The Song of Kahunsha
在1993 年的孟买，十岁的祥弟，自幼在孤儿
院长大。他在脑海中构筑出一个祥和美好的乐土“卡
洪莎”，意即“没有悲伤的城市”。面临孤儿院的拆
迁，祥弟从院长口中得知父亲下落，随即带着自己
沾染血迹的婴儿衣，展开了寻父之旅。他面对的不
是梦想中的乐园，而是充满暴力与黑暗的孟买大街。
祥弟与一对流浪街头的姐弟结伴同行，却又落入了
黑道老大阿能拜的魔掌，更在当地一座印度教神庙
的爆炸事件后，参与一场谋害无辜穆斯林家庭的血
腥复仇行动。 童年终要结束，美梦也总会清醒，哪
个城市没有悲伤？身处残酷修罗场的祥弟被迫快快
长大，他能否找到亲生父亲？
[ 加] 阿诺什·艾拉尼（ Anosh Irani）
Guddi throws the twig away and wipes her hands on her
brown dress.
And begins to sing.
What follows is something Chamdi has never imagined.
Guddi’s voice suggests that her throat contains magical
things，impossible things. It is as though colours are singing，
and each colour is a note. Chamdi’s skin breaks into ripples，and
if he could fly he would go straight into the glass windows of the
nearby classroom and come out unharmed. Such is the beauty of
Guddi’s voice.
The leaves in the trees move gently，as though the trees
have felt her song，and dust rises in the air，and swirls about in a
playful dance.
By the time Guddi finishes，Chamdi knows that this song
is the beginning of something unearthly. So he will use unearthly
words to tell her how lovely the song is . He leans towards her
and whispers in her ear，“Khile Soma Kafusal.”
“What?” she says，slowly catching her breath.
“Khile Soma Kafusal，” he repeats softly.
“What does that mean?”
“It is spoken in the Language of Gardens. Someday I will tell
you what it means.”
“Where is that language spoken?”
“In Kahunsha.”
“Kahunsha?”
“The city of no sadness. One day，all sadness will die，and
Kahunsha will be born.”
As Chamdi whispers his secret to Guddi，he forgets，for a
second，that it is night. Everything around him is luminous — the
leaves，the red hair ribbon，the gravel is waiting to burst.
Guddi flicks the hair off her face and her brown eyes widen.
Her eyelashes seem to lengthen — they stretch out as if to reach
Ghamdi.
“Don’t be an idiot，” she says.“ How can such a place
exist?”
“Because of your song. Your song is so beautiful that it has
the power to create a whole new city.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“Yes. And I will lose it again，and again，and again，until
we are happy. You，me，Sumdi，Amma，the baby，even Dabba.
Someday，we will all live together in Kahunsha.”
NINE
A group of boys sit on a handcart and smoke. Sumdi is
amongst them，seated next to the smallest boy，whose head is
shaved. Chamdi watches the boys pass a cigarette from hand
to hand，and wait for it to come back to them. One of the boys
has a tin can and he drums on it. The bald one who sits next to
Sumdi starts drumming too，but he does so on Sumdi’s polio
leg，and then puts his ear to it，as though he expects it to emit
a sound. The boys have a good laugh. Then Sumdi starts to
speak and Chamdi realizes that Sumdi is telling them a story.
It is about how his ribs will one day turn into tusks. Chamdi
chuckles because Sumdi is doing is a terrible job of telling the
story.
Chamdi wishes Mrs. Sadiq were next to him right now，so
she could offer him.good advice. He knows what she would say，
that it is wrong to steal. Jesus would have been of no use right
now. Jesus always stayed silent.
“Go to sleep，” says Sumdi.
“No，I’ll stay awake for a while.”
“And do what?”
“Think.”
“About what?”
“Anything. I’ll dream.”
“How can you dream while you’re awake?”
“That’s the best kind of dream.”
“You have to be drunk for that to happen. Or on ganja. But
you must not even know what ganja is.
“No.”
“Ganja is what poor people use to distract themselves from
their miserable lives. But even that costs money.”
“That’s why I dream. Dreams are free.”
“Why are you so strange? Why can’t you be normal and spit
on the road or shit in your pants?”
“Tell me，what’s the one thing you really want in your
life?” asks Chamdi.
“I want to leave Bombay.”
“That’s not a dream.”
“Why not?”
“Running away is not a dream. Anyway that is Bulbul’s
dream.”
“Who the hell is Bulbul?”
Chamdi looks at Guddi. She smiles and then closes her eyes
quickly as though a massive bout of sleep has suddenly come
over her.
“She is Bulbul?” asks Sumdi.“ That terror，you called her a
nightingale? You really are a dreamer. Now go to sleep.”
“Not before you answer my question.”
“Why can’t you let me be? Go and talk to the rat if you
are lonely. Here，I’ll lift the box and you can enter that hole and
dream in the dark.”
“What’s the one thing you really want?”
“You won’t let me sleep till I answer your question，will
you?”
“No.”
“Okay，I’ll tell you.”
“Truthfully.”
“Yes，truthfully.” Sumdi glances over at his sister. Her
eyes stay closed. Amma stirs and then settles. A police jeep
rushes past the bus stop. Ghamdi quickly imagines three blueand-
yellow-striped tigers roaring behind the jeep，serving as
its siren. The police-tigers go to places the jeep cannot. They
pick out the scent of thieves much better than any policeman.
And they will look after the children of Bombay，treat them as