Sentinels of Raisina Hill by Dhirendra Singh & Mohan Joseph

	The South Asian Life & Times - SALT January - March 2012
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	SALT Book Picks 2011 Sentinels of Raisina Hill By Dhirendra Singh & Mohan Joseph Sketches by Vikram Kalra This is the story of North and South Blocks that stand as sentinels guarding the Rashtrapati Bhavan, earlier called the Viceroy House. The story begins in 1911 when in August of that year a decision was taken to transfer the Imperial capital from Calcutta to India. This did not happen overnight. In fact it would take 20 years – a city had to be created that would symbolise the British empire’s jewel in the crown. The announcement was made by the King on a winter morning at the time of the Delhi Durbar, in December 1911 and he laid the foundation stone for the new capital at the site of his Durbar – on December 15, 2011. Viceroy Hardinge, involved in planning and building the new city right from its inception, wanted to establish a first-rate and a well-planned city. Raisina Hill was the site chosen for Viceroy’s House, now known as the Rashtrapati Bhavan., and the Secretariat Blocks. The former would be designed by Lutyens and the latter by his senior assistant Herbert Baker. Sentinels of Raisina Hill is a riveting account of how the North and South Blocks came to be - it reveals untold stories and shatters myths about the two imposing structures. The inscriptions on the entrance archways of both the Blocks – one in English, and the other in Persian – do not carry the same message – as it was commonly believed. The authors have exposed that the Persian inscription is not a translation of the English. In fact the two are entirely dissimilar in their sensitivity. Chapter Six of the book – is the story as told by the two sentinels – in first person. The soul of the stately and grand structures speaks out. Within the walls of these buildings are the foundation stones laid by the then King and Queen of England at the Durbar of 1911. The foundation stones of a new ‘Delhi’ were not always here. They were brought here from another site where they were originally laid. Now they are in special chambers – the King’s stone in the South Block and the Queen’s in the North Block. Read the entire article in the print edition of The South Asian Life & Times subscribe@the-south-asian.com
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