Dillinama : Zahir-O-Batin

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Wend through its historic pathways, full of discoveries... a journey through time. These views of Delhi, some fresh, others mellow, surround you with euphoria, whosoever stands across. A shivering branch through the mist, a tumbling wall, a fortress.

This 'Delhi' book, with art as its backbone, an anthology of an artist, elliptical, esoteric, woven with her own experiences, put forth just the way she found it, proceeding towards its spiritual core, trying to fathom its mysteries and celebrates its intricate beauty with colour and verve.

Born as Shahin in Bombay 1968, she studied Applied Art at the College of Fine Arts, Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore in 1992 having won accolades for creative excellence in visual communications.

She is associated with NGO's and has assisted in giving form to the scripted word mainly on issues of homelessness, literacy and child development. Her story 'The Guest' was awarded by Katha for excellence in creating books for children in 2005.

Sadia has been working exensively for the last decade on the monuments of Delhi and also crusades for the cause -"revive our monuments protect our heritage". Her series the 'Lost City' exhibited in Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore, ve shows spread across ten years.

Collections of Sayed's works are with the Kejriwals, Titan Industries, ICICI, Central park Bangalore, Qatar Consulate, Bombay, Private Collectors in India and abroad.

What began as a mere proposal for a 'Coffee Table' book, gradually emerged, powerfully ambitious, not a book or project so ful lled but a life lived, stoking stories into its burning furnace and at once stilled and calmed with the richness of Urdu and the wealth of translated literature, this compilation is Sadia's rst ever published work on her 'Delhi' series, broken down, salvaged from her notebooks, diary entries and sketchpads. Reconstructed within a few months after all was lost. Mostly washed out in 2008 and more being displaced and languished since...

Many poets, from Amir Khusrau to Mir Taqi Mir, to Octavio Paz wrote on the city of Delhi. The imagery of Urdu poets moved easily between sheets of manuscript, glowing carpets, the textures of stone, the sparkle of running water, and the glow of sunlight. There were times- after political storms - when the poems were permeated with melancholy - perhaps inevitable in towns with a long history and with memories or fantasies of days of splendor.

In the last century, the creation of New Delhi as the relocated capital for British India was a turning-point. This relegated older landscapes to an undifferentiated past against which New Delhi defined itself. The French prime minister Clemenceau's wry comment in 1920 that New Delhi "will be the finest ruin of them all" has not come true. If anything, Lutyens' buildings sparkle more than before, and the Central Vista is the centerpiece of the capital. But what is truly marvelous is that the Qutb Minar, Humayun's Maqbara and Shah Jahan's Fort still look as though they were built yesterday.

One can move easily from the wide streets and tree-filled rond- points of Lutyens' city to older landscapes, with special qualities of beauty which Sadia's paintings capture so well. She is unusual in her ability to portray landscapes as well as to evoke and articulate moods. The title of this book Delhi-Zahir-o-Batin makes one realize that Delhi is so much more than many other capital cities. Not only are there monuments deservedly given World Heritage status, but there are many others which fill in other narratives. And these are not all to do with architecture, which is visible, tangible. There are other references, other meanings and so we come back to the poets.

**Contents and Sample Pages**