I got this email the other day from a guy called Anish Vyavahare. Apparently he’s written a book called Mumbai On The Footboard which will be out in the market next week. To be honest I kinda forgot about it till he sent me a remind with this info. “I work as a copywriter for Lintas India in Mumbai, I took a six month unpaid leave from office to do this book and used up my savings to publish it.” Now that takes balls (or maybe I’m just having a Slumdog moment) at any rate if you’re so inclined pick up a copy and tell me what you think!
According to the author, “Mumbai On the Footboard” is a 7 storyed book. It has seven stories, all fiction, but drawing on real events that have happened. The book chronicles events of a very specific time period. It starts just before the 26/11 attacks on the city and goes on to a little after the big elections held in May. So, it is a chronologically specific book which talks about one of the most eventful periods in the city’s history where there were terrorist attacks, changed governments, creation of martyrs and villains, pressure from the entire country to hang a twenty year old dude who strayed his path and was labeled a terrorist, the opportunism of the media and its insensitivity in handling the terror episode, the Oscar wins and the controversy thereafter, the dance of democracy called elections, the rise of a leader fighting against external invasion of the city and for restoring her Marathi identity with attacks on Bhaiyyas, a battle between the prudes and the liberals over a single day called Valentine’s and what not! All through the eyes of the many people who actually live what people of other cities of the country can only watch on TV channels.”
There’s more on his blog.
The book will be available at Crosswords, Landmark and all roadside book vendors in Mumbai. According to Anish, “This is because, I think that the roadside bookwallahas are a great institution of the city and a book about the city should be available with them.”