Bombay Brides

Book excerpt: When Juliet and Romiel get married and relocate to Israel, they rent out their Apartment 107 in Ahmedabad's Shalom India Housing Society to Jews. Each character who inhabits the house has a story to tell: about run-ins with the other residents, the diminishing community of Jews, cross-cultural conflicts, and the difficulty of choosing between India and Israel. Prophet Elijah, whom the Bene Israel Jews of western India believe in, plays an important role in their lives, appearing at critical or amusing moments and wreaking havoc with his mischief, but ensuring that ultimately peace prevails. Bombay Brides - as most Jewish men of Ahmedabad are married to women from Mumbai - is drawn from Jewish homes in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kochi, Kolkata and Alibaug. This is a story about home, heritage, rites, rituals, roots and what it means to be one of the last survivng members of a community in a vast multi-cultural country like India.