The City of Choke

Its easy to write about Bombay. There is the underworld romancing Bollywood at Worli Naka for everyone to see. There are so many people, so many immigrants, so little space and rampant poverty - aspiration vs hunger. Oh yes, there is sleaze everywhere you look - from the paanwallas child dealing weed, to your boss on the dealing room back from a line. Or your neighbour frequenting Bombay Central often.

Its quite obvious then that there will be a Mira Nair, David Gregory Roberts, Vikram Chandra and hordes of others out to exploit the contradictions. Some are well made/written, some are boring.

Despite the relief of getting out of the City of Choke, I have been trying to get through more Bombay related books. For some unknown reason. And just finally got through the Maximum City by Suketu Mehta - a non-fictional piece on why Bombay is Bombay.

A seemingly well-researched piece on everything thats wrong with the city. Why its a fucked place to live in - i.e. the pollution, the crowd, the inhumane living conditions, lack of privacy, the unreal world available for sexual exploration, killing and renunciation.

It also provides an insight as to how the rescue plan being planned for Bombay in the 70s was hijacked by a bunch of real-estate terrorists. He tries to explain the impact of the draconian Rent Act and how its changed the entire future of real estate development in the city.

Talks in great detail of the undying love between the Underworld and Bollywood. He describes the sycophancy that exists at every level of these two great Bombay institutions. Frankly its no different from the organised corporate world.

He also describes in great detail of his love for a bar dancer named Mona Lisa. Of how he held her hands when he meets her father, of how she yearns to speak to him every day. It is quite brave of the author to talk exactly how he felt about her and how close he had become to her. But I feel there is more to it, as one comes to the close of his chapter on her.

He meets couple of killers employed by the underworld and understands what drives these fellows. He stops meeting them after he senses he is going to be bumped himself. Its quite a real recount (or atleast, it appears to be so) and one feels very close to the experience. He even speaks to Chota Shakeel, which boosts his ego further.

Theres quite a few pages reserved for Vidhu Vinod Chopra to explain how Bollywood works. There is a hilarious incident of teary-eyed Anu Malik talking to VVC with a radish in his mouth. But after the book was released, VVC took umbrage at what Mehta had written about him - his insecurities, his punjabi bravado, cockiness and sheer buffoonery. VVC said he would slap him the next time he meets Mehta and also that the author's wife has left him on the streets. Quite frankly, from his writing Mr. Mehta does come across as unscrupolous as some of the people he describes.

The writing is simple and direct, which I enjoyed. There is no preteniousness as employed by some of his peers. Maximum City is a book largely of facts mixed with the opinions of the author. However, the times he does make an opinon on what he thinks, I have come to believe that he is full of contradiction himself. Its not his fault, but Bombay does that to you as one comes to terms with the city. Its difficult to come up with a consistent view on the face of only inconsistencies.

Like the reviews on the backcover of the book says, its a good piece of investigating writing and will serve as a source for various statistics / history when it comes to the city of Bombay.

Theres very little on what he expects of Bombay to become though. Which is what interests me - will Bombay cope with whats happening. Will the good win over the evil? Will Bombay survive the next 20 years of growing population & related chaos? Will the Bombay spirit be broken by failures in governance or by terrorists? Will the dust ever settle (literally) in Bombay? Is there a chance that naxalism raise its head in a city of increasing wealth gap? Will the drive between Town and Bandra reach 5 hours?

Nobody really gives a shit about the other in Bombay. Every one has to move on, or he will be crushed by his neighbour. A bomb goes off killing 100 people and the next day all offices are functioning. Some complain at this indifference, at this lack of fear - while the others exhalt this Bombay spirit. I am not those that complain. I dont fucking care. Its extremely naieve & simplistic to believe that there could be a Bombay spirit. Its not possible; there is no other way that Bombay knows to live. They have no choice, but to move on. No one fucking cares you know.

The way that I see it, the population will continue to grow at a rapid pace (considering the rapid economic growth in the country) and the streets will choke and the crows will die. People will begin to die from body friction, sparking of spontaneous internal combustion in rapid succession. And you can imagine what would happen if that were to occur in a slum - which covers almost 30% of the city?

I fear that the naxalite movement will spring ; all the essential ingredients are there. As the supply of jobs/space loses out to the demand eventually, there will be a growing population of losers. Who will revolt and therefore the naxalite movement will begin and grow rapidly.

The Sena might come into power again (post-Bala Saheb & post-repeated Congress fuckups) and make Pune the pre-capital of the state. This will be the new strategy for the Sena under the young Bala Saheb. A radical one. They will move all government offices and one of the largest modern-day exodus of people will be underway.

Real estate prices in Bombay will therefore drop. People will go missing from their homes - because of the large debts - and they would be found lying flat on the tarmac below their apartments.

Dust will continue to shower the city and all technical equipment will eventually crumble rendering the city & nasal cavities dead.

One day, a rumour will float that there is an earthquake on. People would come on to the streets in panic, the roads jammed, tempers rise and just when everyone realises its just a rumour - the earthquake actually strikes. Half the city will go down into the cracks that open, never to emerge.

It takes a long while for the city to recover from this disaster. No one has the energy anymore to do anything. The Bala Saheb junior is smiling smugly from Pune. But the foreign investors cant afford to leave this Capital of Widening Income Gap lie like this. One of the largest recovery efforts funded by a World Consortium of China, US, Japan, Australia and Russia will commence in rebuilding the city. In exchange for space and people. The Bombay spirit will be back and the city infinitely more liveable. The dust would have settled and the Queens Necklace would once again glitter in all its glory.

Obviously all of the above is an exagerrated version of the future. But I wouldnt be surprised if it does go this way.