Streetside: Encounters and Escapades

by Rajendar Menen

"I phoned a friend, Rajendar Menen, a journalist who is also a student of Mumbai. He is also unusually resourceful and has many contacts. He took me to the Kamathipura area, where the brothels were. At that time, he was writing extensively on AIDS research. We entered a brothel. A girl in her early teens came out of an inner room and greeted Rajen with unqualified puppy-like affection. She rubbed her head against Rajen’s hip, speaking in giggles and whispers. “Even so early in the day, they get clients,” Rajen said. “She’s ready for work.” As we left, the girl started to cry, and was pulled away by an older woman. He waved a hand at the girl who, though the older woman was trying to comfort her, was crying in brief, violent bursts, like a child. “Once I gave her a doll,” he confided. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have done that.” --- Dom Moraes, in Out of God’s Oven The cast is kidnappers, aghoris, tantrics, pimps, hustlers, scammers, mafia dons, drug dealers, sea dogs, whoremasters, maalsihwallahs, tattoo artists, hucksters, traffickers, anarchists, wasters, psychics, spiritualists, honey trappers, chiselers, and simple, God-fearing, hardworking everyday folk trying to eke out their karmas as honestly as their circumstances would allow. The book is raw, pulsating, gripping, provocative and electric. It takes you to a world rarely traversed. Unputdownable!

244 pages, Paperback

Published December 9, 2022