Once upon a time in Mumbai

When Romulus Whitaker landed at Santa Cruz airport in December of 1951 he was delighted It was as if Mumbairsquos energy came out to match theeightyearold AmericanrsquosWhitaker also known as the Snake Man of India shares memories of old Bombay in his recent autobiographymdashSnakes Drugs and Rock lsquonrsquo Roll My Early Yearsmdashauthored by him and his wife Janaki Lenin For the uninitiated into the world wildlife conservation and is also associated with the Bombay Natural History Society BNHSWhitaker who last visited the city in 2018 says that other than some areas of South Mumbai he found the city unrecognisable ldquoIn relation to snake rescue and its supporting work I would often visit Thane but when I visited in 2018 I couldnrsquot recognise where I wasrdquo he says over a video call from his farm Chengalpattu at the outskirts of ChennaiWhitaker was fascinated with snakes right from a young age he holds his snake in Hoosick New York 1947 right Whitaker studied wildlife management in Wyoming in 1961 and worked with wildlife in the country like this yellow rat snake in Miami back in 1964 until moving back to India in 1967When Whitaker first arrived his first home was in the thenidyllic part of the citymdashJuhu of the 50s The family of fivemdashWhitaker his mother Doris Norden and his older sister Gail infant Nina and stepfather Rama Chattopadhyay lived in a quaint little bungalow in the suburb which had rat snakes in the garden ldquoI was friends with the fishermen who would bring in their fish early in the morning In the beginning they would look at me as this crazy white kid but then I guess they got used to merdquo he says while recalling his boyhood days The fisher wives and men would often give Whitaker a part of their catch to take home ldquoI was always appreciative of thatrdquo he addsWhitaker had a difficult school lifemdashhis days were split between Mumbai and Kodaikanal International School While Mumbai sated his appetite for the big city Kodaikanal he admits both in the book and during our conversation was where he started trekking and learned how to appreciate natureWhitakerrsquos memoirs can put any modernday hustler to shame He relates incidents in the book where his devilmaycare attitude made him try things most local boys might have not To make money in his formative years he became a pest catcher for his Juhu neighbours ldquoI never thought I was doing anything different I just wanted to make some money for some Coke and ice creamrdquo he saysGail and Doris Whitakerrsquo sisters Breezy Whitakerrsquos pet name along Neel and Nina his half siblings in Bombay 1955The neighbourhood had a collection of expats from varied nationalities and a pet peeve among most were the potholes lining the roads outside their bungalows which Whitaker and his friend Craig made a booming business out of They filled them inmdashat a priceWhitaker eventually moved to another residence a bungalow that was a 10minute walk away from Worli Sea Face This is where he first encountered an eel When we rue the loss of such flora and fauna around the city today he says ldquoYou are right the city has lost a lot of wildlife due to urbanisation and yes it is an unfortunate loss But at the time I had the privilege of seeing and experiencing these things in Bombay and absorbed it with open arms I have been lucky that wayrdquoWith some luck and persistence the young herpetologist also picked up his first Hindi words in Mumbai ldquoMost of them were swear wordsrdquo he says chuckling ldquoBut I did learn useful bits and pieces throughout my stay that got me more than from point A to B Hindi in Mumbai and Tamil in Kodaikanal and that opened a lot of doors for me When people saw I was making an effort to learn the language they were appreciative and exceptionally friendlyrdquo he addsAfter graduating Class XII Whitaker set off to Mysore to work as a taxidermist for a year He left Mumbai only to head back to America to study at the Wyoming University Laramie to study wildlife management in 1961 only to return to live in Chateau Marine aka Nargis Bungalow at Marine Drive a name that is still used to give directions to any autodriver to dateThis book and the conversation with Whitaker leaves us jealous of his almost fairytalelike life As his wife Lenin says ldquoI think his childhood makes me envious The time to go fishing and looking at animals is something I can never understand how he got away with My mother would obsess over my report card or whip me for loafing aroundrdquo she adds while turning to look at the king of snakes whose ever present grin now spreads upwards touching each ear