Actor, writer and playwright Manav Kaul He reflects on his journey from Kashmir to Mumbai, displacement, survival and the years he spent living in a chawl while trying to find his footing as an artist.Speaking about his childhood during an appearance on The Real Story with Sanghmitra Hitaishi, Manav recalled that his family left Baramulla, Kashmir when he was young and moved to Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh.“We came back to Hoshangabad because my mother is from Hoshangabad. My grandmother’s health deteriorated,” he said.What initially seemed like a temporary move eventually turned permanent as the situation in Kashmir worsened.“My father was still working, so he told us to stay back because something was wrong. Then, when things got worse, we stayed by that time, entered the school and kept saying: ‘Let’s wait another year’. Finally my father had to come too. That’s how displacement became”.
“There wasn’t much acceptance”
Manav admitted that adapting to a new environment was not easy.“My brother and I were very different. We were clearly Kashmiri kids. There wasn’t much acceptance.”She spoke about the challenges of adjusting as a child, “Children can be a very cruel world. Adults are often more empathetic and sympathetic. Children are not.”The actor revealed that it was difficult to adapt to his surroundings.“My brother and I fought a lot and survived. In the process, I had to cut my Kashmiri. I eventually forgot the Kashmiri language.”
“You had to manage the whole day with 30 rupees”
A few years later, when he moved to Mumbai to pursue his creative ambitions, life fell far short.“A lot of it came from scratch from the time I spent living in a shanty in Parel and other places,” Manav recalls.In retrospect, he is grateful for those years before the age of social media.“Thank God there were no reels then. If there had been, I think I would have become a completely ruined person.”Describing her financial struggles, she said, “We lived in a chawl. There was nothing to do. The day still had to get through somehow. We didn’t have enough money to spend freely either.”“You had to manage a whole day with 30 rupees.”With little money for entertainment, Manav turned to books.“You couldn’t go out. You couldn’t celebrate. There were no cafes. So there were books. And from then on, I got into the habit of finding entertainment through books.”
Finding freedom in displacement
While the displacement once felt painful, Manav said he eventually began to see it differently.“The first time Lincoln Center invited me to New York, an elderly Egyptian came to see me. Then I understood something. It’s amazing that displacement happened.”Reflecting on the many places that have shaped her, she says, “I was born in Kashmir. I grew up in Hoshangabad. I live in Bombay. I’ve been to New York. Now I can go anywhere and be that person.”For Manav, the experience of constantly moving between places eventually became part of his identity as an artist.“I think one of the most beautiful things about art and artists is that they’re unrelated. And I love that.”However, Mumbai remain at home.“I travel a lot, sometimes for months at a time. But as long as I know I’ll be back in Bombay, I’m fine. I have a little flat I’ve set up there. It’s almost like an art studio for me. That’s my anchor.”
