Capital
The Eruption of Delhi
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4.0 • 3 Ratings
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE WINDHAM CAMPBELL PRIZE 2025
WINNER OF THE PRIX ÉMILE GUIMET DE LITTÉRATURE ASIATIQUE 2017
WINNER OF THE RYSZARD KAPUSCINSKI AWARD 2017
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2015
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE ONDAATJE PRIZE 2015
SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIX DU MEILLEUR LIVRE ÉTRANGER 2016
In Capital, Rana Dasgupta reveals the red-hot city which erupted from Delhi's economic boom in the 1990s and 2000s. Slums were bulldozed, luxury shopping malls erected in their place. The outer transformation, stern and abrupt, reached beyond mortar and into minds. Hundreds of thousands streamed in from rural hinterlands, and the city brimmed with possibility.
In this prescient account of the exultation and disparity that would emerge from India’s globalisation, Rana Dasgupta shows us a city’s rebirth – for better and worse – through the eyes of its people. Capital is a history, a warning and a looking glass. It is book for our times.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this profound and fascinating book, Dasgupta (Tokyo Cancelled) conducts a series of interviews and personal explorations which reveal the history and evolution of the city of Delhi, examined through the attitudes and opinions of its inhabitants. He paints a picture of wealth and privilege, poverty and neglect, rampant corruption and boundless ambition, emphasizing the dichotomy which has transformed the landscape over the past few decades. It's a telling look at the author himself, Delhi and its people, and the 21st Century Indian culture as a whole. Packed with revelatory details and vivid in its impressions, this book covers everything from business to pleasure, sex to marriage, showing how Delhi has become a place of opportunity built on the backs of its residents. Dasgupta's sprawling narrative vibrantly captures the hustle of the current generation as they steer Delhi toward its global economic future. It's both a love letter to a city in transition and a haunting cautionary tale.
Customer Reviews
High on personal biases
When I started reading this book, I felt that I have found the book which I always wanted to read; one which tells the story of my hometown in a fluid and interesting way.
The anecdotes and people-stories in the first 200 odd pages are brilliant save some over-analyses by the author. The penmanship is of the highest standard.
But as the book progresses one can't help but notice some seemingly personal biases of the author showing through. At some point he goes so far as to generalise North-Indians/Punjabis as Muslim-hating hypocrites. Some of his analyses are based on abstractions like 'there are more taxis in Delhi with Rama written on their backs, than the ones with Krishna written on their backs.'
I would have liked this book better if the author would have stuck to portraying Delhi for what it is, instead of playing Freud, and propagating a one-sided discourse against an entire community.