Grand Delusions

Some books you chose , some books choose you.

This is one of the books i am glad came to me and i read it , even if the only reason was that one of my best friend is a bengali, a resident of kolkata too.

When i started the book , i treatrd it as a book on kolkata , a city i knew nothing about. And gradually it became a study of any city i knew of. It made me aware how much i do not know about the place i grew up in , the cities i stayed for work or the one i occupy now.

This book was a reminder that not just geography or history alone can tell you of the changes in a city. It is a combination of both and a few other aspects that will help you belong to any area.

Indrajit's writing is so fluent and fun at places that it doesnt even feel i was reading about a city. It was more of his memories , his feelings and his experiences of the city. It was about the origin and evolution of a city , its culture , its people ,the politics ,  its identity and its entity as a being. He brought some of the buildings alive for me , some incidents of my own life made their presence felt in my subconcious mind while i read his. He gave a human point of view on behalf of all non living things too it seems.

I do not know how much of kolkata i will remember few weeks later but i will never be able to treat my city like before.  I am now curious to know and read about my cities , this country a lot more and even make my own discoveries.

This book proved to be the best way to begin 2014 for me.

Rating : You Must must must read this one.