Word: delhi
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...Emperor of India, led an enviable existence. He no longer hunted, as he once loved to do, but he still read and wrote poetry, flew his kites, talked to his numerous sons and grandsons, and, from his residence in the Red Fort, enjoyed the views of his beloved city, Delhi. The city was all that was left of Zafar's dominion, but even there he wasn't really in charge; the year was 1857, and the British East India Company ruled Delhi and most of the rest of India. Then, in the course of a single day, Zafar was torn...
...story of Zafar's extraordinary final days is the subject of William Dalrymple's new book, The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi, 1857. Fans of Dalrymple know him as an author of crisply written works of non-fiction drawn from his travels and historical research, books so full of drama and memorable characters they read like novels. His latest work won't disappoint them...
...institution that had been all but defunct for over a century: the Mughal Empire. As one contemporary report put it, the soldiers "announced that they had released themselves from the service of the East India Company, and were about to become enrolled as subjects of the King of Delhi." They poured into the capital, drove the British out, and bullied the reluctant Zafar into becoming their leader...
...asked to fill in a form rating everything from the friendliness of the staff to the selection of drinks. And I'm not just talking about American-style fast food joints. At the end of a meal at one of New Delhi's toniest restaurants last week the bill came accompanied by a feedback form - rate the "ambience and d?cor," the "value of meal" - that the waiter urged me to fill out, sounding an off note at the end of a pleasant evening. And what to make of the little card asking me to "Tell Us What You Think" that...
...customer feedback form in which ordinary Indians could rate their government on a series of questions? After all, the government is the provider of such crucial services as education and health. Imagine a form asking whether Indians were happy that dengue fever killed only dozens of people in Delhi last year rather than hundreds? Whether the regular power outages in their neighborhood were Fair, Annoying or Criminal? Or whether the health facilities in their local hospital were Good, Poor or Life Endangering? Then it occurred to me that the government already gets pretty good feedback every few years...