THE EART IS FLAT

 The earth is flat – I discovered last week, quite by accident. I was in an Uber headed to Mumbai’s southern tip, except I had thought that it was at the Taj President hotel. But, the GPS on the driver’s phone indicated that I had another kilometre further south. I stepped out of the car and skid off the edge of my world and landed into another. 

Squat two-storey structures lined one side of the road. The top storey was accessed by metal step ladders nailed to the pavements and the buildings. I climbed up the ladder, envious of the two 8-9-year-olds who had clambered up like monkeys. I had two thoughts – one, if you slip, you’ll crush your ankles and a couple of the 9-year olds and two, thank god you swapped the dress for jeans. Upstairs, in one of the two classrooms engaged by Down To Earth are my students who are different levels in their undergraduate degree. The NGO has recruited me for a writing workshop for them. Over the next few days, I make more trips to this point beyond my erstwhile southernmost tip of Mumbai. Now, I know exactly where to ask the cab driver to stop. While nothing like the clambering monkeys – the next day I find them shimmying up and down the precarious ladder in jest, purely to mock me I am convinced – I am a little more surefooted.

This new annexe to my world appears familiar, but I am aware that it is dissimilar. Murakami and Marquez are welcomed but struggle to fit in. The settings in my anecdotes are alien as are the situations. Real people appear cloaked as unreal characters. I start, pause, start, stop, reorganize and restart. I change my stories a little and they indulge me a little. We meet halfway. It is when the stories tumble out that the variables dissipate…our stories separated by details are united by their themes.

In a couple of days, I no longer need to look at the steps on the ladder, my feet have memorized the distance between two steps. Another day and I skip the last two rungs and hop to the pavement. That’s the power of good stories. They don’t simply speak of its people and places. They make the most foreign world intimate and add a spring to your step as you go about exploring it.

They extend the perimeter of our flat world.