new shortcut to office , Delhiites showed patience!!

A MUST read for all!! (Those who have inherited Delhi after partition and rest of the world)