A slew of recent releases has swung the spotlight squarely back onto the city that supposedly never sleeps — Mumbai. Here are three worth your time:
Mumbai: A Million Islands (HarperCollins) by Sidharth Bhatia:
This promises to be a renewed look at a city that is always being transformed. Since the East India Company merged seven islands into Bombay (now Mumbai), change has been constant, but now it is used as a weapon for displacement, disguised as development. What is vanishing is not just space, but memory, history and the very fabric of a living city.
The Only City (Fourth Estate) edited by Anindita Ghose:
This is a collection of 18 new pieces of short fiction that capture the pulse of this city of stories. Featuring some of the best names in Indian fiction — both emerging and established — this anthology frames the city through a range of vantage points, where every character carries a critical Bombay fragment.
Perfect Storm (Penguin) by Prabhakar Aloka & Nikhil Ravi:
On November 26, 2008, 10 men slipped silently into Mumbai by sea. Over the next 60 hours, they unleashed a storm of violence that brought India’s financial capital to its knees. The true story of this attack begins decades earlier, spans multiple continents, and enmeshes a diverse array of characters. This is a story that has never been told in full until now.
Mood Board is a column that presents thematic lists of books on hot-button topics.