Product Review

Like the city’s ubiquitous snack food, Bombay Bhel blends a variety of ingredients to serve up glimpses of life among the Goan and Anglo-Indian communities—minorities in one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities. The interlinked stories are set in the late twentieth century, before a wave of anticolonialism crested across India and resulted in the city’s rechristening.

A schoolboy’s loyalty to a street vendor is tested when the vendor disappears without notice. A grandmother prepares to begin a new chapter in her life. Bombay’s tangled web of bureaucracy threatens the livelihood of an ex-serviceman. Each story in this debut collection offers a taste of the rhythm and verve of Bombay life.