Actor, writer and playwright Manav Kaul spoke about his journey from Kashmir to Mumbai, speaking candidly about displacement, survival and the years he spent living in a chawl while trying to find his footing as an artist.Talking about his childhood while appearing on The Real Story with Sanghmitra Hitaishi, Manav mentioned that his family left Baramulla, Kashmir, when he was young and moved to Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh.“We returned to Hoshangabad because my mother is from Hoshangabad. My grandmother’s health has deteriorated severely,” he said.What initially seemed like a temporary move, eventually became permanent as the situation in Kashmir deteriorated.“My father was still working there, so he asked us to stay because something seemed wrong. By the time things got worse, we had already stayed, joined the school, and kept saying: ‘Let’s wait another year.’ Eventually my father had to come too. That’s how the displacement became.”
‘There wasn’t a lot of acceptance’
Manaf admitted that adapting to a new environment was not easy.“My brother and I looked completely different. It was clear that we were Kashmiri children.
“There was not much acceptance.”He spoke about the challenges of coping as a child, saying: “Children can be a very cruel world. Adults are often more compassionate and kind. But children are not.”The actor revealed that adapting to his surroundings came at a cost.“My brother and I suffered a lot and survived. In the process, I had to cut off my Kashmiri language. In the end, I forgot the Kashmiri language.”
“You had to manage an entire day on Rs 30.”
Years later, when he moved to Mumbai to pursue his creative ambitions, life remained far from easy.“A lot of it came from the free time I had when I was living in a chawl in Parel and other places,” Manav recalls.Looking back, he’s grateful for those years before the age of social media.“Thank God there were no rollers back then. If there had been, I think I would have been a completely ruined person.”Describing his financial struggles, he said: “We were living in a shawl. 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 an entire day on Rs 30.”With little money for entertainment, Manav turned to books.“You couldn’t go out. You couldn’t party. There were no cafes. So there were books. And somewhere from there, I picked up the habit of finding entertainment through books.”
Searching for freedom in displacement
Although displacement was painful in the past, Manaf said he eventually began to see it differently.“The first time Lincoln Center invited me to New York, an old Egyptian man came to pick me up. Then I understood something. It’s amazing how displacement can happen.”Reflecting on the many places that shaped him, he added: “I was born in Kashmir. I grew up in Hoshangabad. I live in Bombay. I have been to New York. Now I can go anywhere and be that person.”For Mazen, 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 don’t belong. And I love that.”However, Mumbai remains her home.“I travel a lot, sometimes for months. But as long as I know I’m going back to Bombay, I’m fine. I have a little apartment there that I set up. It’s almost like an art studio for me. That’s my anchor.”