Terlepas dari beberapa hal yang bikin kurang sreg, lima bintang tetap kuberikan. Buku yang luar biasa, yang menggambarkan kota Bombay (atau Mumbai) yang luar biasa, dengan penduduk yang luar biasa.
Orang-orang berdatangan di kota itu. Memburu harta. Memburu ketenaran. Mencari kehidupan yang lebih baik. Mengejar mimpi. Ada yang bertahun-tahun berjuang untuk menjadi bintang film. Sampai-sampai dia mengganti nama Hindunya menjadi nama Muslim karena 3 Khan (Aamir, Shakhrukh, Salman) menguasai perfilman Bombay. Ada yang menjadi penari bar yang bermimpi untuk menjadi Miss India. Ada yang 'mengabdi' pada Sena, 'mengabdi' pada India dengan cara mengenyahkan yang tidak segolongan dengan alasan nasionalisme mereka diragukan. Ada yang pergi dari kenyamanan di keluarganya dan memilih menjadi pemuda jalanan agar inspirasinya untuk berpuisi tidak pernah kering. Ada yang menjadi pembunuh bayaran. Ada yang menjadi polisi yang menggunakan segala cara untuk menginterogasi pembunuh bayaran atau sekalian membunuhnya. Kenapa dibunuh? Karena sistem peradilan tidak bekerja. Ada yang menjadi programmer yang bermimpi bekerja di Amerika agar kehidupan keluarganya terangkat. Ada yang sudah sukses di negara lain tapi kembali ke Bombay agar anak-anaknya bisa menghayati hidup sebagai seorang India. Ada juga yang setelah kaya raya lalu melepaskan diri dari dunia materi dan memilih hidup menjadi biarawan. Selain melepaskan diri dari materi mereka juga memutuskan hubungan suami-istri, bapak-anak, ibu-anak. Luar biasa.
Sebuah dunia yang aneh, seaneh film-film yang dihasilkan dari kota itu. Dan ternyata orang-orang perfilman Bombay tidak lah sekonyol film-film yang mereka hasilkan. Mereka adalah orang-orang yang intelek dan bekerja keras. Yang kadang-kadang juga putus asa dan berniat pergi meninggalkan kota mereka atau bahkan negara mereka. Bahkan ada yang membuat kelompok yang siap bermigrasi 'bedol desa' ke Canada jika keadaan di Bombay sudah tak tertahankan lagi. Tapi toh mereka tidak pergi juga :).

Suketu Mehta gives us a good overview of modern Bombay or Mumbai, the teaming millions, the high-rise squalor, the ethnic and religious politics, the people, the life. There does not appear to be much plot, however, and the cast of a hundred characters could have done with a character list, as I soon confused the dozens of similarly named people who were mentioned briefly, then disappeared.
I've always wanted to visit India, Nepal and Tibet, so much history, culture and great food. But after three months in Africa, and amoebic dysentry, I have avoided travel to countries with poor sanitation, and reading 'Maximum City' made me want to avoid the place like the plague.

In spite of having been born there, journalist Suketu Mehta seems more a tourist than an insider in Bombay/Mumbai. And he should, he grew up in the US. The structure here is what you would expect from a professional journalist -- early chapters describing his personal likes and dislikes (mostly dislikes) of his new city, followed by interviews and character studies of a few people chosen to represent Bombay types -- the small-time crook, the gangster, the movie star. There's a strong tendency to seek out the sordid and then record the revulsion. I did not finish this book. I stopped reading at the long study of the culture of female impersonators in Bombay -- not because of the topic, but because the author seemed to be so unaware of the ironies of his own narrative. In short, the female impersonators make their livings by flirting and having relationships with a number of straight men -- telling each that he is the favorite. But in one club there is the most beautiful of all -- and he falls for none other than our author. But this case is not like the typical impersonator-straight relationship -- oh no, in this case the most beautiful of all has sincerely fallen for our author. No irony there. I'd had enough of seeing Bombay through such an unaware viewpoint. I put the book down.

“Ae dil hai mushakil jeena yahaan zara hat ke, zara bach ke ye hai bambai meri jaan”

If there is one city that one can have a torrid love affair with, which leaves you trembling with passion one minute and cursing it’s very existence the next, It has to be “Mumbai” or “Bombay”. Suketu Mehta’s “Maximum City” is the chronicles of his relationship with Mumbai, and we all know like most passionate love affairs, this one is doomed. The book offers an almost voyeuristic views of Mumbai and the millions of people who inhabit it.

The author who is a son of a diamond merchant moves from Mumbai to the US with his family as a teenager. He pines for Mumbai and everything that was familiar. He finally decides to come back to Mumbai and to build a life but is met with stiff resistance from the city that was once his own. From fixing his house to make it liveable to getting his children enrolled in school or getting a phone connection, it is all a struggle and his exasperation is almost palpable.

The city of ‘No’s where the answer to every question is a No and the city of extremes where extreme poverty and wealth cohabit, it leaves everyone who enters it exhausted and breathless.
We journey into the world of glittering dance bars, corrupt politicians, and the menacing underworld that call Mumbai home. There are so many stories and experiences described in the book that some would seem unreal to any who has never had a taste of Mumbai. The author catches the pulse of Mumbai, and one can hear it beating page by page.

The city suffers from a multiple identity crisis, and it seems to rub off even on the people who inhabit it. You feel like you are on a roller coaster ride of extreme emotions that change as you read each page. The language is clear and coherent, and the ‘Mumbaiya’ slang touched a chord. A magnificent read that will have a place on my bookshelf for as long as I am away from home.