[Music]
[Applause]
so this is a journey this is a journey
through three cities Mumbai am debarred
and Shillong through four with forty two
writers and 160 stories and a little
disclaimer at the beginning I am an
articulate writer not an orator so I am
going to read you my story and you are
going to listen so listening this is a
phrase that I will constantly be using
today this act of listening the patient
act of listening is what you are going
to indulge with me today so let’s begin
by talking about people and places what
is a place a hole a settlement a village
a city a nation how do we understand a
place for this discussion let’s take the
case of a city so how do we understand
this place called a city perhaps through
his it through its histories through
landmarks and architecture through
cultures and traditions to me a city is
a complex organism with an overlay of
history geography socio economics and
politics how does one talk about this
kind of an intricate maze of systems and
subsystems and that too in a wholesome
and plural manner one way is through
stories stories of its people people who
have inhabited it created it and shaped
it
so this was the premise of the first
this was the premise of the first
experiment that we undertook that is
people call Mumbai so what we tried
doing was explore Mumbai through stories
of the Mumbaikars fifty five stories of
Mumbaikars to be precise this started
out as a workshop at
to do and the brief was simple let’s try
to understand Mumbai through personal
narratives the argument being that
finally your story and my story are what
comes together and forms the city story
so I’ll give you an example one of the
story is written by Sachi Marvin cool
way about in denial or endorsing who
sells grains at Kabuto Khan Island other
so this story not only that law talks
about the life of a street vendor in
Mumbai and the chaos and the geography
around the other railway station but it
also digresses to talk about his father
who was a mill worker and through his
father story the story of Mumbai’s a
mill history is spoken about the if the
strike the eventual shutting down and
his temptations with the crime world and
finally his resolve to off on his labor
and deciding to sell grains at Kabuto
Khanna so this is a shop that Inder
Singh has inherited from his father
similarly there are a range of stories
that surfaced through this experiment so
we have a photographer a Jew chor party
who doubles up as a lifeguard a
successful businessman from bullish
world a stranded purists who now write
Gouda giri’s at Gateway of India the
city’s only Tibetan restaurants and
artists on the pavements of kala Gouda
which is incidentally a cultural
district a Japanese Buddhist mall one of
his kind in the country may be a a very
the large story about Genie Ben who’s a
Potter’s wife a Brazilian martial arts
expert this famous duplicate of Anil
Kapoor so there are these range of
stories and what happens is with these
whole range of people stories coming
together in the space of a book what it
offers is a very plural reading of the
city so there is no one reading there
are multiple readings of the city and
this is the this is the idea that it
tries to emphasize so this is the first
take away an overwhelming understanding
that there are so many people around us
with
fascinating lives and there is so many
more stories waiting to be heard from
our everyday all we have to do is pause
and listen like you’re listening right
now the second city a year later we
decided to explore this idea in another
city and that was this city of know’m
the bus and I am going to read to you on
this note an excerpt from a story
written by Shri Rama Rajan about
discovering am the bus
the days are getting hotter in Ahmedabad
the light is piercing bright and the
white buildings of the cities reflect it
all like mirrors time has come to start
the day early but the Summer Sun in
Ahmedabad is not only uncomfortable but
it can be downright dangerous at around
8 a.m. I cross over the ls bridge and
the Sun is already blazing the Sabarmati
looks alluring and I have half a mind to
jump in and have a little swim I had
planned to head all the way to what walk
across the city to visit Kutub a Alam
Durga but then decide to limit my
exposure to the Sun and head instead to
Monaco there is the Mujibur at Bashar
mija Jiro which the that I have planned
to meet today I am looking for stories
and myths that constitute the
imagination of M the birth history being
a medieval city with more than 600 years
of history there are lot of myths and
memories and stories waiting to be
discovered in its narrow streets and
hollows the idea really took shape
during the discussion with Hameed Raj a
faculty except Hameed had once said walk
around and get lost in the streets the
best way to talk to people the best way
is to talk to people because and the
birth history and myths form a part of
the collective consciousness of the city
we are told these stories as children
old grandmother tell their grandchildren
at bedtime there are tales told by old
modulars holy men and even charms that
roam the city in this way the
these mythology is kept alive for
example an entire community that lives
around the wind city of an old dargah
will know its history and significance I
agree with Hameed suggestion but my only
worry being that each person I might
talk to will have a different version of
the story and then I will be at loss as
to what to write about well they are all
equally valid says Hamid
that’s how stories are it’s less
important to know which one is true or
the correct one but rather what each
story tells you about the city the
beliefs of a person narrating it to you
that’s why it’s important for you to
simply wander around the city and talk
to as many people as you can so this is
the second takeaway that I’m going to
stop the story there this is our second
important takeaway from the project that
there is no one version to our stories
and perhaps there is no one truth there
are many truths that our city
encompasses and each is valid in it each
is valid and compose it in its own
fashion cut till 2017 and we were set
Shalom is nested in the eastern Kathy
hills a city with very different and
distinct culture from the western part
of India that we live in during the
course of writing we not only connected
to a new place and new culture but also
the this act became a this act became
ourself act of self reflection because
we started reflecting on our own
cultures our beliefs and our own
histories let me give you an example for
many who have many writers who are
visiting Shillong for the first time and
many of them who belong to the western
and northern part of our country the
Metro legal system of the place was a
surprise in pleasant ways and in
unsettling ways being consciously and
subconsciously
of use to Petrarchan ways of living it
was unusual to watch entire marques
offices households being run by women
here the at the her the act of
unsettlement was an act of
self-reflection another example as
city-slicker we are used to seeing gray
concrete landscapes as cities the
presence like shalom has an army
presence of nature around it there are
painted skies blue blue skies painted
clouds all greenery everywhere and this
can be often disorienting for a city
slicker and we are quick to paint it as
a hill station while hey it’s not a hill
station it’s a living breathing city so
our third and most important learning
that India is indeed many Indians its
diverse and distinct and often we assume
that we have understood our countrymen
and overlay our version of Indian asan
them this is a hast a lack of
understanding perhaps stemming from not
engaging with each other stories
intimately and on this note I will
conclude with how the journey of story
finding has affected us all the writers
well it has changed as definitely each
conversation each person we have met
each story we were compelled to write
has changed us these are stories of
so-called ordinary people people whom we
would have rarely given a thought about
or engaged with in a conversation
otherwise however each conversation
opened us to look at humanity some
people inspired us some people bought
joy and some moved us many of us has
literally sat at our keyboards
struggling to find the right words to
express their story and yes we have made
many friends
the last takeaway we have realized that
it is indeed about taking that pose
exercising your ability to listen and
finally the act of reflection only an
after
election will enable us to truly
appreciate the life around us the people
the places and the diversity and in turn
we can have a world of peace and empathy
thank you for listening [Applause]
[Applause]
so this is a journey this is a journey
through three cities Mumbai am debarred
and Shillong through four with forty two
writers and 160 stories and a little
disclaimer at the beginning I am an
articulate writer not an orator so I am
going to read you my story and you are
going to listen so listening this is a
phrase that I will constantly be using
today this act of listening the patient
act of listening is what you are going
to indulge with me today so let’s begin
by talking about people and places what
is a place a hole a settlement a village
a city a nation how do we understand a
place for this discussion let’s take the
case of a city so how do we understand
this place called a city perhaps through
his it through its histories through
landmarks and architecture through
cultures and traditions to me a city is
a complex organism with an overlay of
history geography socio economics and
politics how does one talk about this
kind of an intricate maze of systems and
subsystems and that too in a wholesome
and plural manner one way is through
stories stories of its people people who
have inhabited it created it and shaped
it
so this was the premise of the first
this was the premise of the first
experiment that we undertook that is
people call Mumbai so what we tried
doing was explore Mumbai through stories
of the Mumbaikars fifty five stories of
Mumbaikars to be precise this started
out as a workshop at
to do and the brief was simple let’s try
to understand Mumbai through personal
narratives the argument being that
finally your story and my story are what
comes together and forms the city story
so I’ll give you an example one of the
story is written by Sachi Marvin cool
way about in denial or endorsing who
sells grains at Kabuto Khan Island other
so this story not only that law talks
about the life of a street vendor in
Mumbai and the chaos and the geography
around the other railway station but it
also digresses to talk about his father
who was a mill worker and through his
father story the story of Mumbai’s a
mill history is spoken about the if the
strike the eventual shutting down and
his temptations with the crime world and
finally his resolve to off on his labor
and deciding to sell grains at Kabuto
Khanna so this is a shop that Inder
Singh has inherited from his father
similarly there are a range of stories
that surfaced through this experiment so
we have a photographer a Jew chor party
who doubles up as a lifeguard a
successful businessman from bullish
world a stranded purists who now write
Gouda giri’s at Gateway of India the
city’s only Tibetan restaurants and
artists on the pavements of kala Gouda
which is incidentally a cultural
district a Japanese Buddhist mall one of
his kind in the country may be a a very
the large story about Genie Ben who’s a
Potter’s wife a Brazilian martial arts
expert this famous duplicate of Anil
Kapoor so there are these range of
stories and what happens is with these
whole range of people stories coming
together in the space of a book what it
offers is a very plural reading of the
city so there is no one reading there
are multiple readings of the city and
this is the this is the idea that it
tries to emphasize so this is the first
take away an overwhelming understanding
that there are so many people around us
with
fascinating lives and there is so many
more stories waiting to be heard from
our everyday all we have to do is pause
and listen like you’re listening right
now the second city a year later we
decided to explore this idea in another
city and that was this city of know’m
the bus and I am going to read to you on
this note an excerpt from a story
written by Shri Rama Rajan about
discovering am the bus
the days are getting hotter in Ahmedabad
the light is piercing bright and the
white buildings of the cities reflect it
all like mirrors time has come to start
the day early but the Summer Sun in
Ahmedabad is not only uncomfortable but
it can be downright dangerous at around
8 a.m. I cross over the ls bridge and
the Sun is already blazing the Sabarmati
looks alluring and I have half a mind to
jump in and have a little swim I had
planned to head all the way to what walk
across the city to visit Kutub a Alam
Durga but then decide to limit my
exposure to the Sun and head instead to
Monaco there is the Mujibur at Bashar
mija Jiro which the that I have planned
to meet today I am looking for stories
and myths that constitute the
imagination of M the birth history being
a medieval city with more than 600 years
of history there are lot of myths and
memories and stories waiting to be
discovered in its narrow streets and
hollows the idea really took shape
during the discussion with Hameed Raj a
faculty except Hameed had once said walk
around and get lost in the streets the
best way to talk to people the best way
is to talk to people because and the
birth history and myths form a part of
the collective consciousness of the city
we are told these stories as children
old grandmother tell their grandchildren
at bedtime there are tales told by old
modulars holy men and even charms that
roam the city in this way the
these mythology is kept alive for
example an entire community that lives
around the wind city of an old dargah
will know its history and significance I
agree with Hameed suggestion but my only
worry being that each person I might
talk to will have a different version of
the story and then I will be at loss as
to what to write about well they are all
equally valid says Hamid
that’s how stories are it’s less
important to know which one is true or
the correct one but rather what each
story tells you about the city the
beliefs of a person narrating it to you
that’s why it’s important for you to
simply wander around the city and talk
to as many people as you can so this is
the second takeaway that I’m going to
stop the story there this is our second
important takeaway from the project that
there is no one version to our stories
and perhaps there is no one truth there
are many truths that our city
encompasses and each is valid in it each
is valid and compose it in its own
fashion cut till 2017 and we were set
Shalom is nested in the eastern Kathy
hills a city with very different and
distinct culture from the western part
of India that we live in during the
course of writing we not only connected
to a new place and new culture but also
the this act became a this act became
ourself act of self reflection because
we started reflecting on our own
cultures our beliefs and our own
histories let me give you an example for
many who have many writers who are
visiting Shillong for the first time and
many of them who belong to the western
and northern part of our country the
Metro legal system of the place was a
surprise in pleasant ways and in
unsettling ways being consciously and
subconsciously
of use to Petrarchan ways of living it
was unusual to watch entire marques
offices households being run by women
here the at the her the act of
unsettlement was an act of
self-reflection another example as
city-slicker we are used to seeing gray
concrete landscapes as cities the
presence like shalom has an army
presence of nature around it there are
painted skies blue blue skies painted
clouds all greenery everywhere and this
can be often disorienting for a city
slicker and we are quick to paint it as
a hill station while hey it’s not a hill
station it’s a living breathing city so
our third and most important learning
that India is indeed many Indians its
diverse and distinct and often we assume
that we have understood our countrymen
and overlay our version of Indian asan
them this is a hast a lack of
understanding perhaps stemming from not
engaging with each other stories
intimately and on this note I will
conclude with how the journey of story
finding has affected us all the writers
well it has changed as definitely each
conversation each person we have met
each story we were compelled to write
has changed us these are stories of
so-called ordinary people people whom we
would have rarely given a thought about
or engaged with in a conversation
otherwise however each conversation
opened us to look at humanity some
people inspired us some people bought
joy and some moved us many of us has
literally sat at our keyboards
struggling to find the right words to
express their story and yes we have made
many friends
the last takeaway we have realized that
it is indeed about taking that pose
exercising your ability to listen and
finally the act of reflection only an
after
election will enable us to truly
appreciate the life around us the people
the places and the diversity and in turn
we can have a world of peace and empathy
thank you for listening [Applause]
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