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Books

motivation, and questions in which Narayani Gupta
over rote answers. touched many lives, as col- CITIES, CITIZENS, CLASSROOMS
The Diary is a strong, league and mentor. & BEYOND: ESSAYS FOR
honest, and thoroughly The first part sets the NARAYANI GUPTA
contemporary guide that tone for what follows: the Edited by Partho Datta, Mukul
Kesavan and Kumkum Roy
advises self-preparation warmth, respect and admi-
for leadership in all ration for Narayani Gupta. PRIMUS BOOKS
walks of life. Inspiring, It is the second part that Rs.1,295 Pages 400
deep, very readable, addresses the many his-
easy to understand and torical and contemporary
implement, The Diary of aspects of Indian urban- mobilization, seen through This compendium
a CEO isn’t just for CEOs ism which should interest the trial of Asaf Ali (TCA celebrates Narayani
— it’s for all who aspire a wide range of historians, Raghavan); two, the city Gupta, historian,
to lead lives of clarity and architects, planners, and as the site of Commu- teacher, public
purpose. of course, interested gen- nist mobilization (Amar intellectual and
PRIYANKA EDUPUGANTI eralists. Farooqui); and three, popular writer and
. Who, among those who the city, or more specifi- also celebrates her
Extraordinary have with pleasure taught cally Indraprastha College beloved city, Delhi
courses on Modern City
that witnessed new, bold
engagements by women
(me included), has not
public included the thoroughly in political action in the taught, he begins with
the query he posed to
researched and elegantly
mid 20th century (Meena
intellectual written book by Narayani Bhargava). Jim Masselos students (‘Why History?’)
and receives the bald
provides an unusual frame
Gupta, Delhi Between
Two Empires? Apart from for understanding Bombay response that it is the last
HIS BOOK NOT the respectful accounts of through what he describes resort of those aspiring
only celebrates Patrick Geddes’s historic as the ‘Life of Dead Bodies’ for a university degree.
TNarayani Gupta — tour of, and engagement — ranging from the Parsi- At a time when raucous
historian, teacher, public with Indian towns and Muslim riots of 1874 to the debates and discussions
intellectual and popular urbanism (by Helen Millar commemoration of Tilak’s about history are heard on
writer, but also doubles and AG Krishna Menon) is death in 1920. Likewise, streets and TV channels,
as a celebration of her a synoptic view of colonial Krishna Kumar shares a and court rooms rather
beloved city, Delhi. As the planning in the city of Cal- very personal memory of than classrooms, it is a
omnibus title suggests, its cutta (Partho Datta). Tikamgarh and Lalitpur frank admission of the
content strays beyond the And Ranjeeta Dutta through the lens of the low esteem accorded
layered histories of the takes us back to the early dramatic (and delayed) to academic pursuit of
capital, to include instruc- modern Srirangam, via a entry of the railways, those history.
tively, cities as far apart text called the Koil Olugu steel gashes that ripped This volume is a delib-
as Bombay, Jalandhar, (‘The Koil Olugu and through the industrial erately mixed bag, offering
Calcutta, Agra, Lalitpur Srirangam in the Tamil towns of the 19th century. something of interest to
and Srirangam. But the Region’), more properly Cities, Citizens a wide range of people.
shared commitment to a temple history. Other highlights another As such, it cannot but be
rethinking the historical accounts of pre-colonial important aspect of an uneven and eclectic
city, to devise an appropri- cities and urbanisms in- Narayani Gupta as read. But it is in some
ate approach to historical clude a discussion of Agra teacher. Apart from the ways a reflection of, and a
conservation, and teach (Shailaja Kathuria), Ja- warm tributes from her definite complement to the
history in classrooms landhar (Indu Banga) and colleagues and former indefatigable energies that
and settings that have so a comparison of Calcutta students is the shift in Narayani Gupta brought
dramatically transformed and Delhi (Atiya Habeeb focus by PK Basant on the to the domains of history
of late — all these bind the Kidwai). contemporary classroom writing, teaching and to
contributions together. Delhi also forms the and the challenges it public history, animated
The book consists of backdrop for three dif- poses to teachers of by her interventions and
23 essays divided into ferent types of events/ history. Drawing on his insights.
three parts, appropriately processes. One, the city as experience at Jamia Millia JANAKI NAIR (The Book
beginning with the ways the centre of nationalist University, where Gupta Review)

JULY 2025 EDUCATIONWORLD 89