New tales of the tiles

Five brief words triggered this column ldquoBefore it was a lsquothingrsquordquo wrote my friend Delna Sanghvi under a charming mid1980s display picture on her phone It showed her mother around a mahjong table with friends What is exceptional is the fact that they still sit intently at the game they gathered around 45 years ago They are among the cityrsquos mahjong players from the 1970s Taking genuine delight in the game before it became the fad wrapped in frenzy that it is presentlyAhead of meeting three such groups bonding ldquoover chai and magic tilesrdquo as one of them puts it I explore the trajectory of the gameOne source is the book Mumbai Style Mahjongg by Sushila Singh who originally taught and popularised it in the city A page here is tellingly titled ldquoMahjong should be played respectfully with courtesy and etiquetterdquo While many feel the game is 75 per cent luck and 25 per cent skill Singh says ldquoEven with poor basic tiles you can play with rigorous control preventing others from winningrdquoThe Chinese inventor of the game Chen Yumen sometimes called Zheng Yao and Yanglou from Ningbo was a thirdranked administrative official who played paper cards for entertainment He restructured these in 1864 mdash the arrival of mahjongMao banned the game as a bourgeois pastime like gambling symbolising capitalist corruption Players especially the 20thcentury Chinese elite conducted clandestine games That was when the Japanese took up mahjong seriously The ban in China lifted at the end of the Cultural Revolution and mahjong experienced a resurgence from the 1970sMid1980s photo of Mehroo Golvala Persis Billimoria Nergish Mulla Purviz Billimoria and Amina Merchant playingWhile Joseph Park Babcock is largely credited for introducing the game to the United States in the 1920s Chinese Americans were already playing it in the 1800s Babcock trademarked the spelling Mahjongg incorporating a hyphen and extra ldquogrdquo in itHow did a street game from the pavements of Peking Shanghai and Chengdu reach Bombay Pune Delhi and ChennaiMahjongrsquos Indian antecedents are colonial the British Army brought it to cantonment towns In Pune Rekha Krishan is a prominent old hand at the game teaching this version A veteran teacher in Mumbai Nita Kapadia learnt the game from Army wives playing it with strict rules in Aurangabad She says ldquoWe know the history and beauty and culture of the game Every tile has significance It has unfortunately acquired FOMO status Poker parties are replaced by mahjong partiesrdquo This extends to suburbs from Bandra and Khar till Juhursquos filmi crowdA centuryold mahjong setPlay everywhere seems geared towards competitive tournaments rankings and winning trophies Clubs hold eliminations corralling members into activity rooms A far cry from days of leisurely playing on lawns or verandahsNonclub members meet in cafes across the city Besides structured classes at the Willingdon Club Kapadia and her teachers welcome nonclub members to the game at the RTI on Hughes Road with learners coming in from Chembur and Borivli and more northern suburbsGita Patel was another teacher several players fondly remember She designed the ldquoMahjongita cardrdquo with Kapadia and other teachers Part of the South Wind Big Cards collection this keeps alive its creatorrsquos legacyAdopting a tempered teaching approach Neepa Joshipura says ldquoNever one for board games I almost excused myself from my first class But as I fell in love with the game enjoyment turned me from student to teacher Mahjong has taken off with all generations School kids to grandparents learn and play together My teaching isnrsquot about winning but about patience strategy connections Therersquos joy in watching families and strangers find their rhythm over the tilesrdquolsquoWhy get tense or aggressiversquoPossibly the oldest group at play Nergish Mulla Purviz Billimoria Persis Billimoria Mehroo Golvala and Amina Merchant were casually taught by a friend at the PVM Gymkhana Having huddled happily around the board since the 1970s three of them aged from 80 to 90 are still at itGai Sachdev Maleka Doctor Navaz Dastur and Reshma Sanghi at Sachdevrsquos table PicShadab KhanldquoWe pick and discard tiles slowly chatting or teasing each other all the timerdquo says Mulla ldquoWith mahjong not relying on one particular partner we help each other throughoutrdquoThey have carried the game to picnic venues and public parks ldquoYoung enough then to sit on grass wersquove gone playing from Hanging Gardens and Powai Lake to Matheranrdquo laughs Persis Billimoria ldquoCurious passersby peered over garden hedges wondering what we were up tordquo recalls MullaldquoOur sons joined us in Matheran Otherwise itrsquos mainly a womenrsquos game in Indiardquo says Golvala ldquoIn China Hong Kong and Singapore men play very fast games in back rooms of shopsrdquoThe game is a collective passion with the Golvalas mdash every child and grandchild in the family is bequeathed a mahjong board Admiring a vintage set belonging to Golvalarsquos motherinlaw I hear her say ldquoThis is a game of leisure Why get tense or aggressiverdquo lsquoItrsquos a game not a warrsquoPenny Desai Valerie Baliwalla Rachel Bhot Tehmi Morris Manjula Engineer and Mandy Patker follow the Mumbai mahjong style introduced by Sushila Singh and have played since 2007ldquoMahjong teaches logical thinking and builds give and takerdquo says Bhot ldquoBesides the mental exercise and challenge of winning with tiles dealt therersquos constant laughterrdquo Patker adds ldquoThe game enhances cognitive ability and thinking on our feet but what makes the most difference is that wersquore good friendsrdquoBaliwalla says ldquoThough stimulating and demanding concentration itrsquos a definite mood booster At a friendly table you leave your stress behind Playing with veterans pre2010 Irsquom still learning fresh lsquotricksrsquordquo Critical of the scenario today Engineer says ldquoBridge players mdash a minority at clubs now mdash actually request noisy mahjong tables near them to not shoutrdquoThe group enjoys not playing with money ldquoWe donrsquot get worked up about rules or impose penalties Itrsquos a game not a warrdquo quips Desai ldquoPeople learn at great expense Wersquoll keep playing for funrdquolsquoWe play at easersquoGai Sachdev Navaz Dastur Reshma Sanghi and Maleka Doctor have variously learnt from Gita Patel and Nita Kapadia ldquoThe game has changed But not all of us need to sit with people who insist on disqualification when you simply touch a wrong cardrdquo says Sachdev To float the game beyond Bombay shores she plans to facilitate it in Ten94 her lifestyle store in AlibaugManjula Engineer Penny Desai Mandy Patker Rachel Bhot and Valerie Baliwalla in Desairsquos home PicShadab KhanUnlike bridge dependent on partner communication mahjong makes participants masters of their own fate ldquoWe play at easerdquo says SachdevldquoAnd thatrsquos why I moved here from bridgerdquo says Sanghi as she quietly scores mere minutes after the quartet settles at the boardldquoMahjong lets you meet new peoplerdquo reasons Doctor ldquoGai and I live in the same lane but only met over mahjongrdquoDastur finds that some degree of regulations reduces argumentative behaviour mdash ldquoGiven the volume of players there need to be standard directions or it gets chaotic Instead of variations between clubs more table rules must applyrdquolsquoIt is a lost serenityrsquoValerie Baliwalla views the change in the gameldquoNot so long ago were afternoons of relaxation and camaraderie Of whispering bamboos pearly tablecloths crackling conversations Tables were set with wooden racks bone counters meticulously counted placed in the right compartments The hostess produced her box of 144 precious tiles inherited from the generation before herThere was the tinkling of upturned trays Hands shuffled tiles arranging neat rows in front of racks for a slowpaced play of the beautiful game the Far East gave the world along with delicate steamed dumplings and fragrant jasmine tea It began with tiles picked from the dragonrsquos mouth and flowers displayed As they reached the dragonrsquos tail soft voices called for pungs and chowshellip and the final triumphant lsquoMahjongrsquo declared by the winnerThe game has undergone a marked change A mega explosion of new players profoundly affects it Teaching is getrichquick business Where teachers devoted their time with patience and pleasure itrsquos now the instant pot noodle to fill pocketsIt is a lost serenity No longer the lsquotwittering of sparrowsrsquo the literal translation of lsquomahjongrsquo this is a cacophony of rules penalties and lsquomy way or the high wayrsquordquolsquoI prefer quality over quantityrsquoSushila Singh who pioneered mahjong in the city explains its evolutionldquoWith great hype surrounding mahjong it is a moneymaking machine My beloved game is now with the chatteratiglitterati Irsquom proud to always teach it free of chargeGrowing up in Darjeeling where it rains heavily I was no stranger to indoor games My parents had a mahjong set but never played Coming to Bombay I watched Willingdon Club ladies play Yet nobody taught it Researching on the Internet I discovered Tom Sloper author of The Red Dragon amp The West Wind The Winning guide to Official Chinese amp American MahJongg had the best website He became my lifeline patiently answering questions via email My second guru Scott Miller who wrote Mahjong from A to Zhu helped formulate international rulesMy game highlights Classical ChineseWestern Classical models Of its four rounds mdash East South West North mdash few go for my favourite the South round claiming itrsquos too difficult Irsquom oldschool preferring quality over quantity Players today are ignorant about the spirit of the game the philosophy and cosmology behind it May the Mahjong journey guide us to the harmonious elements and wisdom of the EastrdquoAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiamiddaycomwwwmeher marfatiacom