Living an emotion: 'Bombay Meri Jaan'

Jayanti Ranganathan's “Bombay Meri Jaan” captures myriad shades of the city of dreams

Mumbai is a city, Bombay is an emotion. It is a place where people's dreams are realised and extinguished.

It is usually said that if you have lived in Bombay and have travelled in local trains then you can survive in any other city. Street food like vada pav, pani puri, bhelpuri is the highlight of the city. Even if the name of the city is officially Mumbai, the word ‘Bombay’ cannot be eradicated from our lives.

Recently, Oxford Book Store hosted the launch of Jayanti Ranganathan's book,

Bombay Meri Jaan.

Published by Vaani Publication, the event started with a melodious rendition of Mohammed Rafi's “Yeh Hai Bombay Meri Jaan” by 7th Note band.

It was followed by a panel where life coach Akanksha Pundir, radio jockey Ranauq, news anchor Abhighyan Prakash and the author shared their memories and experiences of the Maximum City with the audience.

Seasoned journalist

A seasoned journalist, Jayanti spoke at length about her non-fiction book and characters, Shabnam (a bar dancer), Jyoti (a transgender) and Hira ( a rag picker). “Bombay gives us numerous chances to interact with such characters unlike Delhi. Public loves to read about characters that are different and that is why I chose these characters.”

She also read an excerpt related to Hira.

Pleasant memories

Abhigyan Prakash said, “Bombay gives liberty to people to dream and that’s why we have so many rags to riches stories from the city. There is no one to judge you even if you are doing something that is not considered right.”

Life coach Akanksha described her first experience of going to Bombay and getting overwhelmed by the enormous crowd at Dadar station at the age of 19. She reminisced about the particular essence in the air of Bombay which helped people bond with the city. She further added that Bombay inculcates extreme confidence in girls.

Raunaq recollected his childhood memories as he was born and brought up there. He narrated one incident where he helped his co-passenger from the plane to reach Panvel by the shortest route.

He was amazed to notice how naturally he remembers all the routes in Bombay even after so many years. Audience were astonished when Ranauq told them about places where he used to get dosa and buttermilk for just ₹1 each.