A place of spectacle and ruin, Mumbai exemplifies the
cosmopolitan metropolis. It is not just a big city but also a
soaring vision of modern urban life. Millions from India and
beyond, of different ethnicities, languages, and religions, have
washed up on its shores, bringing with them their desires and
ambitions. "Mumbai Fables" explores the mythic inner life of this
legendary city as seen by its inhabitants, journalists, planners,
writers, artists, filmmakers, and political activists. In this
remarkable cultural history of one of the world's most important
urban centers, Gyan Prakash unearths the stories behind its
fabulous history, viewing Mumbai through its turning points and
kaleidoscopic ideas, comic book heroes, and famous scandals--the
history behind Mumbai's stories of opportunity and oppression, of
fabulous wealth and grinding poverty, of cosmopolitan desires and
nativist energies.
Starting from the catastrophic floods and terrorist attacks of
recent years, Prakash reaches back to the sixteenth-century
Portuguese conquest to reveal the stories behind Mumbai's historic
journey. Examining Mumbai's role as a symbol of opportunity and
reinvention, he looks at its nineteenth-century development under
British rule and its twentieth-century emergence as a fabled city
on the sea. Different layers of urban experience come to light as
he recounts the narratives of the Nanavati murder trial and the
rise and fall of the tabloid "Blitz," and Mumbai's transformation
from the red city of trade unions and communists into the saffron
city of Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena. Starry-eyed planners and elite
visionaries, cynical leaders and violent politicians of the street,
land sharks and underworld dons jostle with ordinary citizens and
poor immigrants as the city copes with the dashed dreams of
postcolonial urban life and lurches into the seductions of
globalization.
Shedding light on the city's past and present, "Mumbai Fables"
offers an unparalleled look at this extraordinary metropolis.
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