Mumbai deftly captured in notable debut

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/05/2022 (1611 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This impressive first novel by Toronto lawyer Reema Patel is set in Mumbai, where Patel once worked in the youth non-profit sector and in human rights advocacy. It features a former street child, Rakhi, who now works as an office peon for an NGO called Justice for All.

Rakhi’s life, when we meet her at the age of 23, appears to be going nowhere. All day long she is at the beck and call of Gauri Ma’am, a middle-aged lawyer who founded and still runs Justice for All.

Rakhi’s life consists of making tea, running errands and tidying up for other people. After a long work day she catches a train to her one-room rental in a slum.

Through Rakhi’s eyes we see an authentic portrayal of life in Mumbai: an office of underpaid lawyers and a few privileged “firanghis” (foreigners) who dip in for a few months of experience; shining highrises built in a soaring real estate market rife with corruption; slums full of people who work long days and travel home on crowded trains; streets and beaches teeming with vendors; a pervasive interest in the lives of Bollywood stars; and, in the background, relics of the British Raj, like Oval Maidan and Victoria Terminus (which, in the book and in reality, everyone still refers to as VT, not its new name, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj).

In a story that is driven largely by character, both Rakhi and Gauri Ma’am play major roles. We learn through snippets of backstory that Rakhi became a street child in Mumbai at age seven when both her parents died in an accident, and that she first met Gauri Ma’am when she was sent to a reform school at the age of 12.

Ten years later, the help and encouragement her boss has given her is beginning to wear thin.

Rakhi eventually accuses Gauri of being a liar and a fraud, but by then readers know Gauri as a far more complex character. She has a strong belief in a woman’s right to forge her own path, but she also needs to please powerful people in order raise funds for her NGO. And, like many determined leaders, she always puts the cause first and the needs of her workers second.

Rakhi herself is equally strong and intelligent, but seldom has the opportunity to express her doubts, criticism and anger.

Less complex but also important in Rakhi’s life at the moment is Alex, a firanghi intern with Justice for All.

Alex comes close to being a stereotype of the ever-polite, naive Canadian, though in fact his mother is Indian, so he has connections to both countries. It is Alex who pushes Rakhi to apply for university and offers his help.

Will the story morph into a romance between Rakhi and Alex, or between Rakhi and her old friend, Babloo? Will she apply to university and be accepted?

It’s no spoiler, but Patel avoids obvious endings. She manages to maintain our interest for over 300 pages with very little drama, and by the time a game-changing calamity happens, Rakhi’s life is already on a new, though uncertain, path.

Apparently Reema Patel worked on Such Big Dreams for years. It was time well spent.

Faith Johnston is a Winnipeg writer who has enjoyed watching the sunset from Chowpatty beach and cricket on the Oval Maidan.