Suspicious Map, A Strange Relative And Poking Bouquet Into People’s Noses! It Happens Only In Mumbai
A person had an epileptic attack on a bridge criss-crossing Matunga in Mumbai. People around did not know how to respond but they did try to help. Somebody suggested offering him water, another recommended some food while one advised fresh air as a solution.
In the midst of the commotion, one commuter noticed a piece of paper in the person’s pocket raising hopes it could be an address to the man’s home. However, it turned out to be a drawing resembling a map. This created further confusion among the bystanders with one even suspecting the man on the floor to be a part of the underworld. Finally, it took a boy to figure out the mystery. The drawing, in fact, turned out to be a measurement reference for a baby’s foot size.
Kannada poet Jayant Kaikini’s book ‘Mithun Number Two and Other Mumbai Stories’ offers glimpses into such experiences in Mumbai, also known as the Maximum City. Kaikini’s book has been translated into English by Tejaswini Niranjana.
“Bombay was a collective space where an individual enlightenment happened. You need not go to Himalayas for enlightenment, you should go to Victoria Terminus station, you should travel in local trains, you should be in public bus-stands. Throughout the entire Bombay journey, life was like a public transport,” Kaikini said during a session at the Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters 2024.
In Mumbai, everybody lives in a minimal space and even Gods appear to have their limitations, the author explained. “Houses are minimal. Even God has a very small space there—either above the refrigerator or above the cupboard,” Kaikini noted.
He also narrated a curious incident where a relative made it their mission to figure out the author’s sleeping time. “I went to a distant relative’s home—a small one—and had stayed there for some time. I remember one of the relatives used to appear in the night, staring at me to figure out whether I had slept or not. I was getting scared thinking what is he up to. Later on, I realized that when he was convinced I had dozed off, he used to switch off the fan,” the author said.
Kaikini’s funny experiences in the city do not end there. The author was presented with a bouquet of flowers following a poem recital at the Kannada Sangha. “While travelling back, I somehow entered the local train in Matunga that was crowded to such an extent that my bouquet was beginning to get into people’s noses. Somebody then asked me ‘Bechne ka he kya?’ (is it for sale?) assuming I was a flower-seller,” Kaikini said. That’s Mumbai, he says, where he went from being a poet to a flower-seller in no time.