Wadala market. Ismail Yusuf College. Matunga. Andheri. The poet Adil Jussawala&rsquo;s home in Cuffe Parade. The old VT station. To read Dominic Alapat&rsquo;s poems is to immerse oneself in the many hidden lives of the people and places that come together to create Bombay.
<img title="Adil Jussawala (centre)" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/jun/Adil-Jussawala.jpg" alt="Adil Jussawala (centre)" /> Adil Jussawala (centre)
Alapat has a knack of eliminating himself from the proceedings, of becoming a fly on the wall, of straddling his own public and private life here, and exposing them both in poetry that is sometimes playful, often deceptively simple, and almost always moving.
<img title="Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus formerly VT station. Pic/Rane Ashish" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/jun/VT-station.jpg" alt="Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus formerly VT station. Pic/Rane Ashish" /> Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus formerly VT station. Pic/Rane Ashish
What surprised this reviewer was how the poet John Betjeman sprung to mind on reading this collection, possibly because they were as rooted in Alapat&rsquo;s milieu as old England was in the British poet&rsquo;s work.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/jun/Dominic-Alapat-cover.jpg" alt="" />
Consider In My Father&rsquo;s Room, for instance, where &lsquo;only the curtains moved gently, shaking slivers of sun onto the floor.&rsquo; Or Asleep, where a local train has a message for the poet: Dominic dice the moon finely, into a bowl, squeeze the sun onto it, crush a handful of stars, pour everything, into a glass, and drink Dominic, drink, till you begin to dance.
This is an unusual, interesting collection from a poet who deserves a much wider audience.
&mdash; New and Selected Poems, Dominic Alapat, Amazon eBook, Rs 198

Dominic Alapat&rsquo;s poems bring together the bits that make Mumbai

An unusual and interesting read

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An unusual and interesting read

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