Din Sin. Left her Worli Sea Face house to work at a Bandra coffee shop frequented by Worli Sea Face people. The perfect amount of authentic living, if you ask her. 

Dahi, Chini. She’s a water thief, he’s normal. But he calls her every time he sees a water puddle to talk about the weather. And she understands that it’s only safe to venture out when the day looks like one fell in love last night.

Muji. His dream is to be a mother. Not maternal, not a parent, but a mother. Who cares if it’s impossible? Life should always be a little out of reach for one to truly live.  

Brother. His emotional range is from mild annoyance to burning hatred. But once, just once, a feeling of lightness bubbled inside him. You know like a gust of wind rushing through an open window, a drop of rain on hot concrete. Anyway, it ended with him taking his eye out.

Cat City

I met a gazillion cats during my eleven months in Bombay. A few of them were nice enough to indulge me in return of the highest grade tuna. My friends believe I was tricked, but the joke’s on them, because everyone knows that cats are incapable of deception.

Naan. Fell in love with a rat from the wrong side of local, just enough to give her the droopy sad look that’s desirable amongst toms of her area. The math works out in the end.

Best. The peculiar stench of Bombay duck is his favourite smell in the world. He says he sniffed it all the way from his home in Sri Lanka. But he won’t ever eat it. Who wants to live in a world that smells of one less Bombay duck?

Ikea. She walked out of a meeting that had been going on for two hours and never went back to work. She’s learned that the trick to survive is to get really comfortable with one’s head touching hard and wet surfaces.

Flat White. Getting fired from her job gave her the courage to finally follow her dream of opening a dog shelter. It’s been four years and the few dogs that showed up said they’d rather starve out on the streets. What a bummer that a dream is a job in the end.

Pepper. He lives on the 12th floor of a high rise in Lower Parel, which means that he doesn’t have the full view of the sea, which means that he is a monument of mediocrity, a toilet germ, and his parents were right to not hug him as a child. 

Kochi Ko. Inspired by Perfect Days, she got rid of everything superfluous in her life. Now her days are just Bikkgane Chicken 65 Biryani at noon and the sleep coma that comes with it.

Sabzi. She hates nothing. Others are jealous of all the internal work she’s surely put it in to reach this state. What they fail to notice is that she loves nothing either. 

Aglio, Olio. One is a piano prodigy, the other submitted his PhD thesis at 49. One has loved Diana all his life, the other married her. One lives alone in a big city, the other is loved by his parents. Who is the winner twin, who is the loser twin.

thanks for stopping by. hope you have a bearable time.