The Diversity Course in Retrospect.

Initially I was a little unsure if I wanted to be a part of this course, more importantly if I’d be a
good fit, but this whole experience, to me, has been a happy accident. Bombay has always been a
little more than just a city to me. My dad left a very comfortable home when he moved to
Bombay, something he didn't necessarily need to, but he wanted a different and more fulfilling
life which only Bombay seemed capable of culturing. Through all my years of growing up in this
city, which is pretty much all my life, that is what Bombay has represented. One is always a
variable in this city, and that’s why I have and will always love it.

But, even though I had lived here for so long, throughout my school life, I was able to experience
only one facet of the city, the slightly upper-middle class, suburban Bombay. It wasn't until I
started college that I was able to experience a whole other face of the city and that thrill of
novelty, sort of became the driving force for my decision to be a part of this course. I wanted to
be exposed to all the different “Bombays” that I possibly could, read or learn about all those
people who I shared this city with but was completely unaware and perhaps even ignorant of
their existence and this seemed an appropriate forum for that kind of learning.

The first day began with a brief introduction to CSSS, who they were and how they had planned
for this course to go about. Which was followed by a lecture by Professor Nasreen Fazzalbhoy.
The most interesting thing about her lecture was that she separated Bombay and diversity and
first discussed them individually and later through a few exercises showed us how the diversity
changed with changing contexts and Bombay being a “melting-pot” of identities one could only
imagine the kind of diversity that could be noticed in the city’s population. She gave a very
thorough idea of the concept of diversity itself, which I thought was very necessary for the
course that was about to follow.

The second day had two speakers, Prof. Arvind Ganachari and a second lecture by Prof. Nasreen.
This is when we really started to engage with the history of Bombay, Prof. Arvind was an
articulate speaker and had extensive knowledge about his subject. He had a multi-faceted
knowledge of Bombay, not only did he speak of the history of how Bombay became Bombay but
also a lot of small, interesting stories that I had never given a thought to, like, the origin of
“Oshiwara” or the abundance of Goan inhabitants in Bandra. It was like looking at the same
places that I had seen innumerable times, differently and now with a broader perspective.

The highlight, for me, of the third day was the documentary that was screened called “India
Untouched” directed by K. Stalin, that spoke of the experiences of Dalits in Gujarat. While I was
aware of the existence of a caste system and the practices that come with it, I was taken aback by
the extent at which it was still, to this day, practiced. The documentary gave a very poignant look
into the daily lives of these people. People who have undergone and withstood tremendous
amounts of exploitation. I also had a disturbing realisation that it was the general public’s(which
includes me and a number of the students who are a part of this) apathy that works as fuel to this
horribly set fire. Another interesting exercise that was given to us was to observe our own lives
and see if there are any traces of the caste system or its consequences and of course there were,
maybe not as extreme, maybe not as violent but discriminating nonetheless. I thought of an
incident that I witnessed, one of my relatives refusing to go to a funeral only because the
ceremony was of a lower caste man. It wasn't apparent then but came running back to me when I
consciously gave it a thought.
The interesting thing about Ranu Jain’s talk was that she spoke about identity in isolation. How
identity was not something one was, but something one was pre-assumed to be. She spoke about
how there were multiples sects of identity and our identities changed with the change in context.
She also spoke of the consequences of believing the stereotypes that are associated with these
identities, more importantly she was able to show us a different perspective of contexts and
environments that we were familiar, and because they were familiar we had always looked at
them only in a certain manner. Particularly for me, I spoke to her about a friend of mine from
school who was a Muslim and when i thought about it there were many instances when he acted
a certain way, the reason for which were made clear to me by her. She also mentioned a book,
“Mothering a Muslim - Nazia Erum”, and I was glad she did because I don’t generally read
books like these, it was an interesting look into the daily lives of people that I’m conditioned to
hate, but all I felt was sorry, and maybe a little guilty. The whole experience made me question
my own attitude and behaviour and more importantly consider something that we overlook but is
very problematic, which is the jokes that we make.
“Seven Islands and a Metro” was the second film that was screened. It showed us a different side
of Bombay, a raw more ruthless one. But it was juxtaposed by the romanticising words of Saadat
Hasan Manto and Ismat Chughtai. While on one hand we had actual, real people who were a part
of this gritty, darker Bombay, sharing with the film maker the experiences that they've had and
on the other we had Manto and Ismat, neutral observers, writing, there perception of these
people. The film for me put a lot of things into perspective, especially, gave a realisation about
my privilege, how lucky I’ve been and how different things could be.

Probably my most favourite resource person was Professor Ivan John, I loved how his talk, as he
mentioned, was not unnecessary theorising and jargon but real, human stories that all of us could
connect to, maybe not feel exactly the way they must’ve, but we still got a more intimate insight
into the lives of those who don’t associate themselves to our traditional understanding of gender.
His talk not only educated me about the idea of gender, about how it was a spectrum and that it
was a lot more than just male and female, but also inspired me to go ahead and do a little
research of my own and educate myself and widen my understanding.
The Second talk that same day was with Omkar Bhatkar, he spoke to us about the History of
theatre and drama in Bombay. The talk was a little incoherent as he was jumping from one era to
another, non-linearly, the way Tarantino writes but unlike his films, this never really came to a
conclusive end. It was sort of left hanging in the middle. Nonetheless, what he did talk about,
especially the pictures from his PowerPoint presentation were excellent. I have loved theatre and
all the actors that have been associated with it. Needless to say when I saw some of my favourite
actors, like, Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Sulabha Deshpande, etc in their younger
days, it was very exciting for me. He also spoke of different kinds of plays, how they began and
how they have evolved through the years.

Next we had the walk to Bhindi Bazaar, led by Zuber Azmi of Urdu Markaz. This was the
highlight of the entire course, for me. Firstly, because I’ve lived in the suburbs all my life and
only travelled small distances around in the vicinity, which meant that I hadn’t really explored
this side of Bombay, one which resembled a ghetto. This was a very interesting opportunity
because I would hardly ever get a chance to explore, what we could call the oldest parts of this
city, in this manner. With a man who knew pretty much everything about the place. Secondly,
the walk, while only briefly touched upon the diversity of Muslims in Bombay(Which was the
chosen topic), happened to revolve heavily around some of the poets and singers that I have
admired for a long time and some who I have recently discovered, because of this walk. After a
little reading and research I have found myself falling in love with all of them. Urdu has always
fascinated me because my Grandfather, who moved to India from Pakistan after the partition,
still reads, speaks and writes in Urdu and because I am and have always been intrigued by the
language, this walk was a treat. I was introduced to poets such as Jaun Elia and Firaaq
Gorakhpuri and was reintroduced to poets like Mirza Ghalib and Jan Nisar Akhtar, all of whom
I haven’t stopped thinking about, since. This walk was particularly significant to me because it
made me realise an interest of mine that I wasn’t aware of, now that I am there’s so much more
that I want to read and learn and this realisation alone justifies this course.

Vasai, if anything, was an eventful day, not so much for me, because I got off the bus. Anyway, I
personally thought that, that trip was under-planned and terribly mismanaged and I was really
looking forward to it, because I had never been. But whatever little I did see has left me wanting
more and sometime in the near future, I do plan to visit again, especially the fort.

We had two walks with Rafique sir and there isn't enough that I could say about him. His sheer
dedication itself is commendable, seeing that he wasn't too well and yet came and did what I
think were two of the best walks that we had. Our first walk was around Mazgaon, which for me
again, was uncharted territory and the other one was around Grant Road East. I'd been to Grant
Road East enumerable times and yet I saw a whole different environment. One that I had either
consciously or unconsciously missed out on. I believe the kind of Bombay that he showed us and
the information that he disseminated about these places which embellished our experience, one
that I think would have been achievable only by a man of his calibre.

I have been a part of another one of Rafique Sir's walks of this kind and both the times he's left
me with a feeling of wanderlust. That I don't travel enough and that I need to experience Bombay
in its original form a little more. I feel, that this whole want of exploring places, especially
Bombay, can be traced back to the first walk I had with him so it seems kind of like a complete
circle.

I thoroughly enjoyed the course but the student presentation was my favourite part, where I got to
choose a topic and study it in the context of this city. My topic was "The history of Jazz in
Bombay", and because I have loved jazz music for so long this was even more fun because all
the information that I gathered about its associations with Bombay made me realise that this
supposed "foreign" music was not really all that foreign. There was a little bit of me in the
history of its evolution which has made me love it even more.

I'm glad that I decided to this course, I believe the enlightenment that I've gained and this new
want for exploration that I've discovered is going to help me broaden my horizons, I almost think
this would be one of the reasons of my growth. And to think, I almost didn't come.