Word: chandni
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...seek the face of India - or perhaps a nice shirt, sari, necklace, stuffed paratha, air conditioner, television set or water pump - look no farther than Chandni Chowk. That centuries-old market near old Delhi's famed Red Fort is a crumbling warren of shops, food stalls, shrines, temples and mosques. Indians of varying ethnic and religious hues work and worship alongside each other in grudging harmony, sharing a common language: money...
...perhaps not surprising that Sujit Saraf chose Chandni Chowk as the main setting for his ambitious 750-page novel of politics, commerce and manners in modern India. The Peacock Throne does for Delhi and democracy what Vikram Chandra's recent 900-page Sacred Games does for Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and organized crime. Or what 19th century European novelists did when economic and intellectual winds howled: produce teeming, sprawling, barn-burning novels that try to describe everything in sight. The surprise is that Saraf is not, strictly speaking, a novelist. He works full-time as a space scientist...
...Hindustan. Saraf casts a scientist's eye on the country of his birth and finds it still preoccupied with holding sway. He starts with Indira Gandhi's 1984 assassination by Sikh bodyguards and the spasm of anti-Sikh violence that ensued. Kartar Singh, a Sikh who runs a Chandni Chowk appliance store, narrowly escapes death in the rioting - and leverages that experience to gain influence in a Hindu nationalist party. "He has a limp and a charred signboard - wounds that even a Member of Parliament would covet," a rival notes wryly. "It is wonderful what a riot...
...Jamali Kamali, the tomb of a 16th century poet and his companion. Spanning from the Middle Ages through the British Raj to the present, the book shows how Delhi accumulated history like geological strata. So, following Peck's road map, you can wander through the market of Chandni Chowk in old Delhi, taking note as you pass in quick succession a Jain temple where sick birds are treated, a Hindu temple, a Sikh gurdwara, a mosque and a British-era police station (a McDonald's has also opened on the road). As Peck understands, it's this juxtaposition...
...With all this wide-open space, some visitors may feel they're missing out on the real New Delhi. Those who fancy some authentic hustle and bustle need look no further than the crushingly congested Chandni Chowk area. Even though the metro will open here first, it's unlikely to provide much relief to the maze of hawkers and shopkeepers, donkeys and camels, trucks and bicycle rickshaws, selling everything from myrrh to liquid mercury to Mickey Mouse dolls. Only hardened Delhi hands can manage much more than a few hours of this kind of chaos. But these days, escape...