Darkness at Star Mills

MY THOUGHTS

We have been living in Mumbai for over a decade now, but how much do we really know the city? Sure, the children know about the seven islands and how they were brought together. They can clearly see the difference in architecture in South Mumbai vs the suburbs and hence trace the history. But did you know that some of the swankiest malls in Mumbai were once mill land? Darkness at Star Mills introduces them to a dark chapter in the city’s history — the Mill Strike of 1982.

Vinod, his sister, Radha and their mother live in Tenduwadi Chawl amongst mill workers who have gone on strike. This directly affects Vinod’s father, a mill worker, who goes back to his village and his mother who runs a meals kitchen for the workers. A turbulent time when all sixty mills went on strike following a call from Dr Datta Samant and 2,50,000 workers were gradually pushed into poverty and despair. This is also 1982, a time when Sanjay Dutt’s Rocky and Kumar Gaurav’s Love Story was every teen’s obsession.

Eleven-year-old Vinod vividly remembers when his neighbourhood of Girangaon went silent. He fills his days listening to the workers chatter about the strike and watching the players practice for the upcoming Under-Fifteen cricket match of Tenduwadi Chawl. As he watches them practice, he stumbles on a dark, ugly mystery that involves some of his closest friends and people he knows in his neighbourhood. How far will the Mill Strike affect Vinod’s family and will they be able to escape the plot unscathed?

Chronicles of Courage like Duckbill’s other offering, Songs of Freedom series engages and enlightens children about a historic event through the eyes of a child. Chronicles of Courage deals with events post Independence where as Songs of Freedom is about events before India became independent from British Raj. They are not the main players in the event but are invested bystanders and through that, young readers get a front seat view of all the action and drama that unfolded. They understand not just the historic event but also how it affected the course of those living during that period.

Shabnam Minwalla is a master of the mystery genre and the action in this book, too, is fast paced and riveting. She manages to transport readers to a time and place that is absolutely unknown to them not just the hardships endured due to the strike but also through teenage angst, competition, and the aspiration of the youth to do better than their parents. She piques the interest of the reader to research and find out more about the 1982 Mill Strike and therein lies the absolute brilliance of this series.

Get yourself a copy and learn about history in a fun, engaging, absolutely novel way!