Esther David was in Mumbai for a cousin’s wedding in the late 1950s when she came to a housing society in Jacob Circle where many Jews lived. She was born and raised in Ahmedabad, and she was fascinated by the idea of members of her group living in separate apartments in the same complex. In 2012, she was back in the city after more than five decades when she came upon another such housing organization near a synagogue in Thane. Given their dwindling numbers – many Indian Jews having now fled to Israel and other countries – the society represented a magnificent feeling of preservation.
Bombay Brides, David’s most recent piece, is based on a similar housing organization. The narrative transports us to the imaginary Shalom India Housing Society in Ahmedabad, which is largely populated by members of the Jewish community (who dwell in Block A, while other communities live in Block B). We meet a cast of characters including Ezra, the building secretary; Salome, the caretaker; Sharon, a music teacher, and the various tenants who move in and out of A-107, an apartment owned by Juliet and Rommel (Rahul), a Jewish-Hindu couple who marry and relocate to Israel, through interconnected stories.
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