Note from the translator:
This story is taken from a short-story collection forthcoming in translation from Penguin India titled Courtesans Don’t Read Newspapers. It tells the tale of a Muslim weavers’ colony in the city of Varanasi. The colony floods every year, and nobody cares for these people and their plight. They are dependent on boats as they wade through raw sewage and are forced to live in deplorable conditions. This time around, though, something different is afoot: the water is talking back to the bereaved boys of the Mominpura Cricket Club.
Originally published in 2010, this collection is concerned with people existing on the very margins of Indian society. Although written more than a decade ago, its stories ring true today perhaps more than ever before. A novella included in the collection deals with the lives of sex workers living in the red-light district of Manduadih, with their neighbours and the establishment wishing to throw them out of the city. A photojournalist is caught up in all of this, shuttling between his personal life and everything that is happening around him. The constant search for that perfect photograph keeps him on his toes.
Translator: