A canvas in need of more colour

When at the fag-end of the grand spectacle of the 1911, Durbar George V announced the shifting of the capital, the last of the Kings, in a long list dating back to the Mahabharata times, was riding to Delhi.

Though the move and the grandiose plans for the new capital would suggest Britain's determination, and hope, to continue to rule India, that was not to be.

Sapped as much by the Second World War as by Indians' determination for self-rule, the Raj became untenable and in just over 35 years of building the capital, the British had to hand over Delhi, symbolising the power, to Indians.

Nayantara Pothen's Glittering Decades – New Delhi in Love & War tries to capture the political and social power plays of the defining years from New Delhi's Raj origins to its democratic transformation.

Considering the time frame, the book raises tremendous expectations about the excitement and tension of the period. But Nayantara Pothen, who lives in Sydney, does not quite manage to bring out thrills of the post-War days, the handing over of reins, the horrors of Partition, or the emergence of the new Indian elite.

The personal accounts of the elite of society make for good reading certainly, but leave you disappointed about the big picture.

Hierarchical in design, mainly to underscore the relationship between the Raj and its subjects, Delhi was “too official…” and in such a set-up, the Warrant of Precedence determined the status of a person. The seating at Viceregal banquets, as it were, put a person in his place, and, obviously, there were racial undertones. For instance, the Imperial Gymkhana Club did eventually open its doors to Indians, but drew the line when it came to giving them voting rights.

New tensions

The War years changed New Delhi with the increasing babuisation of officialdom and the social space becoming more plural. And, Independence itself came after much political elbowing and shoving — the new tensions of a new nation. The Viceregal galas quickly turned into political gatherings, with more space at the table for Indians, thanks to the very correct, and sympathetic, Mountbattens.

But the gaiety of Independence dissolved in the gore of Partition. The nation woke up to new realities wherein the precedence and protocol were viewed as the vestiges of the Raj.

A new elite was taking over New Delhi, and this came home truly in 1952, with the first general elections.

The imposing feudal structure of the Imperial Raj, the Viceregal House, had become Rashtrapati Bhavan, the symbol of democracy. New Delhi had changed.

With such a vast canvas, Nayantara could have made the decades truly glittering with more anecdotes; she does have a few, but not enough.

Also, her limited use of photographs of those years, especially when she seems to have had access to the works of Homi Vyarawalla, the chronicler of the early years of Independence, is inexplicable.

Bottomline: Good in parts.

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