Read: Lindsay Pereira, "Strays," in - The Only City: Bombay in Eighteen Stories, edited by Anindita Ghose, HarperCollins India.

[Vivek Pinto]

By: Sharmistha Jha

Published in: Scroll

Date: February 7, 2026

Source:  https://scroll.in/article/1088841/the-only-city-this-evocative-anthology-is-a-window-into-the-polymorphous-megapolis-of-bombay

"Lindsay Pereira’s Bombay collects those who wash up against its shores, lost and unwanted children, and minors trafficked into lifelong employment at local businesses until they gather the courage to run away towards something worse. In 'Strays', a homeless man, after spending his childhood alone on the streets of Bombay, used and abused by people more powerful than him, finally finds a sliver of hope in a girl who is as lost as he is. And he learns what it is like to have someone to come home to, though neither has a place to call home. This sense of belonging is short-lived as she is soon taken from him. Angry, anxious, and hopeless, he learns the most important lesson – how to expect nothing from Bombay despite its promise of everything."