Category: Non-fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers India (forthcoming)
Rights: World rights available (excluding Indian subcontinent)
Kamathipura, Mumbai’s notorious red light area, where garish women stood under coloured lights in their “cages”, is no longer what it was. Almost imperceptibly, the seedy brothels have given way to shops selling mobile phones or DVDs.
Not far away, Bhendi Bazaar, a century-old precinct celebrated in cinema for its association with food, crime and its famous thieves’ market, is readying itself for what is euphemistically called re-development. Behind this rapid transformation of Mumbai is a question that is seldom asked – What is the human cost? Mumbai was once known as a city with a strong working class ethos – is it becoming a metropolis only for the rich? A Million Islands explores this untold reality behind the dazzling new Mumbai.
The author: Sidharth Bhatia