Book exploring Bengaluru to release next year

PTI, Dec 21, 2022, 5:00 PM IST

Image Courtesy: Twitter/Penguin India

New Delhi/Bengaluru: Touted to be a first-ever deep dive work on Bengaluru, a new book offers a richly researched narrative into one of India’s most global cities.

“The City of New Beginnings: Unboxing Bengaluru”, co-written by authors Malini Goyal and Prashanth Prakash, is scheduled to release next year, announced Penguin Random House India (PRHI) in a statement.

The PRHI recently acquired the book from literary agent Priya Doraswamy of Lotus Lane Literary.

“This book has been a great culmination of my 28 years in mainstream media. Coming from Delhi and working on it has been both a challenge and lots of fun. While it allowed me to explore the city dispassionately, it also forced me to work a lot harder to be able to understand the city more intuitively and intimately,” said Goyal.

In the book, the authors, among other things, explore the parallel economies that have cropped up; how the influx of young workers has changed the city; and the fault lines of unplanned and poorly managed growth over the decades.

“The gentrification of Silicon Valley in the US brought its own set of challenges. How will it play out for Bengaluru – a booming city in a populous India and beyond?” is one of many pressing topics that the book discusses in detail.

According to the publishers, the book leans on data to build the backbone of the narrative while relying on absorbing “ethnographic vignettes and extensive reportage to add flesh and blood to the chapters”.

“All cities in India have seen growth, but Bengaluru’s dramatic transformation is intriguing in so many ways, and we’re thrilled to have Malini and Prashanth’s insightful exploration into the city’s trajectory on our list. I know the stories within it will tell so much, not just about Bengaluru, but about the country, too,” said Deepthi Talwar, executive editor, Ebury Publishing and Vintage at PRHI.