Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales of India is a collection of essays that draws upon reportage, travel, and personal history.The authorooks back over a decade of experience as a reporter covering stories as diverse as the decline of the dacoit menace inChambal; starvation, particularly amongst the Sahariyas, a tribal community in Madhya Pradesh, and weavers in Uttar Pradeshwho haveost theirivelihood; and discovering that the desperate poverty in Punjab has the underpinnings of an explosive castedynamic that has caused much religious controversy in recent times. A set of essaysooks at the connections between economics,social disempowerment, and the moral pressures that make for a society where girls must fear assault or murder at any time, evenbefore birth. Through other essays, Zaidi examines the meaning of home and belonging, identity, the right to public spaces, anda perfectly brewed cup of chai.Bringing together the personal and political, the essays in the book offer a clear-eyed and unflinching view ofesser-known aspectsof our country and its people.