Introduction

Kolkata. A city born out of colonial lust for power and profit, of failed revolutions, and relegated to the margins of capitalist world. A city, according to many, that is only worth leaving.

In this city, a 73-year-old man discovers he has a special talent to attract women the world over, a clerk is visited by a young woman's ghost, a sex worker dreams of travelling the world and an abandoned wife decides on an unusual revenge for her straying husband.

Meet these and the other denizens of the city in Debraj Bhattacharya's riveting collection of short stories that celebrates the city.