Mafia Queens of Mumbai: Women Who Ruled the Ganglands

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After reading through this book, holding in mind 'From Dongri to Dubai', my preference would be for this book. Ashraf Khan got into the underworld to avenge her husband’s (Mehmood Kalia) death in a police encounter. She sways in nightclubs with the same grace and élan with which she sashays through the hearts of men. The book cover has no visible wear, and the dust jacket (if applicable) is included for hard covers.

Read it to know what it meant for these women to carve a place for themselves in that ugly world of the dons. But there have been women, too, who have been part of this murky side of the city, walking along side, sometimes leading and manipulating men in the Underworld to run their own illegal businesses. Having lived in Mumbai for many years, I have never encountered or witnessed, thank god for that, the underworld and their dealings. There is the story of Gangubhai, a girl who ran away from a small village and ended up in Mumbai streets and eventually became the powerful matriarch of Kamathipura, Mumbai’s red light area.She got into the trade to put food on her table, but soon acquired a vital role in the city’s narco business. All of them as notorious or famous as their male counterparts but never hogging the limelight as men. The story of Gangubhai who appears to be elevated to the status of a deity in the red light areas of Mumbai is equally powerfully narrated. Initially, she started selling rice to feed the family, which soon turned into the smuggling of ration. A great audio book is when you forget its being narrated and definitely forget everything about the narrator.

The story of Jenabhai Daruwali is extremely interesting as she appears to have been a powerhouse in the underworld even during the male-dominated heydays of Haji Mastan, Karim Lala and Varadharajan. I was hooked to learn the tenacity, the grit, the determination of each of these ladies who had come to rule the underworld by their own choice, desire or by the virtue that their love for their respective partners made them choose this world wittingly or unwittingly. S. Hussain Zaidi has played a pivotal role in nurturing emerging literary talents within the authorship realm. Alpana Chowdhury of Daily News and Analysis mentioned, "From the choice of the women they have portrayed, to the racy style of writing, everything is calculated to make the book a page-turner. Survived with ease, in the Mumbai underworld, with the likes of Mastan, Karim Lala, Vardharajan Mudaliar.They were as innocent as any average human being in that city but somehow got the company of men who walked on the path of crime and that pushed them into the underworld dealings. This book by Zaidi and Borges provided a new dimension in the ongoing debate "that female of the species is deadlier than the male.

Gangubai Kathiawadi, the matriarch of Kamathipura, who is revered by all sex workers in her area, to the present day. The title of the book would tell you that the stories are about women who ruled the underworld on several occasions. Before joining his gang to handle his financial affairs and arms supply, she was a renowned beautician. Back in 2017, Arjun Rampal portrayed the gangster-turned-politician in Ashim Ahluwalia’s directorial Daddy.However, I must admit that while reading the story, “The Matriarch of Kamathipura” on Gangubai I truly felt that the story was almost like a screenplay.