Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found
Suketu Mehta returns to his birthplace and finds a city he barely recognises. What unfolds is far more than nostalgia. He navigates Mumbai's shadowy corners with unflinching curiosity, from turf wars between organised crime syndicates to the precarious existence of street performers. A bar dancer's testimony pierces the heart. Bollywood's glittering façade cracks open. Countless migrants chase dreams only to find themselves sleeping rough on pavements. Meanwhile, Mehta grapples with his own displacement, wrestling with what it means to reclaim belonging after two decades away. The book pulses with contradiction. One moment it's brutally honest, the next unexpectedly tender. There's dark humour alongside genuine anguish. The result is something rare: a portrait of an ancient metropolis caught in violent flux, told through the eyes of someone caught between insider and outsider. This isn't a guidebook or a sociological treatise. It's a deeply personal excavation of a city and the man returning to it.
- Author: MEHTA SUKETU
- Publisher: Penguin
- Genre: Travel Writing & Guides
- ISBN: 978-0144001590
- Pages: 600 pages