Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

by Deepa Anappara

JASOOS

  spy, sleuth, detective

  JCB

  construction and manufacturing equipment, such as a backhoe

  KABADI-WALLAH

  scrap dealer, scrap collector

  KIRANA

  small grocery shop

  KOTHA

  brothel

  KYA

  what

  MALIK

  owner, master

  MERI JAAN

  “my life”; a term of endearment

  MULLAH

  Islamic cleric, leader of a mosque; used here to indicate a Muslim man

  NA

  “Right?” “Isn’t it?”

  NANA

  maternal grandfather

  NANI

  maternal grandmother

  PAKKA

  certain

  PALLU

  the loose end of the sari, worn over the shoulder

  PANDAL

  tentlike structure

  PRADHAN

  chief, leader

  PRESS-WALLAH

  someone who irons clothes for a living

  PUJA

  prayer, or a prayer ritual performed to honor a deity and to seek blessings

  PURI

  deep-fried bread

  RANDI

  whore

  RANI

  queen

  ROTI

  round flatbread

  SAAB

  sir

  SHAITAN

  devil, evil spirit

  SONA

  gold, precious; in this context, a term of endearment

  THEEK-THAAK

  “All fine? Everything all right?”

  THEKA

  liquor shop

  YAAR

  friend, pal, buddy

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  While working as a journalist in India, I often visited bastis like Jai’s, and I am deeply indebted to the residents who invited me into their homes and shared their stories with me. If not for their kindness and generosity, I wouldn’t have been able to write this novel. I am also grateful for the insights I found in the following works: The Illegal City: Space, Law and Gender in a Delhi Squatter Settlement (Ashgate, Surrey, 2012) by Ayona Datta; In the Public’s Interest: Evictions, Citizenship and Inequality in Contemporary Delhi (Orient Blackswan, New Delhi, 2016) by Gautam Bhan; and Swept Off the Map: Surviving Eviction and Resettlement in Delhi (Yoda Press, New Delhi, 2008) by Kalyani Menon-Sen and Gautam Bhan. A list of the books and articles that informed this novel is available on my website, deepa-anappara.com.

  I count myself fortunate to be working with two brilliant and generous agents, Peter Straus and Matthew Turner, who have steered me through the publication process with wit and warmth. Special thanks to Matt for his editorial suggestions, his good humor, and his steadfast refusal to be fazed by the most neurotic of my questions. Thanks also to the foreign rights team at RCW, particularly Stephen Edwards, Laurence Laluyaux, Tristan Kendrick, and Katharina Volckmer, and to Gill Coleridge and everyone else at RCW.

  I couldn’t have asked for more enthusiastic and meticulous editors than Clara Farmer at Chatto & Windus and Caitlin McKenna at Random House. My thanks to them for taking Jai and his friends to their hearts, for their sensitivity, and for their incisive edits. My gratitude to everyone at Vintage, particularly Charlotte Humphery for her patience and support, Suzanne Dean, Lucie Cuthbertson-Twiggs, and Anna Redman Aylward. Thanks to David Milner for his copyedit and John Garrett for his proofread. Thanks also to Emma Caruso, Greg Mollica, Evan Camfield, Maria Braeckel, Melissa Sanford, Katie Tull, and everyone else at Random House, New York. I am particularly grateful to have had the support and encouragement of the late Susan Kamil.

  My thanks to the team at Penguin Random House, India, particularly Manasi Subramaniam for her suggestions, and Gunjan Ahlawat.

  My love and gratitude to the friends who have kept me sane during an impossibly difficult time: Roli Srivastava for her notes on this novel and the kindness she has shown me over two decades; Rineeta Naik for her insights, and for always offering me a roof over my head in Delhi; Taymour Soomro for his wisdom, his sharp critiques, and all the virtual-water-cooler chats; and Kristien Potgieter for her feedback and generosity. Immense thanks to Harriet Tyce for her support. Thanks also to Avani Shah and Rory Power.

  At the University of East Anglia, I am grateful to Joe Dunthorne, Andrew Cowan, and my workshop groups for their feedback on the first chapters of this novel. My thanks also to Giles Foden.

  While writing Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, I received early encouragement from contests for first novels in progress. My thanks to the organizers, readers, and judges of the Bridport/Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award, the Lucy Cavendish College Fiction Prize, and the Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award.

  Thanks to Euan Thorneycroft for his support. Special thanks to those who have been there from the beginning: Alison Burns, Emma Claire Sweeney, and Emily Pedder. Thanks also to Essex libraries and the British Library.

  Thanks to my family. My thanks and love to Shailesh Nair, for his stories, support, and enthusiasm.

  Finally, notwithstanding what’s written above, I should add that I remain solely responsible for any imperfections in this novel.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  DEEPA ANAPPARA grew up in Kerala, southern India, and worked as a journalist in cities including Mumbai and Delhi. Her reports on the impact of poverty and religious violence on the education of children won a Developing Asia Journalism Award, an Every Human Has Rights Media Award, and a Sanskriti-Prabha Dutt Fellowship in Journalism. A portion of her debut novel, Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, won the Lucy Cavendish College Fiction Prize, the Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award, and the Bridport/Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award. She has an MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, where she is currently studying for a PhD on a CHASE doctoral fellowship.

  deepa-anappara.com

  Instagram: @deepa.anappara

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