Here
is a book that Delhi’s tourism officials won’t be eager to publicize.
However, visitors or residents shouldn’t hesitate to pick up Delhi
Noir, a story collection that’s part of the terrific noir series put
out by New York-based Akashic Books.
‘Noir,’ as defined by Merriam-Webster’s, is crime fiction featuring
hard-boiled cynical characters and bleak sleazy settings. Delhi Noir,
then, is a book version of film noir, and appropriately, the prose
teems with cinematic details that conjure up seedy locales and shady
characters you wouldn’t care to invite into your home. A few plots may
seem too convoluted, but the narrative seldom loses its crackling
energy and dark humorous bite.
Three popular slogans found around Delhi—“With You, For You,
Always,” “Youngistan” and “Walled City, World City”—are used as titles
for the sections. Among the established authors included are Irwin
Allan Sealy, Tabish Khair and Manjula Padmanabhan. Some of the
strongest tales are from younger writers such as Siddharth Choudhury,
Omair Ahmad, Radhika Jha and Palash Krishna Mehrotra. Ahmad and
Chowdhury, incidentally, are on the long list for the 2009 Man Asian
Prize.
Stories by New Yorkers Mohan Sikka, Meera Nair and Hirsh Sawhney
(who edited the anthology) have also found a place here, given their
extensive knowledge of Delhi. With the exception of Uday Prakash, whose
story was translated from Hindi, the contributors write in English.
Nevertheless, there is a generous sprinkling of Punjabi and Urdu words
to spice up the prose and convey a vivid sense of what it’s like to be
in this gritty city.
“Together [the stories] give you an alternative map to the city,
one that doesn’t shy away from its strident flaws and yet also sheds
light on beauty in overlooked corners and conversations,” writes Sawney
in the introduction, adding, “Non-Indian readers will be unfamiliar
with many of the names in this book, which will hopefully offer them a
rare taste of a different type of Indian writing: literature that
fascinates simply because it’s well written—not exotic.”
Authors Ruchir Joshi, Nalinaksha Bhattacharya and Hartosh Singh Bal
round out the volume, which takes us from the popular Lodhi Gardens and
Jantar Mantar to well-known Delhi University, and from upscale Defence
Colony and middle-class R. K. Puram to a bus terminal and even an
ashram.
Akashic’s Noir series has come a long way since the first book,
Brooklyn Noir, came out in 2004. Numerous cities in the world have
already been covered, and among the forthcoming titles is Mumbai Noir,
edited by Altaf Tyrewala, who wrote an acclaimed debut novel called No
God in Sight.