The city of dreams, drama, decadence, and so much more—there is just something about Bombay, its essence and character, that allows for so much storytelling, in every facet of its existence. In Bombay, sometimes, the world is your oyster. Oftentimes, it’s the furthest from it. Despite this, in its narrow lanes, sweaty trains and towering buildings, there exist hidden heartbreaks, fantasies and a search for something larger than oneself.
The Only City, an anthology of stories set in Bombay edited by Anindita Ghose, features writers such as Prayaag Akbar, Manu Joseph, Shanta Gokhale, Ranjit Hoskote, Jeet Thayil and many more, all of whom come together to celebrate a city that fosters epiphanies of all kinds. We spoke to Anindita about the curation of this collection and what Bombay means to her.
What prompted you to bring this collection of stories about Bombay together?
Two clear reasons. Since Covid, I had been deliberating over a short story set in a Bombay housing complex. The idea was to observe the social behaviour of a group of people confined during the lockdown. By the time I got around to writing it, I didn’t want to revisit the pandemic, so it just became a Bombay story. So yes, the initial impulse was selfish: I wanted a home for my story. But then the ambition ballooned with each writer who said yes. It became a much bigger thing than I had started out to do. It’s another thing I assumed would be a ‘quick thing’, to put together an anthology while I was marinating in my second novel. It was not quick. I was very consumed by it.
Around this time, I also happened to meet a Peruvian writer who was staying in Bombay, and he told me that his short story collection on his city, after being translated to English, had inadvertently become the go-to for travellers. It’s what bookshops recommend to folks who want to go beyond a history-geography type of introduction. And I thought, where is that contemporary book about Bombay with stories written from the vantage of today? Bombay has inspired generations of very esteemed writers, but where is the Bombay of today?
How did you approach finding new perspectives within such a well-documented city?
I agree with the poet Arvind Krishna Mehrotra’s view that there is no such thing as an objective anthology. While eighteen writers are by no means a comprehensive list, and there are many others I would have liked to include, each writer in these pages is included for a critical reason. I sought writers for whom the experience of living in Bombay was a defining feature. There are a handful of Bombay-born writers in the anthology whose stories are set in the neighbourhoods they spent their childhoods in. Though not all the writers are Bombay/Mumbai-born and brought up, each has a singular connection to the city which is almost alchemic. For instance, Diksha Basu decided to go from being an actor to a writer here. For Prayaag Akbar and Manu Joseph, this was the city they wrote their first novels in.
According to you, what about Bombay makes it home to such captivating stories?
A short story is tasked with doing many things, but more often than not, it frames a moment of change. Bombay is a city that fosters epiphanies of all kinds. Another is that the city breeds a certain kind of covetousness in people. This doesn’t exist in cities that lean on the assumption that your birth determines all. Bombay promises the possibility of climbing a ladder, driving characters to do things they would never have pictured themselves doing. This makes for good storytelling. The drama is inbuilt.
“I see the city as a character in fiction, not a setting or a backdrop. A city is a manifestation of what it means to be human. ”
What was the process of putting together this anthology? Was there a guiding principle that each contributor followed?
The Only City is a collection of vignettes, a city painted in media res, anchored not on nostalgia or landmarks, but on a cast of Bombay characters. With most writers, there was a to and fro about the principal character of the story and what makes that character someone who could only exist in the city of Bombay. In my own story, Normal Neighbours, a couple drawn from two unassuming steel towns have metamorphosed into the city’s avocado-eating elite. I truly believe that Bombay is the only city for Aparna and Mahesh to exist.
What does Bombay mean to you?
Home.
Tell us a little about the role of the ‘city’ in fiction, and why it is important.
I see the city as a character in fiction, not a setting or a backdrop. A city is a manifestation of what it means to be human.
What were some of the challenges of editing a book where the city itself is the central theme, but the narratives vary so widely?
The idea was for the narratives to vary so that was not a challenge. There was no pressure to stick to a central theme–there is no theme. The bigger challenge for me as a fiction writer was to keep my writing voice out while reading the stories.
What do you hope for readers to take away from the collection?
I imagine that certain stories will speak to certain readers. Each reader’s takeaway will be understandably unique. But more broadly, I guess I’d like them to inhabit the feeling that Bombay can mean different things to different people. I must add that not all the stories in the collection are celebratory. In Lindsay Pereira's Strays, which cleaves the anthology in two, the protagonist–a street urchin who has spent almost all his life near Grant Road station–has mastered ‘the art of expecting nothing from Bombay despite its relentless promise of everything.’ Yogesh Maitreya’s Dalit protagonist too rejects Bombay for being ‘too loud for him to listen to his own thoughts.’
What are you working on next?
Some people watch TV to procrastinate; I shouldn’t become the person who puts together anthologies to procrastinate! Now that this anthology is done, there is no option but to get moving on the second novel.
This article is from the November EZ. Read the EZ here.
Words Neeraja Srinivasan
Date 28-11-2025