Mumbai Skyworld (Akash Lok) Part I, Mumbai 2050

SCENE ONE: BANDRA KHAR

From London to Paris to Athens and Istanbul, the green parakeets of India had now spread and dominated the entire Indo European stretch. In so many cities, you heard their voices in the sky, with their numbers doubling every year, though nowhere as loud as in Mumbai, which became their global hub. The biggest swarm here started from a single woman’s 6th floor 2BhK flat in Khar where she began feeding the parakeets in 1997. All flocks around the world now took at least one migration here in their lifespan, and many wound up staying.

After the events of the 2040s, green parakeets and their global diasporic mutations dominated the rooftops of Bandra, Khar and parts of Worli, covering the tops of entire high rises and bungalows in swarms of green (with occasional dabs of other colors, the hybrids or the others which had officially joined in the swarm). In some buildings, tropical plants began to grow from the droppings and seeds–particularly vines which had less need for soil and the spread of roots.

Each part of the city and its (formerly) tallest earth-bound towers was now the South Asian or international hub for a different group of winged creatures–most with clearly carved out territories.

SCENE TWO: MATUNGA MAHIM

The bat colonies of Mumbai also spread their wings and numbers, establishing their primary urban hub in Matunga-Mahim with a mix of fruit bats and Indian Flying Foxes–previously the largest bats in the world who had only gotten larger.

The original colony in the trees of Mancherji Joshi Five Gardens park had grown eighty-fold, and the colonies of Byculla relocated and joined. Every night they flew between Gandhi park (their largest neighboring colony) and home, filling the skies like plumes of smoke that sometimes blocked out the moon.

Because the bats are able to roost on one another, their formations can take on entire masses and shapes separate from the trees, buildings or rocks they originally attach to.

Highly aware of roosting risks like disease, the colonies coordinated an ongoing schedule of roost mixing and swapping which reset every 12 days according to their calendar. This also helped diversify eating and mating patterns between Gandhi Park and Matunga-Mahim, along with the constant influx of new immigrants and visitors. The bats had established a strong network among the cave temples throughout South Asia, which many colonies had lived in for thousands of years. The energies of these caves and their spiritual visitors are said to be what sparked the huge leap in bat sentience around 2042 which coincided with their numbers in Mumbai reaching over a million. The cave colonies each had leaders and gurus who congregated with the primary leadership in Mumbai once every season.

During monsoon the bat guano and its mix of seeds sprout a wide variety of tropical blooms from around the area. Around 2042 new hybrid fruits and flowers began to emerge in the “Guano Ghats” as they were locally called.

SCENE THREE: COLABA

The crows of Mumbai, usually the fiercest gangs and gundas in the city, were now relegated mostly to SoBo, with their headquarters in Colaba. They had begun to adapt somewhat to the ocean, being able to dive in quickly to catch fish or crabs. Their preferred treasures were still human food and human objects–especially anything shiny which caught the glint of the sun. Merchants from Colaba Causeway and Crawford Market put this to use in creating a delivery system (and sometimes blackmarket smuggling or theft network) for small objects made from metals. Jewelry was their top cargo and many were known to follow old Earth-based dabbawala routes throughout the city, especially in the South. This only got complicated when they began exchanging items with each other, which was also an especially loud affair as they shouted their negotiations and advertisements. This site of squabbles was also one of their largest social gatherings.

Many still followed and tracked their favorite human families, protecting them and picking up items they dropped. If the item wasn’t edible, they would return it to the person within 24 hours or bring it to the “Crow’s Nest”, the top of the 10-story Leopold’s cafe which had been turned into a citywide Lost and Found (and sometimes pawn shop). This was one of their largest hangout spots and the owners of Leopold’s had built them an actual nest and cafe of sorts, covering the rooftops of the entire block.

It’s often said that the crows know Mumbai and its inhabitants the best, and humans were often trying to develop more sophisticated ways to communicate with them, primarily for criminal intent. The crows still only spoke in their own coded ways. Their love language was always gifts.

SCENE FOUR: PAREL AND WORLI

The Black Kites of Parel and Worli grew exponentially in numbers and evolved new features as Earth-bound buildings got taller and extended into new reaches of sky. With more room to nest they got to be meticulous builders and foragers and spent less time hunting small game.

They flew in circles around certain structures, believed to be a response to 12G holotropic waves. Humans used to call this a “death spiral” formation, as they often did it while hunting around piles of landfill or dead animals. In Skyworld they were simply never-ending circles which created their own looping tail winds—the birds coasted on them, circumambulating for their own socializing and enjoyment. The more daring hangcrafts joined in these “Samarra spirals”. The Kites often carried materials for their nests while they coasted, creating a hovering mandala of foraged flora.

The Kite nests got so elaborate, they began connecting to each other.

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Kai (Kari) Altmann is an artist, musician, director, performer and futurist, as well as a global hybrid Mumbiker on permanent world tour.

Mumbai Skyworld (Akash Lok) is a world she writes and creates imagery in, along with other forms of nomadic and Post-Western futurism.