Delirious Delhi

Inside India's Incredible Capital

De: Dave Prager

Narrado por: Sanjiv Jhaveri

Delhi exists in a kind of quantum state: In Delhi, all things are true at once. When the Big Apple no longer felt big enough, Dave and Jenny moved to a city of 16 million people and, seemingly, twice that many horns honking at once. Delirious Delhi depicts India's capital as the two experienced it, from office life in the rising tech hubs to the traffic jam philosophy that keeps people sane in the gridlock leading to them. With only their sense of humour as their guide, Dave and Jenny set out to explore a city in which ancient stone monuments compete with glass-clad shopping malls to define the landscape. What follows is a top-to-bottom snapshot of a city in the thick of loud and accelerating change. Anyone new to Delhi will have their understanding of it magnified by this book. And anyone who already knows Delhi will appreciate this candid tribute to a city that's everything to everyone at the same time.

©2011, 2013 Dave Prager (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Rambling Mess

I must have been delirious when I purchased this. What a waste of time and money! I was hoping for something akin to the Movie / TV series 'Outsourced' or the audiobook 'Tune in Tokyo'. Unfortunately, this "book" has no discernible story or plot. It's not even told in chronological order.

Without even introducing himself or providing much backstory, the author launches into an endless string of random, quirky observations about Delhi. One after another, like a firehose of random thoughts hitting you in the face. He goes on and on, barely stopping to take a breath.

'The building smelled'... 'There was an earthquake'... 'The winter was cold'... 'The summer was hot'

If I don't know who you are, why should I care what you think?!?! I'm not even a fan of long introductions. But seriously... some explanation would have been welcome!

NOTE: In case you listened to the sample clip and are wondering what I'm referring to, you should know that clip about his initial arrival in Delhi comes from approx. an hour into the audiobook -- AFTER he's already described most of his 18 months in India in the previous hour-long chapter.

This is not a travelogue, nor is it funny. It's a poor attempt by amateur writer with a lazy (or absent) editor and at best should be a self-published ebook on Kindle.

As for the narrator, I've heard worse. While he's enthusiastic, it sounds like he's reading off the page in a somewhat unnatural and stilted voice. Sanjiv just doesn't sound like a guy named 'Dave' from New York. However, I could have overlooked the awkward narration if the rest of the production wasn't so aimless and clumsy.