Sheila Dikshit's book traces evolution of Delhi through photos

The evolution of Delhi and many of its little-known facets have been captured in a book of photographs by one of its architects - former chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
In "Dilli Meri Dilli: Before and After 1998", Dikshit tries to look at Delhi not as someone who was its chief minister for 15 years but as a resident who has lived almost her entire life here.
The pictorial book traces the evolution of the city of Delhi over the centuries, and puts in perspective its impressive transformation since the beginning of the new millennium.
Replete with pictures on subjects like heritage, culture, law, gender equality, urban environment, education, sports and transport, the book, brought out by Palimpsest Publishers, also has comments by people like Mark Tully, E Sreedharan and Sunita Narain among others.

Dikshit says Delhi has today grown exponentially despite constraints.
"If you were to compare the city of the last decades of the 20th century to the present-day Delhi, you would find its growth mind-boggling, beyond recognition. It has evolved into a vibrant and attractive city," she says.

According to Dikshit, she wanted to pen down the changes that her government in 15 years made in Delhi.
"And I thought that from the governments point of view, we would do it. But then we lost the elections when I thought we should be doing it and because we lost the elections I decided to do it myself," she told PTI.

"This kind of book was due because in the 15 years that we were in power we managed to bring about a lot of changes in Delhi," she says, adding, it took about a year for the book to come out.
Terming art and culture as her first passion in life, Dikshit says her government tried to "make a difference and meet the challenges of a growing Delhi, emerging Delhi, demanding Delhi".
The Dikshit government is credited with introducing CNG buses, building roads, flyovers and underpasses, increasing the citys green cover and there are a number of photographs related to these in the book.