Marine Drive.
Mumbai City, 1981.
Dimly lit narrow streets. Overflowing gutters. Stench of urine and discarded bottles of illegal hooch. This was Laxmi chawls, Ghatkopar, Bombay 1989. Rumor was that there used to be a temple of goddess laxmi somewhere around the area. Hence the name. The temple disappeared a couple of months before Lok Sabha…
Ashok Rane splashed water on his face. His eyes weary, face drooping, body tired. Walking into the kitchen he surveyed the steel utensils that were left for him. Chapati, dal, rice, curd. The usual.
Now where has she kept the subzi?
“People come to me and they ask, ‘Dada, money can’t make one happy, can it? Did it make you happy?’ I mean, how ridiculous”…