WHERE POWER SETTLES

HAVING LIVED IN DELHI, THE centre of power in India, for many years, I have somehow, perhaps wrongly, constructed a story in my mind.

- NITIN CHAUDHARY

The narrative goes something like this: some cities do not become seats of power by chance; rather, the land on which they rise seems to command authority, to demand it, even to seize it.

Rulers, power grabbers and dynasties are drawn, almost irrationally, to these centres. They fight wars, spill blood and play elaborate political games to secure even a fleeting hold over these spaces. As if doing so would grant immortality, ensuring their names remain etched in the pages of history.

Studying these capital cities has long interested me. Delhi, Tokyo, Istanbul, Doha, Beijing, Copenhagen, Stockholm, London, Nairobi—I have walked through many capitals, moving through their streets to observe, to watch the rhythms of their comings and goings. Each visit is an attempt to understand whether their rise to power is a matter of chance or whether these cities somehow command it—whether they call out to the power-hungry the way the scent of musk is said to drive hunters wild.

This ongoing exploration eventually brought me to one of the most commanding, if not the most dominant, seats of power: Washington, D.C.