Wastra (ePub)

A drug addict is attacked during the early hours of the morning on the railway tracks near Churchgate station, which leaves a number of attackers dead and the junkie barely holding on to his life as he is brought to the government hospital and is kept under close guard.

A reporter is given the story to cover. Initially unmotivated by what she thinks is just a waste of time, a meeting with one of the hospital staff, who gives her a photograph, makes her realise that there is lot more to the attack than what meets the eye.

As she unsuccessfully searches for clues, she eventually arrives at a run-down bar in the heart of Colaba market and begins the interview of the resident, the in-house drunk, who might have some answers.

What follows is a story of Bombay and the underworld, looked at from an angle that the reporter never thought existed.

Through a haze of cigarettes and beer, the alcoholic weaves an impossible tale, as it becomes clear that the junkie in the hospital has been targeted for termination by the police assigned to protect him, and the reporter realizes that she is in a race against time to find the answers that might save his life.

Through twists and turns the reporter is taken on a mind-bending journey that starts in the south Bombay neighbourhood of Colaba and moves through the battlefields of the Iran-Iraq war of the 80s, to the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka and the communal riots in Bombay during the 90s, and tells the extraordinary story of Wastra, a figure of legend and smoke and mirrors.

As the story reaches an explosive climax, the reporter finds that the sting in the tale might be more than what she bargained for, as the shades are pulled aside and she faces an uneviable choice.