Maximum City Bombay Lost and Found [Paperback]

A native of Bombay, Suketu Mehta gives us an insider’s view of this stunning metropolis. He approaches the city from unexpected angles, taking us into the criminal underworld of rival Muslim and Hindu gangs, following the life of a bar dancer raised amid poverty and abuse, opening the door into the inner sanctums of Bollywood, and delving into the stories of the countless villagers who come in search of a better life and end up living on the sidewalks.

As each individual story unfolds, Mehta also recounts his own efforts to make a home in Bombay after more than twenty years abroad. Candid, impassioned, funny, and heartrending,Maximum Cityis a revelation of an ancient and ever-changing world.

PART ONE * POWER
Personal Geography
—The Country of the No
—Two Currencies
Powertoni
—The 1992–93Riots
—Elections 1998
—The Saheb
Mumbai
Number Two After Scotland Yard
—Ajay Lal: The Blasts and the Gangwar
—Encounter
Black-Collar Workers
—Mohsin: The D-Company
—Satish: The Dal Badlu
—Chotta Shakeel: The Don in Exile

PART TWO * PLEASURE
Vadapav Eaters’ City
A City in Heat
—Monalisa Dances
—Golpitha
—Two Lives: Honey/Manoj
—New Year’s Eve
Distilleries of Pleasure
—Vidhu Vinod Chopra:Mission Kashmir
—Mahesh Bhatt’s Wound
—The Struggler and the Goddess
—Accused: Sanjay Dutt
—Dreamworld/Underworld

PART THREE * PASSAGES
Memory Mines
—Mayur Mahal Multipurpose
—A World of Children
Sone ki Chidiya
—Girish: A Tourist in His City
—Babbanji: Runaway Poet
—Adjust
Good-bye World
A Self in the Crowd

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