[Deewan] First Notice on Shaharnama

[Ravikant]

From an old sarai loyalist, Sudheesh Pachauri who has started writing a column 
on books for a recently launched literary-lifestyle magazine from Dainik 
Bhaskar Group called Aha Zindagi(tan-man-jeevan ki pehli sampurna patrika), 
which boasts of a circulation figure of 1,34,636(Dec.2006). Sudheesh has 
nentioned other books but the title goes for deewan02:

Balli maran se dareebe talak

In dinon hindi mein gaon-gaon bahut hota raha hai, ab shaharnama likha jane 
laga hai. Deewane sarai cyberdeewanon ki ek sanstha hai. yeh vikassheel samaj 
adhyayan peeth, dilli ka ek upakram hai jo samay-samay par nagarik space ke 
adhyayan karti rahi hai. 'shaharnama' mein aap ek global shahri spce ka 
parichay pa sakte hain. is bar yahan dilli zyada dikhalai gayi hai. yon patna 
illahabad ka cofee house bhi. beijing bhi hai, dilli e bahut se naye space 
yahan hain. uske cyber mohelle bhi hain. bunty bubbly ke balli maran se 
dareebe talak ki dilli bhi hai. shahr ki badalti tasveeren yahan hain aur 
shahraati sahitya ki banagi bhi hai. char sau battees page ke is nayab 
sankalan ki keemat sirf do sau rupaye hain. jinhein naye spacon ke adhyayan 
karne hon ve ise zaroor dekhein, ek poora namoona dastavez hi hai yeh. isse 
apne shahar ko parhne ki tameez aati hai. 

Rough translation:

After writing whole hog about villages hindi has now started producing stuff 
like shaharnama. Situated at CSDS, Delhi, Deewane sarai is an organization of 
cyber-fans(!) dedicated to occasional research on urban and civic spaces. You 
will find an introduction of a global urban space in shaharnama. Although you 
have Patna, Beijing and Allahabad's Coffee House here, Delhi and its new 
spaces, including Cybermohalla, dominate - Delhi's changing landscape from 
ballimaran to Dareeba. This unique collection of more than 432 pages also 
contains a flavour of the literature on cities. Those who are interested in 
new spaces must read this model document - it will tell them how to read 
cities.