Vanity Bagh- Anees Salim

The second novel of Anees Salim won the Hindu Prize for fiction 2013 award. As the name suggests the book is about a residential area or a Mohalla titled Vanity Bagh. The residents are prominently Muslims. Through the experience of a nascent gang called five and a half men who romanticize a life of crime as a quick shot to fame, the book encircles around the tussles of the Mohalla. Pitted next to a Hindu locality, the interaction of the two is a resonance of the larger comm…