A Gangster Called Chocolate
“Not All Love Stories Happen in Switzerland. Some Blossom in Dadar Phool Market.”
Tadipaar means to ‘extern’ or prohibit a gangster from entering the city for a specific period. It is similar to being grounded by authorities, as one cannot enter the city. Appointed police officers known as Externment Officers or Tadipar Adhikarees have the legal authority to enforce this restriction.
One such Tadipaar Adhikari from Wadala Police Station externed Chocolate, a 21-year-old gangster. Being a pucca Mumbaikar, it was difficult for Chocolate to be away from the city for more than three nights and four days. Less than a week later, he started missing the city: its humidity, traffic, pollution, packed trains, vada pav, friends, family, and Namkeen, his childhood sweetheart. There were nights when a pissed-drunk Chocolate even got nostalgic about his rival gangsters…
The months dragged on… Despite chatting online with Namkeen and his friends and eating Vada Pav in Ratnagiri, it was not the same. The restless gangster’s separation from the city was unbearable.
One evening, during a video call, Namkeen sheepishly told Chocolate that her parents had seen a suitable man who worked in a bank. Chocolate paused to stare. Then, he surprised both Namkeen and himself with his maturity and large-heartedness. “You have a better future with a banker than a low-life gangster.”
Next, Namkeen told him about her engagement, which was scheduled for the end of the week. That was when Chocolate realized that his days with Namkeen were numbered. He had to see his childhood sweetheart one last time before she was engaged to be married.
‘Law enforcement be damned’, ‘pyar sey badi aur koi takat nahi’ — he muttered that there was no greater power than true love. Thus, justifying the madness to himself, Chocolate sashayed into the heart of the city with elan.
The megalopolis of Mumbai offers anonymity. But not if one has cops or rivals marking the trail. Chocolate and Namkeen were talking to each other outside Bullet Building in Dadar Phool Market when a car full of rogues screeched to an abrupt halt. Getting out, they started beating Chocolate to a pulp. Next, they pushed him inside the car and sped away.
A helpless Namkeen rushed to the police station and filed a complaint against the unknown men who had kidnapped Chocolate.
Mumbai Police teams sprang into action. They reached out to the Tadipar Adhikari. Essentially, this indicated that the official who had grounded Chocolate was now saving his life. Through his network, he quickly learned that Chocolate had been taken to a cement warehouse on Reay Road.
Reay Road is such a dull area that, despite being named after Lord Reay, the governor of Bombay in the late 1800s, none of our honorable ministers considered it important enough to Indianize its name.
Mumbai Police rescued Chocolate from his rivals, who had not only battered him with a belt and a baton but also stubbed burning cigarettes on his body. Immediately, Chocolate was admitted to Sion Hospital for treatment.
These days, Chocolate is serving time in Arthur Road Jail, Byculla, for entering the city limits while he was externed or Tadipaared in Mumbai lingo. It seems he isn’t restless anymore. Battered, bruised, imprisoned — he’d still rather be in Mumbai than anywhere else. Once a Mumbaikar, always a Mumbaikar.
The End
Thank you for your time and consideration. If you enjoyed this short story stay tuned for my upcoming novel, Madness in Mumbai: When Forty Gets Naughty. Published by Rupa Publications . Coming Soon.
—
Disclosure: Based on true incident. News report by journalist Mateen Hafiz, originally published in the Times of India ( January 2022). You can read the original article here:
