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Narcopolis book summary7/6/2023 ![]() ![]() This is life sliced from the seamy genitals of Bombay, at a time when the city rocked and revelled in its squalor. In fact, opium is the central character and addiction is the theme that binds everything together. ![]() There’s also opium in its many avatars along with a random sampling of other narcotic and psychotropic substances. ![]() There are walk-on-roles for many others Salim the pocketmaar, a retired clerk ‘Bengali’ who manages Rashid’s cashbox, the famous painter Xavier, Rashid’s son Jamal. She takes over the narrative with the help of sundry characters such as Rashid himself, her mentor Mr Lee, a psychotic smoker called Rumi. The hijda, Dimple aka Zeenat, prepares the pyali (the bowl that contains opium) and holds the pipe. The narrative starts in the 1980s when Dom Ullis, a Syrian Christian, smokes his first chandu (opium pipe) at Rashid’s khana. The place is Suklaji Street at the heart of Bombay’s red-light district. Imagine a gift with words and the desire to recuse himself from his own narrative. But his is a fractured consciousness that strobes in and out of alternate realities. Imagine that he is very observant and sensitive to atmosphere. Imagine an opium addict nodding through decades, indulging his habit in a somewhat surreal place in the company of somewhat surreal people. ![]()
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