Mumbai chronicles

Janhavi Acharekar’s Wanderers, All — inspired by her family’s history — is a delightful way to learn more about the city.

May 02, 2015 03:25 pm | Updated 03:25 pm IST

Janhavi Acharekar, the author of Wanderers, All.

Janhavi Acharekar, the author of Wanderers, All.

Rarely do you come across a book that delights without the ‘commercially populist’ elements of blood and gore, sex or modern references. Even less frequently do you find a writer who can tell stories and draw characters without the quickfire give-and-take dialogue that adds contemporary flair and movement that pushes the plot in various directions. And to read a story that is set in the 1900s — a time that is generally badly depicted in movies and loses much in being told in carefully measured words — is a pleasure.

Janhavi Acharekar’s Wanderers, All swings between a time usually spoken of with great tact and a more modern existence often coloured with f*** words, steamy sex and overall incoherence. This one is about Murlidhar Khedekar from a goldsmith’s family in the Konkan, who arrives in a Bombay that is in the process of enormous change, his ambitions evolving from acting to law-enforcement in a smooth transition. There is another side to this tale; a more ‘today’ one, where Murli’s great-granddaughter Kinara parties her way across Goa with a quest tucked away in the back of her mind. 

Acharekar started with a short story, she says. “The idea for the book lingered in my mind for a while, but took root as a short story ‘Freedom at Midnight’ in my book  Window Seat: Rush-hour Stories from the City. In fact, freedom fighter Sudhakar Vernekar, the chief protagonist in the short story, shows up as Swaraj’s friend in Wanderers, All. The protagonist of another story ‘Birthday Party’ from the same collection also makes an appearance as his friend Gangadhar Rege.” It begins with the young Murli travelling to Bombay with his father and finding himself drawn to the world of stage drama. He resolves to be an actor and works towards that goal but, when it doesn’t happen, he finds himself a career, quite serendipitously, as a policeman, working his way up the ranks to the top. 

“Much of the story is inspired by my own paternal family history that was passed down orally until my grandfather penned it down in Marathi for posterity,” Acharekar explains. “Murli’s trajectory largely follows that of my great-grandfather Rao Bahadur Shridhar Acharekar, who retired as Superintendent of the Bombay City Police in 1944. I used the family memoir as a skeletal base, backed it with historical research and gave it a coherent plot with fictional characters.” But the other side of the narrative — the travels of Kinara — are her own. However, her journey and the idea of the travelogue as a parallel narrative “came about when I spent a few months on the road in Goa,” while working on another project. “I’ve lived my life vicariously through her while writing the book!” 

The period that she writes about was an exciting one, with Bombay realising the power of the push for independence inspired by leaders like Tilak. Acharekar chose the historical setting deliberately, fascinated by the Independence movement and the cultural milieu in Bombay during that time. “I was sure of the historical backdrop when I began writing but the characters and plot developed along the way. My ancestors belonged to the goldsmith community I wrote about. Meanwhile, the theatre was a craze for most middle and upper-middle class Maharashtrians of that time. It seemed natural to give Murli his ambition or dream of being an actor. In reality, most of my family members of the earlier generations acted in amateur theatre and trained in Hindustani classical music. And, yes, great grandad did frequent the akhada too.” Just as Murli does; in fact, he is ‘discovered’ by his future British boss as he works out. 

The story flows fluently and naturally, without forced contrivance. “Murli’s story developed on its own,” Acharekhar says. “While I based his career trajectory on that of my great grandfather, I knew nothing about the history of the Bombay City Police. I found the working relationships between Indian and British officers fascinating. These were colonial times and it was not unusual for an Indian officer to have a British subordinate. Percival Hume’s character was inspired by the Commissioner Sir Patrick Kelly, my great grandfather’s superior. In real life, they continued to correspond after retirement, just as Hume and Murli do in the book.”  

There is a gentleness in the way the historical part progresses, as Murli ends his life with a state funeral and seven-gun salute. He may have had a passion for drama, but his story is a simple recitation, shorn of drama. In contrast, Kinara’s wanderings are almost jarring, discordant and noisy reflecting a contemporary time, but disturbing to a mind absorbed in the doings of Murli and his world. Acharekar writes with elegance rooted in her own cultural heritage, adding to a reader’s knowledge and urging involvement with her easy use of references and phrases natural to the situation. As she says, “I’m at ease speaking in Marathi, my mother tongue, but I’m ashamed to say that I’m not as fluent as I ought to be. I was familiar with the cultural context, common usage of the language, but the Marathi plays and dialogues, as well as proverbs cited in the novel, involved research.” 

This book is a delightful way to learn a little more about a little slice of the history of the city we all know as Mumbai!

Wanderers All;Janhavi Acharekar, Harper Collins, Rs.499.

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