Registered for the CRAYOLA™ challenge!

Looks like a fun Bollywood read. From the inner flap of the book (all typos mine):

"'Sanjay, of course, didn't know that Film City even existed, even when he grew old enough to grasp what was going on around him. To start with he grasped nothing much except his mother's breast. There wasn't a lot in that, but luckily there was enough. Other children in Sanjay's row of hovels were given more water than milk. The water wouldn't have been sufficient even if it had been clean, which it never was, just as it was never cool. On the Bombay pavement, clean, cool water takes time and effort to come by.'

"Sanjay is a pavement child who from dire necessity learns to cajole, charm and outwit the tourists and turns his sex appeal, sartorial awareness and hard-won ability to speak English towards guiding film crews on 'the poverty trail'. Miranda, Mumtas and Rahul are fabulous figures from the Bollywood movie posters. The Silver Castle is the story of how Sanjay gets to meet them - and even join them.

"A brilliant celebration of the Indian film world and a most moving story of one young man's striving for fame and fortune, The Silver Castle is both comedy and tragedy. It is an exceptional novel, sharp and sincere, but also full of love for humanity and its perpetual failure."

Not a bad book. I didn't find it hysterically funny (as is usually promised by the name "Clive James") as I think the more tragic aspects of being a street kid in Bombay tempered any humour in the novel. (And there was quite a bit of dry wit, which was the right sort of humour for the situation.)

The final few pages were really rather excellent, however. He got away from the story and had a little rant about poverty, and I thought that was the best bit in the book.

Release planned for Wednesday, June 30, 2004 at George St Cinema Complex in Sydney, New South Wales Australia.

Left on top of the ATMs right by the George St entrance.

What an amazing coincidence for me to find THAT book on THAT day at THAT particular time. A good friend had recently suggested that I read a really good book to help me pass the time now that I am no longer working full-time. It was Monday, and my first day off in two years. I'd wandered idly up the ATM and read, to my delight, that the book I'd just found was not lost... but there for me to read, and it instantly renewed my faith in humanity, no kidding ;)
So thank you for making my day, I cannot wait to finish reading and pass it on. There are also a few other wonderful books that I have read in the past, which would love to be set free to wander the globe, from one hand to another.
Thanks again,
Tyler, NSW

CAUGHT IN NAB ATM GEORGE ST, SYDNEY NSW AUSTRALIA