In A for Prayagraj a young writer returns to his hometown to reclaim its stories and histories lost to monochrome. As he accompanies the city s residentsfrom a whisky swigging criminal lawyer to parkour athletes to language coaches poets and theatre artists to a closeted Grindr dateinto their cityscapes the lines between the past and present start to blur. In the chapter McAloo Tikki in Allahabad we dive into the different pools of the city s pasts. In Saam Daam Gun Bhed we look at crime strategies of survival and the crucible of street law. Bakaiti is a guide through the older and newer spaces of the city s creativity. Apna Time Aayega deals with education and unemployment. F for Fyaar F se Firaq is a love story both literary and digital. Part memoir part reportage part travelogue this book renders Allahabad as neither ageing and grey nor polarized saffroninstead we see a sangam of contrasts. In one of the oldest living cities in the world new things have materialized and others have disappeared but the city endures.