Amidst the cacophony of begging children, he steered his scooter through the busy mid-morning traffic. It was a sultry June day heralding the monsoon. The youngest of his three sons sat on the pillion. Near a traffic signal, two men emerged from nowhere. They pumped six bullets into the rider and escaped in the melee. The 72-year-old Parsi corporator of India’s premier municipal corporation had been shot dead in broad daylight. For 19 years, he had continuously represented a ward, as a municipal electoral constituency is termed, frequented by the most exploited. Handcart pullers, street vendors, coolies, waiters and commercial......