Friday, December 4, 2009
The Portrayal of Delhi
I really like this quote from Twilight in Delhi. “Night envelopes the city, covering it like a blanket. In the dim starlight roofs and houses and by-lanes lie asleep, wrapped in a resltes slumber, breathing heavily as the heat becomes oppressive or shoots through the body like pain.” The language is so beautiful, and I love the dynamic that the sentence creates between Delhi as ‘innocent’ and Delhi as something dark. At first, the sentence gives such a comforting picture of Delhi. I like to think that at this point in the novel, Delhi is portrayed as “innocent” and “untouched” because partition hasn’t happened yet. I think the end of the sentence is foreshadowing what is to come for the city of Delhi.
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Delhi had been conquered many times before. I would imagine the level of violence to be equalled to that of partition. Things became different when the British became the conqueror. Physically, Old Delhi will change. Psychologically and culturally, Delhi would never be the same. I like the details Ahmed Ali took to record everything down before it disappeared forever.
ReplyDeleteThe language IS beautiful isn't it? I immediately added this book to my favorites after finishing it. I love how he describes the monotony inside the women's quarter, really heartbreaking.
Oh, before I forget, I want to be fair and say something about the unhappy lives of the menfolk in the novel. Mir Nihal and his dead concubine and pigeons, how do you feel about this? Do you hate Asghar after all he's done? I hope not, though he whines so incessantly at times.
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