This is my Mumbai Mirror piece that appeared today.
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Your Say
- Ajay Bhonsle on I Am Finally Published
- Manish Kamdar on Black, White and Various Shades of Brown
- Manish Kamdar on The Top Ten Ways of Becoming Fair
- Bhavin Jankharia on Lost in the Mist of Time
- Dr Deepali V Mahajani on Lost in the Mist of Time
- Deepak Rao on Matunga Convergences, Coincidences and Walks
- dhanashree on Matunga Convergences, Coincidences and Walks
- Dr Pradeep Bhatt on A Dislocated Jaw in Mid-Air
- Bijal Jankharia on A Dislocated Jaw in Mid-Air
- Tejas Nair on A Dislocated Jaw in Mid-Air
MFM,
Great entry. Traces almost to a T – my own trajectory – down to discovering the joys of the British Council library (which was way better stocked than the American one).
The only difference was that I frequented “Sunil Book House” in Nana Chowk. But my hubby is an Abbas “graduate” as he grew up in Sion.
Talking of the Kings Circle sidewalk book sellers, my son bought a set of RinTin comic books there a few years back when he was about 10. We still have them, and just the other day he told me that he has read them about 5 times! (I don’t know if they are sold here in the US).
I think that the RinTin books will, in his mind, forever be associated with a childhood trip to Mumbai, buying the books off a street, reading them in a swealteringly hot apt and then rereading them here at home.
The books we read, how we choose them and how we acquire them – all become an important tracing of the arc of our lives.
I am struck by how those of our generation in India started out reading English (British) writers, and then moved on to American ones. Seems to be a tracing of the trajectory of the centers of influence in larger geo-political/cultural matters. We don’t generally see such things affecting the everyday lives of ordinary folk. But seems like they do.