Abundance

MAHARASHTRA



Mumbai



If Kolkata is the Paris of India (even though from what I saw the artistic and cultural level of Paris is not even remotely matched), then Mumbai has to be its London. Fast-paced and buzzing.

19:20
After avoiding a 30-odd strong queue of sweaty Indian men by rushing to a counter that luckily just opened to get my train ticket to Santa Cruz station, I turn back to find that a bunch of people have gathered on the way. I make it through them to realize that they're circling an interesting scene. a couple of men, helped by one of those policemen with the wooden stick, are holding a guy's hands behind his back and tying them together. The man is bending forward and struggling pointlessly. After tying his hands they start hitting his back and ribs rather angrily. The policeman is just supervising, making sure the beating goes well. "He's a thief, a pickpocket", explains my mate Rahul, whom I had met for some shopping down Linking road and Hill road in Bandra. They have some fancy restaurants and cafes there. A good butcher too, reputed for his beef. Gotta hit that one some day. In a country so over-populated and with such diversity (diversity of political views, religion, life styles...), I understand that the law and order has to make itself respected with an iron fist. Such a show of repression as I witnessed today made an good example of that thief to the public. Steal and you will get a beating, the police will make sure of that. There are so many people around that the only way to maintain order is to create a strong fear of such drastic punishments.

The rush "hour" in public transports (Trains!) goes from 7.30 till 11am and from 4.30 till 9pm. No time for a yawn. Crowded trains where you may not be able to find a seat but you don't want to either because of the extreme heat. better to raise both arms, grab a handle hanging from the bars above and raise your head to try and catch some air. The bodies sexily intermingled. Elbows and foreheads. Wet underarms in faces. And they say India has lost its eroticism. Managed to find some seats with your friends? A few stops to go? Perfect, let's have a game of cards! A handkerchief placed on the laps and let's deal the cards. But fast.

The next stop in Kajur Marg, my stop. As I try to stand by the exit (a door which is constantly open to let both the air flowing in and people sticking their body out to catch the air), a group of people insist that I stay at the back of the train facing the exit. It turns out they're also getting off, but the rule is that, especially at busy stations, people should get on the train before getting off! Nice piece of Indian logic: people should board the train first, find a seat or a place to stand before letting people off. So the train stops, we hold as far back as possible to avoid the flow of people rushing in like crazy, looking for a seat only to realize that there is none available, then grabbing a handle somewhere between the rows of seats. The trick, if you're on for a long journey, is to stay as close as possible to some seats to be able to grab them as soon as someone raises from his seat. Only when the crowd has settled can we start struggling our way through the packed wagon to try and reach the exit.

Bollywood

About Bollywood. Back in France, non-afficionados don't know much about Indian movies. Any movie coming from India that is not a film d'auteur (Satyajit Ray's movies, very well known amongst film enthusiasts, as well as Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy or Ritwik Ghatak, known for the revolutionary movies they made throughout the 60's and 70's) will be looked upon as a show of grandeur and beautiful colours, ridiculously over-the-top acting and an overall farce with no deep meaning. Therefore most people will watch a Bollywood for the music, dancing, or a good laugh. I started taking interest in Indian Cinema a couple of years back, and it started filling my mind with questions as to why Indian popular movies are the way they are, and what real issues should one read in them. The main questions I was asking myself (and one that I generally ask a lot about all sorts of topics) being: Why?

Why the luxury, the shine, the grandeur and the exagerated acting? Why are emotions stretch to the extreme (see Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas), why do we constantly switch from one genre to another within the same film, from drama to comedy to action and so on? And by the way, why is the film three hours long??

After watching a lot of films, from various periods of the Indian Cinema History (Ranging from the golden age of the 50's and Mehboob Khan's films, to the social cinema of the 70's to the melodramatic cheesiness of the 80's till the great new actors of the 90's (the Khans) and today's films), and trying to have an insight by reading theories on Indian Cinema and various essays, reviews and articles, I found a little explanation of my own. The Indian audiences need their films to be the more detached to their everyday life as possible (I'm talking about the general public here ; I'm pretty confident that the Bachchan-Rai wedding did look something like a wedding scene from a Karan Johar's movie), so they can escape from their everyday reality. I know that the majority of the Indian population live with little earning and in unhealthy and poor conditions. The Big Bollywood Factory therefore offers to everyone's access a good three-hours long portion of dream, with so many twists, turns, and changes of mood that the audience can completely escape the everyday through entertainment. Then the dream is carried on to the streets through music. People who sang to me often half-close their eyes or raise them to the sky.

Arriving in Mumbai, I understood this need to escape reality. After only two days I was already fed up with the pollution, constant city noise and the impressive and massive over-population. I had prepared for it through tons of reading but living the actual thing is a very different experience altogether. It made me understand it fully.

I wish to take note here that, even though the Bollywood Industry is known to be the biggest in the world with some 800 movies released each year, this figure doesn't have a real meaning here. The Indian audience proves to be very discerning when it comes to movies, and only a dozen movies will actually make profit, while the news of a bad movie will be spread so rapidly by sharp Indian criticism and efficient word of mouth that it just won't cover for its cost. For instance the latest Akshay Kumar / Kareena Kapoor movie, Kambakkht Ishq, will probably not make up for its Rs70 crores of production costs (Rs1 crore = 10 million Rupees) simply because it's a disaster and people know it! Despite grossing an impressive Rs19 crores during the opening week, thanks to high expectations and hopes that Akki would be back in shape after his few horrendous last movies (Chandni Chowk To China......), the expectations were simply not met and the theatres were empty the following week! 5 persons shared the cinema with me when I went to see the movie at that time. I wont review the movie here, I'm merely trying to give an exemple of how good judges the Indian audience is about its movies.

In my quest for Bollywood, I went to "Film City", in the Goregaon district, to try and meet some of the people who make it happen, actors, directors, technicians, and hopefully to watch a shooting. Bollywood wasn't there unfortunately, and I ended up having to clap my hands for a boring dance competition program for the telly. Going back downtown in the evening, I met an American girl who had just been approached by a guy looking for extras to act in a movie. Luckily she's not so interested and hand over the card to me. It reads: "Amjad Khan, Bollystar, specialized in Western people". Perfect. I give this Amjad a ring the next morning and he asks me to come the next day for a night shooting. 5pm to 5am. The movie is for television, "Un Hazaro Ke Nam" (roughly translated by "In the name of thousands") by Siddhart Sen Gupta, and is ploted around the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. I can be seen during the wedding scene holding a cocktail glass and chatting up some other extra. The next scene, I'm running back and forth in the crowd after a bomb has exploded. I got paid Rs500 for the night and it was a lot of fun.

IIT Campus

I'm being hosted by Jaya Joshi over the week-end. She's head of PR for the IIT Campus (Indian Institute of Information Technology). We watch Dil Chahta Hai and the next day we treat ourselves and some of her friends with Chicken curry Bengali style.

Krishna and Ganesh

8:00
Every morning and evening Ashok prays to Ganesh (God of prosperity and success), at the little temple that his dad, Arum Sawand, set up in a corner of their kitchen. Arum also decorated it with flowers, and he changes them every Tuesday and Thursday. Still in the kitchen, Arum has a picture of his late parents on which he put a bit of yellow powder on their foreheads between the eyebrows.

Ashok, facing the temple, bend on his knees on a little rug. He pours a spoon of oil on the flame which is in a piece of cotton dipped in oil. He then lights a incense stick with the flame (Dia=light). He then prays silently with his two hands joined against his torso. He does the Sashtng Namaskar: putting his two hands on the floor before him, he stretches his body as to do push ups, touches his forehead on the floor in direction of the temple.

13:00
Lunch with Rahul's family, they're Gujaratis. The 14 of them occupy a 2 rooms appartment near Cotton Greens station, plus another little bedroom for Rahul. We were 9 at the time of eating, with the men on one side and women and kids on the other, but next to each other, sitting on the floor. We help ourselves to se dishes placed in the middle. Good ambiance, very friendly. Rahul's uncle, an architecte who's worked in Dubai for three years, chats me up. The chappatis are delicious.
Rahul is 19 years old, he has a Rock/Metal band and hides from his parents to smoke cigarets. His family are all Krishna followers and I witnessed his mom whispering the mantras to herself a couple of times during lunch.

20:00
The Sawand's appartement is of a very decent size for Mumbai, situated in a nice area of town. Ashok's parents share it with him and his wife, each couple having its own room.
At dinner time, the three men, including me, are being served by the two women. In our plates, served on silver trays, are little portions of tasty looking food. Arum is very joyful and he jokes around while we eat. He even sang something from a Dilip Kumar movie for me. The women will eat after us, helping themselves from the dishes.

Mumbai

13:00

Terrence, an old Indian weirdo approaches me at the Cyber Cafe, he speaks a few words in French. I'm not easily impressed unfortunately for him. He starts talking spirituality and wants to show me the true reality through a guided tour of Dharavi, the reputedly "biggest slum in Asia", for a little money. I reply that I'm not interested to pay to have someone showing me misery. And I'm currently satisfied about meeting middle class Indian people as their life is already very different from mine and I learn a lot from that, and that too is reality for me anyway. His arguments range from assuring me that I will remain ignorant unless I follow him there (as 60% of Mumbaikars live in slums) to "I will not show you things but make you go through unique experiences" to "I don't take tourists for walking and talking dollar bags". Not working for me, and he will leave me with those words: "You will forever be the rotten apple!!!".

I would like to visit Dharavi sometimes, or some other place of extreme misery, but I certainly won't do it as a financial exchange with a "guide". I would much rather get in touch with some people who help one way or another, with education or other issues. The exchange would be much more genuine and interesting.

15:00
Santa Cruz station, West Side.
I drop my backpack at the Pillay's family house, with whom I will spend the next few days. I meet Victor and Leena and Noel, their son. According to Noel I look like an environmentalist, kaki green combats and "Discovery Channel" hat, black tee-shirt, trekking shoes and camera bag.

21:00
I meet up with some members of the www.couchsurfing.com website for some drinks at Mocha Cafe, a trendy bar in Bandra. The area is nice and lively, quite fashinable but not over the top, rather easy-going. I will sleep at Versova at Vivek's place. He writes scripts for the movies and he knows quite a few Indian actors (including Nandita Das) and a lot about French movies.