Historians have written about Delhi in authentic detail but it needed a writer for children to paint it in the seven colours of the rainbow. This is what Nita Berry, a freelance journalist and writer of fiction and non-fiction for children, has done. Her book The Story of Time (CBT) was awarded the prestigious Shankar’s medal. A member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Writers and Illustrators (AWIC) and for several years the editor of its journal Writers and Illustrators, she is ‘a homegrown Delhiwallah’.
Nita Berry tells the story of Delhi in its various phases, mythical to modern. Her book opens with a simple but colourful double-page map of Delhi showing its seven cities and their dates.
The short Prologue makes an important statement: ‘Many a dream turned to dust here, and many a dynasty crumbled through periods of darkness and despair. But nothing could crush the spirit of Delhi. It was always there to resurrect, for the adventurous, the brilliant and the brave. And so it survived, Delhi defied history.