One of the meanings of the word ‘olio’ is ‘a miscellany’. The books in the Aleph Olio series contain a mélange of the finest writing to be had on a variety of Indian themes—the great cities, aspects of Indian culture and civilization, uniquely Indian phenomena. Filled with insights and haunting evocations of a country of unrivalled complexity, beauty, tragedy and mystery, each Aleph Olio book presents India in ways that it has seldom been seen before. The Essence of Delhi captures the ‘riches and horrors’ (in William Dalrymple’s phrase) of the myriad cities of Delhi, beginning with the first one established by Suraj Pal, a Tomar Rajput, at the edge of the Aravalli Hills. The writers who feature in this volume are Malvika Singh, Ahmed Ali, Kamaleshwar, Khushwant Singh, William Dalrymple, Nirmal Verma, Aatish Taseer, Nilanjana Roy, Pamela Timms, Ruskin Bond, Deepti Kapoor and Siddharth Chowdhury.