The Many Lives of Syeda X

'A trenchant and invaluable people's history of the bottom of the pyramid in the world's most populous nation.' Financial Times What does the life of an ordinary working-class, Muslim woman look and feel like in modern India? Award-winning journalist Neha Dixit traces the story of one such faceless Indian woman, from the early 1990s to the present day. What emerges is a picture of a life lived under constant corrosive tension. Syeda X left Varanasi for Delhi with her young family in the aftermath of riots and communal violence in the early '90s. In Delhi, she settled into the life of a poor migrant, juggling multiple jobs a day - from trimming the loose threads of jeans to trimming the stalks off raisins, and from shelling almonds to making tea strainers. Syeda has held over 50 different jobs in 30 years, earning paltry sums in the process. And if she ever took a day off, her job would be lost to another faceless migrant. Researched for close to a decade, in this book, we meet an unforgettable cast of characters: a rickshaw driver in Chandni Chowk who ends up tragically dead in a terrorist blast; a doctor who gets arrested for pre-natal sex determination; a fanatic gaurakshak (cow-protector) whose sister elopes with Syeda's son; and policemen who delight in beating young Muslim men. Written with empathy and deep insight, this book is a portal to a harsh, hidden world. It is the story of untold millions and a searing account of urban life in New India.