Finished On: 30/11/2013
Booker nominated 2012
Narcopolis tells the story of a bunch of characters whose common bond is their addiction of drugs. The story is set in the Shuklaji street,in grant road-Mumbai, where Rashid runs an opium den. Rashid’s den is famous all over the world and people come there to sample his wares. It is this place in which all the main characters of the novel meet.
Narcopolis gives an account of how this den of Rashid changes with time and the main characters’ life with it.
The story is narrated by a person who was deported to India after he was found procuring drugs in London. He comes to Rashid’s den and finds his haven there.In that place he meets Dimple, an eunuch, who looks like a beautiful woman,result of being castrated at an early age of eight or ten, Rumi, who is unhappily married , Rashid the owner of den and lover of Dimple,although he never admits it. And we get glimpses of lives of these people as to how they got addicted to opium and where this addiction to drugs takes them.
The book was beautifully written and i loved it.
Quotes from the book:
‘What was the name he cried? He didn’t know. What he did remember, what he’d never forget, was the revelation that followed immediately afterwards:dreams leak
.
.
.
Dreams leak from head to head; they travel between those who face in the same direction, that is to say lovers, and those who share the bonds of intoxication and death.‘
‘We had once been friends, but i had never thought of coming to see her or to ask after her. There was always some sort of crisis, a crisis every day, and heroin trumped friendship every time.‘
‘i wanted to do something more but the truth was that i was too high to care.‘
‘I know what you want,he said. you don’t know a thing, Rumi said. Not a single thing that makes a difference in the world. Friend, said the murderer, i’ll tell you what i know and you tell me if i’m wrong. You want to hit me and you want to be hit , you want to be beaten almost to death, isn’t that right? You want to taste blood because you’re bored and pain is preferable to nothing. Isn’t that right? I, on the other hand, prefer boredom because it’s to comfort me. What i’m saying, if you can’t sleep ask the Iraqi for Mandrax. i’m not going to fight you. After making the speech, the murderer flung his elbow across his eyes and lay still ‘
