Wednesday, July 12, 2006

For Mumbai

From Salman Rushdie's "The Moor's Last Sigh":

Bombay was central, had been so from the moment of its creation: the bastard child of a Portuguese-English wedding, and yet the most Indian of Indian cities. In Bombay all Indias met and merged. In Bombay, too, all-India met what-was-not-India, what came across the black water to flow into our veins...Bombay was central; all rivers flowed into its human sea. It was an ocean of stories; we were all its narrators, and everybody talked at once.

Uma reminded me all over again about the city's spirit as it crawls under the debris of a meaningless, hateful attack.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Salman does write beautifully, doesn't he?

starlight said...

that's the most beautiful description of bombay i've ever read. and the ugliest news coverage of it.

Jane Sunshine said...

Marita : Yes, always.

Starlight: It evokes the cacaphonic beauty that is Bombay. Yet, its bowels are now scarred beyond recognition.

UglyButAdorable said...

now it's beirut..*sigh*..things not looking any better..

Blabarella said...

Despite the promise of all things modern and global in the 21st century and progress towards intelligentsia the world over, we live in a real world that becomes more senseless and heartless with each passing day.