The second day of Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest 2026 saw legendary poet Gulzar Saab return for guftagu in “Ek Shayar Iss Sheher Mein: A Poet’s Love Letter to His City,” a session with scholar and translator Rakhshanda Jalil and screenwriter & lyricist Kausar Munir as Chair. He personally read from his new volume, Aamchi Mumbai: My City in Stories and Poems, written in Urdu and translated into English by Dr. Jalil. The interwoven conversation explored Gulzar Saab’s enduring relationship with Mumbai. From the city’s changing identity, its people, its seasons, to the realities of migrant life, the session offered a “Mumbai darshan” through poetry and stories. Some excerpts:
On why the title contains the word “aamchi,” Gulzar Saab said, “When they were deciding what should be the capital of Maharashtra on the basis of language, there was a slogan: ‘Mumbai konachi?’ And the answer was: ‘Mumbai aamchi.’ That’s why I selected the word ‘Aamchi’. It was a slogan, but I took part with Bombay, this city is my partner. This is why ‘Aamchi Mumbai’.”
Gulzar Saab on observing and writing about Mumbai: “I have learnt and changed with Mumbai. We have changed Mumbai also. I have tasted the salt in Mumbai’s air. Agar namak chakh liya hai, toh aapki cheezein bhi namkeen ho jaati hain. Bahar bhi ghoomte hain toh log bhi namkeen lagte hain. So, I wanted to pay homage to this ‘namkeen’.”
He also reflected on how observation shapes his writing: “I live here. If you see something, you definitely think about it. Whatever I see is related to life. So, to feel it and reach it, I personify and humanise my observations.”
On the challenge of translating Gulzar Saab’s voice, Rakhshanda Jalil said, “Two distinct features of Gulzar Saab’s work are imagery and the way he talks through images and his voice. He has a childlike quality, a whimsicality of his own. For a translator, capturing this essence is very challenging. It is not just about craft or vocabulary. His voice is very distinctive.”
Kausar Munir on the city that emerges from Gulzar Saab’s writing: “Socialism, realism, political consciousness, environmental concerns, all of this comes through in Gulzar Saab’s work. This new work isn’t just a romantic love letter to the city. There is a truth to it, there is a lived reality to it rather than a romanticised version of Mumbai. He doesn’t see the city only through rose-tinted glasses.”
