VERVEMAGAZINE.IN 99that this is a charitable institution, because we don’t
let our friends pay and we are friends with half of the
colony!” she laughs. “Most of the people in the colony
are born and raised here. Most of my friends have
gotten married to their childhood friends. My school
friends can’t understand how we can meet every day;
how we can go with the same people for dinner, holiday
with the same people; our kids are also together all the
time, it’s just like a big fat family.”
And even though there’s plenty of chatter and
activity, the space represents quietude of a different
kind. Time seems better spent at DPC, like there’re
more minutes in every hour. I slow down, I feel calm,
I have a cell phone...somewhere. The 21st century is
somewhere else, and can stay there for now. I remember
what Kayomi had told me earlier. “Geographically, if
you look at a map, DPC is in the centre of the city. So
if you think of it philosophically, it’s a nice inspiration.
A good reminder. That in the centre of all this madness
that is Mumbai, at a poetic level, there is Utopia.”