Side Streets

Staten Island cab-driver Bipin Raj picks up a passenger and mistakes her for a movie star; he tells her that his brother, Vikram Raj, is a Bollywood megastar with millions of fans and is currently living with him and his wife and two children. But all is not hunky-dory in the Raj household, for Mrs. Chandra Bipin Raj's initial thrill at meeting her megastar brother-in-law has simmered down and she is anxious for him to leave. Vikram Raj might have been a handsome man in his younger years, but now he is a grossly-overweight, macho, lazy alcoholic. But all is not lost: several ardent fans visit him and dance to his film songs, much to Chandra's exasperation. A few days later, Vikram claims that Al Pacino has phoned him and wants to meet to discuss a film script. The Raj family gives him a fond farewell. This short story, as well as the stories of a dress-designer, a drug-dealer working at a meat-shop, and a beauty queen's slacker husband, introduce people of diverse cultures living their separate yet inter-connected lives in this busy metropolis.