ABSTRACT
Numbering more than 170 million, India's Muslims constitute the largest religious minority in the country. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. This book is about such a Muslim 'ghetto' in the city of Kolkata. It explores the various ways in which, given the specific socio-political context and historicity of the region, Muslims and Muslim-majority areas have come to be framed the way they are in the contemporary times and the repercussions this has on the everyday lives of ordinary Muslims who live in them. The general features of urban social life and interaction force one to locate any study of urban life in India. The chapter explores the lived realities of ordinary Muslims in Kolkata and the negotiations they make and the strategies they undertake to deal with the experiences of discrimination and prejudice that they face on a day-to-day basis in the city.
