About the Book: “The Penguin Book of Poems on the Indian City” is a spectacular anthology taking the reader on a lyrical journey through thirty-seven Indian cities, from Ghalib’s Delhi to Nongkynrih’s Shillong. The collection features 375 poems written in English and translated from nearly twenty languages, spanning classical voices like Valmiki and the Sangam poets, Bhakti and Sufi strains like Kabir and Amir Khusrau, and early modern figures such as Tagore and Kipling. Contemporary poets like Kolatkar, Pritam, and Gulzar carry this tradition into the present. Together, they depict the Indian city as a complex, chaotic, paradoxical, and magical tableau—a living embodiment of the collective conscience of its many residents