El cielo de Bombay

Synopsis of El cielo de Bombay

Sera Dubash is a wealthy middle-class widow; Bhima is her servant, an illiterate woman who returns every night to her home in the slums of Bombay. Over the years, the two women have learned to know and support each other, maintaining the distances imposed by their different castes, but coming together in times of need. When Bhima's granddaughter, Maya, becomes pregnant, an unforeseen event tests the loyalty and respect between mistress and servant, changing their relationship forever. Umrigar masterfully outlines the complexity of inequality in a society that has not broken with its past, offering an evocative recreation of two very different realities in the daily life of contemporary Bombay.