Journey of a city | Joydip Ghosal

BOOK REVIEW

Bombay After Ayodhya, A City in Flux
by Jitendra Dixit

HarperCollins Publishers India

P- ISBN – 978-93-5629-411-0

Bombay After Ayodhya, A City in Flux by Jitendra Dixit documents the change in city’s character and landscape . This book stands as a testament to author’s in- depth knowledge of the city. He loves the city and its people from the core of his heart. He knows every nooks and corner of the city. Rasheed Kidwai rightly says that this book is a fascinating read of how identities and politics with religious overtones are used for electoral benefits.

Jitendra Dixit is the west India editor of ABP Network. He always reports from the ground along with extensive coverage of the events. In his career spanning two and half decades he has reported on Gujarat riots, gang wars and horrors of communal riots.

Bombay was renamed as Mumbai in 1996. Author mentioned the city as Bombay while referring to the events before 1996. In this gripping book he takes the readers down memory lane. This book is divided into twenty chapters.

Migration had helped to evolve all the urban centres of the globe. The author shows that the original residents of Bombay were Aagri community and Koli community. Portuguese developed this archipelago as naval base and port . After a Portuguese princess married the King of England in 1661 the seven islands were handed over to England as dowry.

The migrated north Indian population came from different regions. It manifests a paradoxical of the city. The author here discussed elaborately how his ancestors came into the city ,how they struggled to eke out a living and how they settled defying all odds.

The author brings the readers to the centre of thrill when he describes how he was ensnared in a commotion while returning from school in February ,1989. Centre banned The Satanic Verses in India in 1989. He was stuck in the vortex of commotion . But he returned safely with the help of a Muslim man. “ Considering the history of communal tension in the area , it was a matter of great astonishment for many in the neighborhood to see a Muslim man safely bring a Hindu boy home.†The author termed the city as theatre of communal conflicts. From 1893 to 1990 seven major riots rocked the city.
According to him Bombay is seen as having a modern and cosmopolitan character . But the gory history of communal clashes presents a contradictory picture of the city.

He described in graphic details the impact of Rath Yatra upon the psyche of Bombay. On the second day of the arrival of Rath in Bombay, public meetings were organized in the Khetwadi and Colaba areas of South Bombay. That evening Advani and Bal Thackeray addressed a joint meeting at Dadar. The Shiv Sena had adopted Hindutva as a political plank in 1987. But according to the author during the Bhiwandi riots its anti- Muslim stance became evident. While writing this book the author interacted with few residents of Muslim neighborhood to acquaint himself with the “ undercurrents felt among Muslims.â€

The author deeply researched the social and political impact of December 1992 and January 1993 riots. After the December 1992 riots the city appeared serene on the outside but distrust , hatred and fear boiled within. To counter namaaz prayers maha- artis were arranged.

His political science teacher Atique- ur- Rehman recollected how the maha- artis by the Shiv Sena had led to panic and apprehension in the area. According to him during the riots Noor hospital was flooded with corpses. Hatred and fear also fuelled gruesome crime.

The author heard gunshots on the afternoon of 9 January ,1993, coming from the direction of Minara Naszid. Nine people were killed and they were poor bakery workers from Uttar Pradesh. Police assumed that some terrorists with automatic rifles were firing from the terrace of Suleman Bakery. But it was just a false alarm. Joint Commissioner of police Ramdev Tyagi and team members later faced stern action for this high- handedness.With graphic details the author described the horrific incidents unfolding in the city. Stalls and shops were set ablaze. The stalls near the police commissioner’s office at Lohar Chawl also fell prey to the evil designs of the perpetrators. The author himself faced the horror when some miscreants threw fireball and petrol- filled bottle at the back of his compound. No other city simmered like Bombay after the December 1992 riots. According to Srikrishna Commission’s report during the both phases of riot over 900 people were killed. 2000 people were injured.

The chapter 12 March 1993: A Blood- soaked Bombay and Reign of the Underworld unveils the metamorphosis of the ’ Urbs Prima’ of our country. Natural calamities, serial blasts, communal strife ravaged the city. In 2008 a gory, macabre terrorist attack in the city jolted the nation.

This book chronicles how the city transformed from ’ a city of mills to one of malls’. In this book he researched every aspect of the city- whether it is over- crowded trains,dance bars, sky crappers or Ganesh Utsav and Dahi Handi. The author’s voice resonates with us when he writes that the city has always been beneficial for enterprising people. The city rewards the dreamers who endure the struggle.

Every changes in the city’s character from its physical appearance to its real estate, politics and economy is well documented in this superbly crafted book. Anyone who is interested in the journey of the financial capital , it’s , must read this book.