Hallu hallu ho jayega pyaar

This summer I complete 30 years of living near the Mahakali Caves I visited them once when I first moved and found them smelly and dull with neglect But over the years Irsquove loved passing by the mystery and the poetry of the 3000yearold Buddhist Kondivita Caves holding millenia in their mouths sitting alongside modern bastis and auto rickshawsThen recently aisich I signed up for a Mahakali Caves walk organised by Go Hallu Hallu I was enchanted to discover the caves restored signs pebbled paths a garden and in it thanks be the mandatory romantic couplendashwhatrsquos a heat wave when you burn with love and donrsquot have ownplaceOn the hazy horizon framed by the cave entrances the road was a sluggish snake with too much traffic in its belly The caversquos belly teemed with a different modernity from the era when this was on an important trading route including Nala Sopara and Marol We learned the scooped holes in the wall once held the pegs of carved wooden panels the significance of the serpent carved into a column and gazed at the embellished Sshaped waists of ancient gents who had long ago lost their sculpted headsOne cave held a stupalike structure behind latticed windows The inscription identified it as donated by a local Brahmin hence Hindu family ldquoIt was quite common those days for different members of one family to follow different faithsrdquo our guide said Perhaps the way people venerate Ajmer Sharif or St Michaelrsquos church novena across religions today A knowledgeable group member talked about how the idea of temples with enclosures and congregational spaces possibly entered other faiths via Buddhist communitiesThe story of how the Kondivita caves became Mahakali Caves was just as multiple choice Version one a stupa like dome above the caves had fallen off long ago A piece of it still sits outside the caves But another piece tumbled to the bottom of the hill like Shammi Kapoor in Jungli Over time the community in the onceforest nowSeepz area began to worship the rock It grew into a devi temple and lent its name with the caves it came from Version two the caves might have been called Mahakal from Mahayana Buddhism As the surrounding habitations changed from commerce communities who worshipped masculine gods to agricultural communities who worshipped feminine deities Mahakal may have become MahakaliI admit that at first made impatient from Instagram reels I thought ldquothis narration can have more dramardquo But as I submitted to the flow of attention my being gentled I became open ldquoWalking observing and engaging is our way to destroy walls real and imaginaryrdquo says the website of Go Hallu Hallu an endeavour with a mighty heart about the many walks they do in Koliwadas caves and family homes Why become vexed with suspicion digging under historic places when as the website also says we can ldquodiscover things that hide in plain sight and meet people birds rivers ponds animals and plants that restore your faith in humanityrdquo As Shah Rukh might sing in a Dakkani Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi ldquoTu sabr to kar mere yaar zara saans to le dildaar Hallu Hallu ho jayega pyaarrdquo A savoury love for my neighbourhood and our beautiful guided journey suffused me I left feeling at home in the world Parodevi of Mahakali CavesParomita Vohra is an awardwinning Mumbaibased filmmaker writer and curator working with fiction and nonfiction Reach her at paromitavohramiddaycom