DONGRI to DUBAI- Six decades of the Mumbai Mafia

Recently, the Supreme court has upheld the conviction of actor Sanjay Dutt and has 'awarded' him five years of imprisonment who was allegedly involved in the Mumbai bomb blasts of March, 1993. The year 1993... I reclined in my chair, and thought of my year of birth, August 1991. Probably I was still in my nappies, fast asleep in my cradle while my mom rocked it when a series of ten bomb explosions on 12 March 1993 disrupted the uneasy calm of the city. Now that I am in longer pants and a wise citizen I was looking for a book that chronicled the growth, activities and varying trends in revenue generation of the Mumbai mafia and terrorism. I stumbled upon 'Dongri to Dubai' which started with a telephonic conversation between the author and Dawood Ibrahim. Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, India's most wanted don, who is also dubbed as a global terrorist by US. There couldn't be a better start to a book on Mumbai’s underworld.
It starts with the story of notorious gangsters like Haji Mastan, Karim Lala and the quintessential don Varadarajan Mudaliar alis Varda Bhai. Though their lives have been narrated in painstaking details, they still serve as the background to the book which is the story of a Marathi-Konkani boy, who went astray despite having a father in the police force.
         Dawood Ibrahim's life has been narrated in great detail starting from his childhood days in Dongri (an area in South Mumbai), a Muslim dominated area, where his father served as a head constable to his first robbery, love affairs from his youth, nefarious role in bollywood, his final move to Dubai and further to Karachi in Pakistan.
       The research seems exhaustive and thorough, the narration is dramatic and the pace is fast which makes the book unputdownable. Just make sure that when you read it, be open for surprises. The usage of Hindi and at times Marathi makes it more effective. Author S Hussain Zaidi, born and raised in the suburbs of Mumbai, has covered the Mumbai mafia for two decades as a crime reporter. This book provides you with a comprehensive account of the mafia's games of supremacy when Bombay's police were reduced to mere spectators.  Though a section of the top brass believed it was good that the gangsters were killing each other and thus reducing the number of outlawed people. What they did not realise was the escalating law and order situation had rendered a common man vulnerable and the city unsafe.
I was impressed by Zaidi's style of writing when it came to Manohar aka Manya Surwe's death in 1982 during an encounter with the Maharashtra police which is known as the city's first recorded encounter killing. It is an interesting mix of matter-of-fact narration and dramatic dialogues, reconstructed from the writer’s imagination I assume. An upcoming movie about Manya Surve's killing, SHOOTOUT AT WADALA, starring John Abraham will be released on May 3, 2013. In a way it is a battle between underworld and Mumbai Police where underworld overtook them most of the times. But, I support Mumbai Police's stand, for, mafia had all the means of at their disposal and no rules to abide by-while the Crime Branch was shackled with so many antiqauted laws.

      Some books shouldn't end. They are written in such a way that you keep on reading them in loop. It is a sign of a good book. It’s not hard to see why scriptwriters are drawn to Zaidi. He has the dirt—all of it. His research is astoundingly thorough. This is a great read, although at times the prose seems a bit “filmy” to use a bollywood term! I am glad I have one more writer Hussian Zaidi in my collection.
Verdict: Anyone interested in Mumbai’s mafia in general or Dawood Ibrahim in particular and love the narrative of a sensationalized Crime Story you would love the book, but if you wanted a more serious treatment it would disappoint you.

The moment I finished this book, a vague thought struck my mind. What if Dawood had used his wit and courage for a more productive cause towards the country? Well, history is never about whats and ifs and Underworld is never about reforms and revolutions. The fate of joining the underworld could only be death. PEACE!!