n twelve startling and vividly imagined stories, Ranbir Sidhu overturns the lives of ordinary Indians.

A woman attends a decluttering class in search of true love, only to stumble into a very different kind of encounter. A drunkard diplomat in Africa is mysteriously transferred to San Francisco, where everyone believes him to be a great, unheralded Urdu poet. An archaeological expedition searching for human ancestors goes disastrously wrong and the leader turns to uncovering the very first sounds uttered by humans.

To celebrate her husband's retirement, a wife decides to prepare and serve her pet python to the dinner guests. The discovery of a skull outside an orphanage leads to the creation of a cult around one of the charismatic young residents.

Unsettling, moving, insightful, humorous-the beautifully crafted tales in Our Cities Are Not Your Cities travel between despair and redemption, illuminating the lives of deeply flawed characters. They help us reimagine the possibilities of contemporary fiction-and the journeys it can take us on.

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