That's what author Suketu Mehta calls lovers in Mumbai, pumped with sexual energy that they are seldom able to release. The GUIDE went on a tour to see Mumbai as it's reflected in the pages of his portrait of this sensational megalopolis
That's what author Suketu Mehta calls lovers in Mumbai, pumped with sexual energy that they are seldom able to release. The GUIDE went on a tour to see Mumbai as it's reflected in the pages of his portrait of this sensational megalopolisu00a0
It's as if Bombay wanted to prove a point. That it was, like Suketu Mehta nicknamed it in the title of his book, Maximum City. Or better still, "a city where there is always something going around". Here, the unexpected waits to sneak up on you. And so, what we thought would be a sunny November evening, turned out to be a windy, rain-drenched one, as Shriti Tyagi, founder of Beyond Bombay, hurried us into the backseat of a Honda City to drive through areas that dot a book hailed by Salman Rushdie as the best book ever written on Mumbai.
A city in heat
Taking off from Sophia College, we drove down Breach Candy, where an embracing tree in Amarsons Garden, called Scandal Point in the book thanks to the mob of lovers it attracts, sheltered a burkha-clad woman and her loveru00a0-- perhaps representatives of a community of "pressure cookers" bubbling with extra sexual energy, and craving for private space. "The whole city is a bedroom," Shriti read out from a pamphlet she hands out to visitors, containing excerpts from the book. Down Marine Drive, the concept of anonymity so wistfully described in the book, came alive through dating couples lined up with their backs to humanity.
Bread and chai at vantage point
The stretch from Hanging Gardens to Priyadarshini Park highlights the difference between the two worlds that co-exist in Mumbai, the latter thronged by elite residents who act as gatekeepers to the scandals. Cafu00e9 Naaz, a quaint open-air Iranian joint that stood precariously on this vantage point, and was made to shut shop, held fond memories for Mehta. The Iranians who made the city their home opened up cafu00e9s, most of them fringing the corners of arterial roads. "These corner locations were considered inauspicious by Hindus. So, the Irani community gladly set up shops at intersections, selling bread and confectionary. Cafu00e9 Naaz, however, sitting on a hill, was an exception," we are told.
Sone Ki Chidiya
VT station stands testimony to the thousands of migrants who pour in everyday, in search of the Golden Songbird, like Babbanji Bihari from the book. His trips to Cafu00e9 Samovar, a sliver of an eatery ensconced within Jehangir Art Gallery, and selling books on the footpath at Fort came alive as we drove through Kala Ghoda, down to the General Post Office. On a street outside, the letter-writers had upturned their little stools and gone home thanks to unexpected rain, cutting short their day that's usually spent scribbling messages migrants send back home.
First-hand taste of impromptu lafda
Since this trip was a trimmed version of the original nine-hour one, we skipped the drive down to Bandra where the author later moved to and Jogeshwari's slums that demand quite a few pages in the book. But we tasted our share of "lafdas", the quintessential Bambaiyya term for "trouble" as we witnessed a street fight in Nagpada. The commercial sex workers of Kamathipura paid us little heed as we drove past. It was 7 pm. They had a business to run. As we ended up at Haji Ali, we remembered the juicewalla there Mehta speaks of. Would he still be smuggling heroin?
Beyond Bombay organises niche, interest-specific tours. Minimum cost: Rs 1,500 per person. Mail beyondbombay@gmail.com or call 9867764409 to book.
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