第62章 没有悲伤的城市 (1)

　　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