'You cannot catch a city in words. You cannot catch a city at all, ' write the editors

of this anthology. So how do you get the spirit of India's great metropolis, the

Maya Nagari, the city of dreams, between the covers of a book? Shanta Gokhale

and Jerry Pinto decide to bring together their favourite short stories about the

city they call home, and hope that a narrative will emerge. And it does-a rich,

varied, vibrant portrait of the republic that goes by many names-Bombay,

Mumbai, Momoi, Bambai and many others.

In the twenty-one stories of this collection, there is the city that labours in the

mills and streets, and the city that sips and nibbles in five-star lounges; the city

of Ganapati and Haji Malang and the Virgin Mary; the city that is a sea of people

and speaks at least a dozen languages. There are stories translated from Marathi,

Urdu, Gujarati, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, and stories written originally

in English. Among the writers are legends and new voices-Baburao Bagul,

Ismat Chughtai, Pu La Deshpande, Urmila Pawar, Mohan Rakesh,

Saadat Hasan Manto, Ambai, Jayant Kaikini, Bhupen Khakhar, Cyrus

Mistry, Vilas Sarang, Tejaswini Apte-Rahm and Anuradha Kumar.

Maya Nagari is a majestic book on a majestic city. It will be read and cherished for

year