Bombay in the Age of Disco

By the early nineties, India’s economy had taken its first faltering steps towards liberalization, and globalization’s reach had found and touched significant swathes of its society. The decades-long post-independence era of Nehru and Gandhi was finally and firmly over, and Bombay had become Mumbai. Bombay in the Age of Disco is a personal and historically powerful memoir that weaves together the experiences and aspirations of a young girl and a city on the cusp of this transformation. Tinaz Pavri captures Bombay’s pre-global guise as the city moves inexorably towards the dizzying sea-change that comes after she leaves its shores.

This book is a moving, lovingly etched remembrance of a city and its people that molded the author into the person she became, nurtured her dreams, taught her its wisdom and held in its arms her friends, family and community. It gives us an insight into the life of Bombay’s Parsis, Persian-descended refugees who became wound through centuries into the fabric of the city’s life. Pavri’s memoir is a keenly observed, affecting, and often humorous account of India’s changing social structure, economy, and politics over the last several decades, giving voice to the last of its pre-global generation. Readers will be as enthralled by Pavri’s family, friends, and community as they will be by the city’s momentous challenges and regenerating charm.

Tinaz Pavri is a professor and division chair for social sciences and education in the Department of Political Science at Spelman College. Her professional studies focus on security studies and conflict resolution, national identity, and India’s globalized economy. She is the current president of the Georgia Political Science Association.