Just a quick line (or four) to rave about Anees Salim's Vanity Bagh. The voice, strong/ sardonic/ sad really blew me away. It's about a mohalla that seems to fly the alienation flag high, revelling in being known as Little Pakistan, and about six young men in that mohalla, ripe for Very Bad Things to happen to them. Which of course, it does. The ghettoisation is handled with self-deprecation but dismally real for all that. Even as the tale hurtles down that narrow ominous alley, the quotable quotes scattered all through the book are downright hilarious.
Have to rush to the Eloor library and pick up Salim's first book.