Khushwant Singh - Delhi: A Novel

I RETURN TO DELHI AS I RETURN TO MY
MISTRESS BHAGMATI WHEN I HAVE HAD MY FILL
OF WHORING IN FOREIGH LANDS

Thus begins Khushwant Singhs vast, erotic, irreverent magnum opus on the city of Delhi. The principal narrator of the saga, which extends over six hundred years, is a bawdy, ageing reprobate who loves Delhi as much as he does the hijda whore Bhagmatihalf man, half woman with the sexual inventiveness and energy of both the sexes. Travelling through time, space and history to discover his beloved city, the narrator meets a myriad of peoplepoets and princes, saints and sultans, temptresses and traitors, emperors and eunuchswho have participated in [and been witness to] the major historical forces that have shaped and endowed Delhi with its very special mystique And as we accompany the narrator on his epic journey we find the city of emperors transformed and immortalized in our minds for ever.

Cover photograph by Prateek Raghav

PENGUIN BOOKS

DELHI: A NOVEL

Khushwant Singh is Indias best-known writer and columnist. He has been founder-editor of Yojna, and editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India, the National Herald and the Hindustan Times. He is also the author of several books, which include the novels Train to Pakistan, I shall Not hear the Nightingale, Delhi and The Company of Women; the classic two-volume A History of the Sikhs; and a number of translations and non-fiction books on Sikh religion and culture, Delhi, nature and current affairs. His autobiography, Truth, Love and a LittleMalice, was published in 2002.

Khushwant Singh was a Member of Parliament from 1980 to 1986. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974, but returned the decoration in 1984 in protest against the storming of the Golden Temple by the Indian Army.

Delhi

a novel

KHUSHWANT SINGH

PENGUIN BOOKS

Published by the Penguin Group

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First published by Penguin Books India 1990

Copyright Khushwant Singh 1990

All rights reserved

ISBN 978-01-4012-619-8

This Digital Edition published 2011. e-ISBN: 978-81-8475-111-6

Digital conversion prepared by DK Digital Media, India.

This novel, which took me over twenty years to write, I dedicate to my son Rahul Singh and his friend Niloufer Billimoria

This e-book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser and without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above-mentioned publisher of this e-book.

I cannot yet believe that the first hardcover edition of my novel sold out before a copy was available in the book-stores. Or that a second and a third edition should have to be printed within a fortnight of the first. It is enough to turn the head of any writer. It has mine.

It took me twenty-five years to piece together this story spanning several centuries of history. I put in it all I had in me as a writer: love, lust, sex, hate, vendetta and violenceand above all, tears. I did not write this novel with any audience in mind. All I wanted to do was tell my readers what I learnt about the city roaming among its ancient ruins, its congested bazaars, its diplomatic corps and its cocktail parties. My only aim was to get them to know Delhi and love it as much as I do. The readers response has been most gratifying and gives me hope that I may achieve my object.

New Delhi Khushwant Singh

July 1990

In this novel I have tried to tell the story of Delhi from its earliest beginnings to the present times. I constructed it from records chronicled by eye-witnesses. Hence most of it is told in the first person. History provided me with the skeleton. I covered it with flesh and injected blood and a lot of seminal fluid into it. It took me twenty-five years to do so. I am not sure whether I have succeeded in my venture.

Some chapters in an earlier draft were published in EvergreenReview of New York and The Illustrated Weekly of India.

New Delhi Khushwant Singh

15 September 1989

I asked my soul: What is Delhi?

She replied: The world is the body and Delhi its life.

Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib