This is an extraordinary portrait of one of the world's largest cities. Sam Miller sets out to discover the real Delhi, a city he describes as being 'India's dreamtown-and its purgatory.' He treads the city streets, making his way through Delhi and its suburbs, visiting its less celebrated destinations-Nehru Place, Rohini, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon-that most writers ignore. Miller's quest is the here and now, the unexpected, the ignored and the eccentric. All the obvious ports of call-the ancient monuments, the imperial buildings and the celebrities of modern Delhi-make only passing appearances. Through his encounters with Delhi's people-from a professor of astrophysics to a crematorium attendant, from ragpickers to members of the Police Brass Band-Miller creates a richly entertaining portrait of what Delhi means to its residents, and of what the city is becoming. Miller is, like so many of the people he meets, a migrant in one of the world's fastest growing megapolises and the Delhi he depicts is one whose future concerns us all.

Miller possesses an intense curiosity; he has an infallible eye for life's diversities, for all the marvellous and sublime moments that illuminate people's lives. This is a generous, original, humorous portrait of a great city; one which unerringly locates the humanity beneath the mundane, the unsung and the unfamiliar.