Ringside view of Delhi’s black and white past

The book paints a picture of the capital through important events since 1950s
Life was like that only
Life was like that only

Prabeen Singh’s book opens to a ringside view of the charmed world of the 1950s Delhi, with a population so sparse that you could get from one place to the other in no time. Once you’re in, there is no escape from the days of turmoil that followed the family’s arrival from Jamshedpur.
Those were days of innocence. No security men with guns, no frisking, no barriers or police check-posts; a time when life was simple and secure, when children, on occasion, found themselves having a cup of tea with Chacha Nehru or popping by at V K Krishna Menon’s house to learn the man drank 30 cups of tea everyday and spoke at the UN Security Council for almost eight hours. Growing up with Punjabi friends appropriately named Tutu, Tinu, Moni, Shayrie, Duma and Chandi; gathering around tables creaking with the aroma of Punjab food: a visual orgasm of ‘chaamp (mutton ribs) pulao, boondiraita, and seviyan and in winter, gaajarkahalwa, stuffed tandoori parantha, sarson ka saag, makki ki roti.’

We move past the ignominy of the 1962 Chinese War, the many wars with Pakistan and the turmoil of our not-so-recent political history. Prabeen brings the reader so tantalisingly close to the abyss of the subcontinent’s tension-filled cauldron, but pulls back at the very edge, wondering: ‘Why then the three wars and the constant war mongering? Those toxic mix of religion and politics, the ambitions of men,
the lust for conquest, the pursuit of retribution for real and imagined affronts?’
The author takes the reader through the birth pangs of Saheli, which brought women’s issues such as dowry deaths to the fore. Nine women began in a garage with `80 brooms, buckets and dusters to keep the workplace clean.

Newspaper clippings of important events
Newspaper clippings of important events

Encapsulating the kaleidoscope of Indian politics is best left to historians. We go through the messy Emergency; the brief dawn of the Janata Party and the men of clay, who paved the way for the return of Indira Gandhi; Sanjay Gandhi’s death in June 1980 that brought Rajiv Gandhi to politics; and Mrs Gandhi’s assassination on October 31, 1984, that triggered the horrific anti-Sikh riots.
Crafted with care, the book includes 70-odd black and white images culled from personal albums and public domains. An easy read, recommended for those with a taste for contemporary social history.

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The New Indian Express
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