A ‘Sangam’ of Contrasts
Sohail Akbar
A FOR PRAYAGRAJ: A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF ALLAHABAD by Udbhav Agarwal Aleph Book Company, 2021, 128 pp., 399.00
February 2022, volume 46, No 2

Allahabad has had its share of books. From literary anthologies to histories to the fascination with the Kumbh Mela, this city, where the rivers meet has attracted the attention of insiders as well as outsiders. Huien Tsang, the Chinese chronicler, writes that he visited Prayaga now officially called Prayagraj in 643 AD, during Harshvardhana’s reign.

Udbhav Agarwal is both an outsider and an insider. His roots well entrenched in the city, he went to school in Dehradun and is currently in New York to pursue higher education. He returns to the place of his birth to give us a sociologist’s view of ‘India Shining’. More importantly, we get to read a millennial’s take on modern India, as Uttar Pradesh is considered its nucleus and Allahabad, one of the representative ‘Smart Cities’ marked for a paradigm shift under the current regime.

The title of the book itself brings out the injury the recent name change has left on a sensitive young ‘Allahabadi’ mind. He chooses his own way to explore the various layers of the city and illuminate the schism between the official version and that of the locals who reside in the city.

Continue reading this review