Bombay slum

An unspecified Bombay slum serves as the primary setting for the novel. The slum is described as a crime-ridden, dirty, and hopeless place where people are quick to seize or manipulate one another for their own ends, or for drugs. People use the bathroom in the middle of the street; homeless people are common; a serial killer is believed to be roaming the streets; crimes of all sorts are regular; and many people are in poor health. It is a place many of the poor seek to escape, while many of the wealthy venture into the slums for pleasure and adventure. Others, like Rashid, think they will never get out of the slum and so scramble for prestige, power, and wealth at the apex of the slum’s social hierarchy itself. The novel’s particular Bombay slum is where Rashid operates his opium den and brothel, where...