Capital: A Portrait of Twenty-First Century Delhi by Rana Dasgupta (PDF)

Description

Capital is a compelling biography of a critically important megacity, and the effects of sudden and all-consuming capitalist transformation.At the turn of the twenty-first century acclaimed novelist Rana Dasgupta arrived in the Indian capital with a single suitcase. He had no intention of staying for long. But the city beguiled him – he fell in love and in hate with it – and, fourteen years later, Delhi has become his home.Capital tells the story of Delhi’s journey from walled city to world city. It is a story of extreme wealth and power, of land grabs and a cityscape changed almost beyond recognition. Everything that was slow, intimate and idiosyncratic has become fast, vast and generic; every aspect of life has been affected – for the poor, the middle classes and the super-rich.Through a series of fascinating personal encounters Dasgupta takes us inside the intoxicating, sometimes terrifying transformation of India’s fastest-growing megacity, offering an astonishing ‘report from the global future’.Rana Dasgupta won the 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book for his debut novel, Solo. He is also the author of the highly praised story collection Tokyo Cancelled. Capital is his first work of non-fiction. Born in England, he now lives in Delhi.textpublishing.com.au’The most unexpected and original Indian writer of his generation.’ Salman Rushdie'[Dasgupta has] a gift for sentences of lancing power and beauty.’ New Yorker’A beautifully written portrait of a corrupt, violent and traumatised city growing so fast it is almost unrecognisable to its own inhabitants. An astonishing tour de force by a major writer at the peak of his powers.’ William Dalrymple

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Interesting but depressing!We are planning to visit Delhi later this year and was last there 30 years ago so thought this book would give insights into what has transpired in this megacity. Certainly interesting and well written book but rather depressing in depictions of individuals living with extreme wealth alongside those with almost nothing! The attitudes of the uber rich and materialistic lifestyles described are fascinating but sad. If the book had a few more inspiring elements would have given it 4 stars. The author has lived there for 14 years but I didn’t really get a sense of why he has found it so fascinating!

⭐An eye-opening account of the genesis of modern Delhi post Partition. Too many sad stories and a terrible indictment of endemic corruption in the political systems of India.

⭐great insights into how a great city is built on endemic greed and corruption!

⭐Excellent!

⭐This should be taught in writing classes. Captivating, brilliant.

⭐I’ve been to Delhi many times and mostly disliked it. Not just because of the appalling heat and the mess that it has become, but for the hostility one so often feels in a city that has lost its style and is in the business of destroying itself. Dasgupta displays his Bengali romance with this book, but he is also clinical with his descriptions of what is wrong. I could argue with parts of it, but will not; he has done his journalism well, and his novelist soul shines through.

⭐As I have a keen interest in modern India I got a lot from the interviews and insights of the book. However, I thought it lacked structure and I found myself reading large sections without much interest. The interviews with local personalities are quite revealing as are the details of life for successful business people in Delhi. You can get a sense of how India is both changing and stuck but I don’t think the author really managed to appreciate some of these finer points? YMMV

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