India, June 16 -- Today is Bloomsday, the annual celebration of Ulysses, acknowledged as the greatest modernist piece of fiction. The novel by James Joyce unfolds over a single day, 16 June, following Mr Bloom's stroll through Dublin. Readers worldwide mark the date with Joyce-themed events. Delhi too celebrates Bloomsday, which is understandable, for our city has its own Ulysses monument.

James Joyce's novel begins at Dublin's Martello Tower. Delhi is one of the places outside Ireland to have that same Martello Tower. Actually the British built Martellos across their empire, and both Ireland and India lived under British rule. Whatever, this severely dilapidated Purani Dilli ruin has inadvertently ended up being Delhi's queerest link to...