Book/ Theatre : William Darymple's City of Djinns

I had read this book long time back. I had almost forgotten it.I had read it in Mumbai and had enjoyed it - visiting the by lanes of my native city vicariously - by lanes that I didn't even know existed - The New Delhi of the immigrant Punjabis vs. the Old Delhi of the Muslims and Hindus.I did remember it in bits and pieces.It did come back to me when I crossed the odd historical monuments that Darymple so passionately discovers through the book and so aptly metions arise out of nowhere reminding us of the history that has been lost and yet exists in its physical remnants. He moves back in time from 1989 to the era of Mahabharata. It was a book I enjoyed and I have to thank my colleauge who lent it to me in Mumbai. But that was then, almost 2 years back.

I heard a couple of weeks back that City of Djinns was being staged in Delhi. I was dying to watch a play (Missing what I did in Mumbai) and City of Djinns - there was no way I was going to miss it. Ask me now if it was worth it - I would say DEFINITELY!

Its a challenge to convert a book that records history into a play but it was done magnificently at the Mati Ghar theatre at IGNCA, Janpath. The play was performed outdoors , in the open , where you could smell and feel delhi. It made me proud in a way to be a part of the experience, to be witnessing what i had read 2 years ago come back to me in the three hours of that performance - page by page. I had wondered before seeing it, how would they ever be able to do it! It was a mammoth task to say the least but they did it and did it well and credit goes to the young director - Rudradeep Chakrabarti. He has done a commendable job.

Tom Alter, Zohra Segal and Shivardhan Trivedi - were just great in the play. Tom Alter performed almost continuously from start to end. It does require some effort to be there across 8-10 different sets and keep moving from one to the other without a break.

The sufi music , the bursting crackers of Diwali ,the victims of 1984 riots ,the taxistand of Balwinder , the cock fight (Kukkad Fat) of the old city, the Luytens Delhi ,the remnants of the Mughal Era, and the excavations of the Mahabharata - it all came alive in the three hours that passed by on a saturday evening that I will surely remember for a long time to come!

I can write and write more but my words will not to justice so just catch it if you can, its an experience.Its on till the 26th of April.