To be honest, the only reason I picked up this book was because, that day I was walking down the old roads of the city, admiring the Victorian architecture, imagining the air which once blew in those streets, visualizing the grandeur of the life of the Bombay of the old, empathizing with the spirit of the city, building my own dreams in the city of dreams. This book claimed to tell me of dreams and lives of different people, fourteen people to be precise, sheltered in the city and how this city connected them all.
The first thing about the book which struck me is that it covers varied contours of the city perfectly. Be it with the location of the story or the profession of the person of interest or the incidents in the stories. There are specific problems which the people living in the city face, which are unique to them. The way the author has observed them and identified them as elements in his stories to add to the authenticity of the story is a thing done right. The second thing which I liked was the fact that many of his stories revolved around Parsis, a community which has had a major contribution to the city in terms of landmarks, trade, language and cuisines.
The next thing which I liked was the demography of people covered – a Dhobiwala, a Taxi Driver, a Teacher, a retired Army personnel, a Buggywala, a government Babu among others essentially covers the entire spectrum of strugglers in life and otherwise. The book has a shade of glamour, masala, insight – almost every element you can think when you imagine Mumbai. It shows the making of every day in Mumbai. Any person who has lived in Mumbai for a while would be able to appreciate the book and all its elements.
The book is a must read for anyone who understands the city and wants to revisit the lives of everyday people in pages. Every story has some or the other incidents or character which almost everyone can relate to at some point in their life. Overall it is a 3 on 5.