Arre baba, dis is Orlem

Rosy the secretary Peter the drunkard Johnnie the wannabe don Bollywood can take credit for stereotyping the Catholic community Thankfully the literary world has salvaged this with more balanced depictions Adding to this repository of urban Indian literature midday columnist Lindsay Pereirarsquos Gods and Ends Penguin Random House that releases on March 22 is a dissective and often uncomfortable portrayal of a group of fictional residents of the decrepit Obrigado Mansion in Orlem This Malad neighbourhood is home to one of the cityrsquos largest concentrations of Catholics Pereirarsquos chronicling subtly encapsulates their eccentricities including the diction and acerbic humour all of which will resonate with not just BombaywallahsThe parish and prayer form an integral part of social conscience in the book PicNimesh DaveAs a chronicler itrsquos undoubtedly an ode to his favourite city because of ldquoits endless capacity for surpriserdquo he says ldquoWhen I began writing about it I knew there were stories hidden in plain sight but didnrsquot believe I had the wherewithal to try and do them justice I wrote this book not only because there has been no novel set in Orlem before but because every suburb can surprise anger or horrify in equal measure When a writer artist or filmmaker attempts to recreate his or her particular reality we get a perspective that coupled with other voices creates an approximation of a complete picturerdquo And now he adds his voice to those of writers before him all of whom have tried to bring Bombay to life ldquoMy attempt may be an awful one but I stand by it nonethelessrdquo he saysExcerpts from an interviewWhy did you set Gods and Ends in Orlem as opposed to other Catholic localities like say Chapel Road Vakola or IC Colony in BorivaliIt was simply because I was born in Orlem and lived there for three decades It is where I still have family and where my grandparents are buried It will always come closest to my idea of homeEach character has their baggage and quirks and yet barring a few resignation seems to be a common thread that ties themThe bookrsquos title is a pun on the way these charactersrsquo stories are told as well as their milieu They rent rooms and as tenants occupy a lower rung in an environment where invisible lines have always been drawn by class I believe this to be true of any tightknit community in India As people who donrsquot own homes they are doubly marginalised in a minority community Christians comprise approximately 23 per cent of Indiarsquos population of which Roman Catholics are just one denomination I wanted to look at forgotten people struggling not just by virtue of living on the margins in a country defined by majoritarianism but with internal pressures exerted by neighbours From that perspective a sense of resignation is almost inevitable and I wanted it to come throughLindsay Pereira PicHemal ShroffWere you inspired by people from your growingup days while creating these charactersMost of the characters were put together with bits and pieces gathered via real interactions Some traits were based on people I grew up with or knew of during my formative yearsThe storyline begins from the preEmergency era and moves forward into more recent timesInteractions between communities changed drastically after liberalisation and I wanted to focus on that period because it allowed me to look at these characters when the idea of an old India was beginning to vanish Affluence was swift and sudden in some parts and there were repercussions across society that havenrsquot been fully understood Property prices rose drastically for instance pushing more people towards lives of uncertainty and there were other fallouts as some began earning more than their parents ever did even as occupations and jobs were made redundant This was the Bombay I grew up in To write about it was for me also an act of remembranceOrlem the Gulf and Goa act as key barometers for success and failure among the residents of Obrigado Mansion Why is thatYes I remember the Gulf War and its aftermath vividly because it upended so many lives in my part of the city Catholic communities donrsquot rely on remittances from the Gulf as much as they used to but it was once a much soughtafter destination that had the power to transform the homes of those lucky enough to find a footing inthe Emirates This wasnrsquot true of just one community of courseThe book is a microscopic lens on a certain strata of Goan Catholics As their narratives progressed was it tempting to redo any character or the draftIrsquom not sure it focuses solely on one ethnic group Goan Catholics because Orlem also has a significant East Indian and Mangalorean population and the lines between them start to blur when one looks beyond differences of dialect and cuisine My first draft had no underlying skeleton and was meant to be a series of disjointed voices I liked the approach but realised it demanded too much from a reader I amended it to introduce characters who could be followed creating a structure I could hang opinions upon I did want to give some stories more attention than I eventually did but my final draft came closest to what I wanted to capture which is a sense of life at a particular time rather than individual storiesWho was the most challenging characterIt was always Philomena because of the ambiguity that surrounds her like a fog There is goodness in her but also a darkness that surfaces occasionally None of it is her fault because circumstances push certain elements of her personality to the forefront so I hesitate to label her as simplistically good or evil I wanted her to leave a reader with sympathy as well as a bad taste in the mouth