Streetside

I phoned a friend Rajendar Menen a journalist who is also a student of Mumbai. He is also unusually resourceful and has many contacts. He took me to the Kamathipura area where the brothels were. At that time he was writing extensively on AIDS research. We entered a brothel. A girl in her early teens came out of an inner room and greeted Rajen with unqualified puppy-like affection. She rubbed her head against Rajen’s hip speaking in giggles and whispers. “Even so early in the day they get clients” Rajen said. “She’s ready for work.” As we left the girl started to cry and was pulled away by an older woman. He waved a hand at the girl who though the older woman was trying to comfort her was crying in brief violent bursts like a child. “Once I gave her a doll” he confided. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have done that.”--- Dom Moraes in Out of God’s Oven   The cast is eclectic: kidnappers aghoris tantrics pimps hustlers scammers mafia dons drug dealers sea dogs whoremasters maalsihwallahs tattoo artists hucksters traffickers anarchists wasters psychics spiritualists honey trappers chiselers and simple God-fearing hardworking everyday folk trying to eke out their karmas as honestly as their circumstances would allow. The book is raw pulsating gripping provocative and electric. It takes you to a world rarely traversed. Unputdownable!