Holding the first copy of every new book I have published is like holding a new born baby. I am sure other authors will vouch for this feeling. After fathering three children and authoring nine other books I am thrilled to announce the release of my 10th book in 11 years- A novella titled `DURGA NIVAS – Biography of a building`. A dream project I concieved two years ago but could deliver it only now.
The book will
take the readers into the tiny one-room tenements (kholis) of Durga Nivas a fictional chawl in Matunga, Central Bombay;
home to a potpourri of people from different parts of India, who live
cheek-by-jowl, sharing joys and sorrows, much like the diverse members of a
large joint family. You will get a
glimpse into the lives and fortunes of nine families to whom
the first floor of Durga Nivas was home right from the 1940s into the 21st
Century. You can also listen in to the
conversations of the tenants as they wait in queue every morning for their turn
at the common toilets where many a
reputation is made or smashed at the ‘Loos Talk’! Together with the walls of
the venerable building, you will witness
the whole gamut of human emotions –that play out in Durga Nivas over the years.
And, as a new
generation tries its wings and flies out of the proverbial nest, the hustle and
bustle, the fights, tears and laughter of normal life in the chawl are reduced
to memories. But some former tenants of Durga Nivas find that life is full of
surprises, and the past has a habit of catching up.
The book
exemplifies Bombay's can-do and daring spirit and
is based on my
experience of living in a chawl in Bombay for the first 26 years of my life.
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