books indian tales of crime grime

7/31/2019 Books Indian Tales of Crime Grime

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Books: Indian Tales of Crime & Grime

Review by Poornima Apte

May 2012

The Iron Bra, an e-book, has enough elements

to appeal to Bankers die-hard fans and might

even be worth the easy download for the sake

of a breezy read. For the rest, theres always

Tyrewalas Mumbai Noir, which is available

as a paperback and also on Kindle.

MUMBAI NOIR

Edited by Altaf Tyrewala,

Akashic Books, 300 pages.

THE IRON BRA

By Ashok Banker,AKB eBOOKS, Kindle Edition

They came, famously, by sea. Right around the time that most Americans were assemblingaround their Thanksgiving tables, in November 2008, a slow-moving terrorist plot was unfolding

all the way at the other end of the world. Coming in from the Arabian Sea, Pakistan-based

terrorists opened fire in several locations in Mumbai. The attacks killed close to 150 people butthe toll the attacks took on the public psyche was greater. For a city that famously survived many

previous acts of terror, the sheer brazenness with which what is now often referred to as Indias9/11 was executed shook Mumbaiites to the core. Yet days after the attacks, the image of

Mumbais famous resilience took shape in the form of Leopold Cafe. This small cafe, whichoften catered to tourists in addition to locals, went right back to business sporting its war

woundsbullet holes in its glass windows. In Akashic Books latest collection of noir stories,

Mumbai Noir, editor Altaf Tyrewala points out that such resilience could be mistaken for a

savage sort of indifference, but Tyrewala argues that itis not.

The same Leopold Cafe is the setting for one of 14

stories in the volume, in which tales related to communal

violence and subsequent misunderstandings betweenHindus and Muslims in the city form a healthypercentage of the collection. In the first such story,

"Justice" by Riaz Mulla, the Muslim wife of a bomber

sentenced to death meets the (Hindu) widow of one of thevictims of the bombing. This story is unfortunately a little

clichd, with its neatly resolved ending. But there are

tales better crafted in this subset called Bomb-ay,


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including Paromita Vohras "The Romantic Customer," where a young worker working in the

Hai Five cybercafe in Andheri East tries to strike up a relationship with a local girl who is a

regular visitor. This particular story also shines light on Indias forays into the tech-savvy world.

Even the local bhai knows the future of his business lies not in the pirated DVDs he loans to

customers but in the computers his cybercafe hosts.

While the term noir has been open to a variety of interpretations, arguably the best one comes

from Otto Penzler, the famous editor of mystery fiction in New York City: Noir works, whetherfilms, novels, or short stories, are existential, pessimistic tales about people, including (or

especially) protagonists who are seriously flawed or morally questionable. The tone is generally

bleak or nihilistic, with characters whose greed, lust, jealousy, and alienation lead them into a

downward spiral as their plans and schemes inevitably go awry. The machinations of their

relentless lust will cause them to lie, steal, cheat, and even kill as they become more and more

entangled in a web from which they cannot possibly extricate themselves. And, while engaged in

this hopeless quest, they will be double-crossed, betrayed and ultimately ruined.

At first glance, many of the stories in Mumbai Noirdont really seem to qualify as noir, butthey just about do. Mumbai Noir is the second series set in India; the first one was set in Delhi.The stories in Mumbai Noir are set all over the city including in Mahim, Walkeshwar, and

Lamington Road. A majority of the stories expose the dark, seedy underbelly of the citythe

most obvious material for noir fiction. Where this volume particularly shines is when it uses

locations and settings more familiar to the citys middle-class citizens. For example, in "The

Watchman" by Altaf Tyrewala, a buildings chowkidar (watchman) is convinced someone is

going to die on his watch. His anxieties and the way the intensity builds up in the story are very

well executed. The touches of humor in this story also work really well.

My favorite in the collection is "The Egg" by Namita Devidayal, which is set in Tirupati Towers,

an all-vegetarian apartment complex in Walkeshwar. This story appeals because of the everydayfamiliarity of the situation and a protagonist who is utterly believable. It is also a wonderful

example of true noir, realized with a shocking twist.

While the stories are not uniformly goodthey are either

hit or missMumbai Noir would make for fun reading

for any lover of the Indian city that never sleeps. The

Maximum City that author Suketu Mehta trained hissights on, is painted here in all its seedy gore. As that

famous old Bollywood song goes, Ai dil heh mushkil,

jeena yahan, yeh hai Bombay, yeh hai Bombay, yeh hai

Bombay meri jaan.

Also set in Mumbai is Ashok Bankers e-book, The Iron

Bra, which had an earlier incarnation as a paperback in

India. Banker, a popular author, is known chiefly for his

fast-paced reinterpretations of the ancient Hindu classics, theRamayana and theMahabharata.His fans point to the page-turning, fast-paced reads Banker creates for quick and easy


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consumption. In that sense, The Iron Bradoesnt veer too much from Bankers essential formula:

cheap thrills delivered relentlessly on the page.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect ofThe Iron Bra (one assumes the title comes from the

detective Sheila Rays wish that she had an iron bra that would hold up to mens ugly advances)

is its digital publication. As in the United States, digital publishing in India is growing by leapsand bounds and so is self-publishing. Incidentally The Iron Brais classified as Mumbai Noir

probably as a way of riding on the actual volumes anticipated popularity. This bookis not partof theMumbai Noircollection even if it does have a fair number of noir elements in it.

The Iron Bra is clunky and poorly structured, riddled with grammatical and spelling mistakes.

In 1980s India, speaking English well or badly was a political statement, Banker writesone

is not sure if the writing here too is some sort of a political statement. The book also suffers from

plenty of gratuitous blood and gore: The khukri swung down, striking her in the lower

abdomen. Blood flew. God, so muchblood. Great thick gouts like vomit from a drunks mouth.

Splattering onto the shiny tiled floor.

Whats worse, for all the talk about the lead character being a bold, liberated woman, the story

reeks of misogynistic excess. It wouldnt be too much of a reveal to say that there is a nasty

scene towards the end where Sheila has all manners of torture executed on her. Its enough to

make even the most iron stomachs churn.

Published byKhabar Magazine,Featuressection May 2012 issue.
http://www.khabar.com/http://www.khabar.com/http://www.khabar.com/http://www.khabar.com/magazine/features/http://www.khabar.com/magazine/features/http://www.khabar.com/magazine/features/http://www.khabar.com/magazine/features/http://www.khabar.com/

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