Ethos of living in Bombay meri jaan

Two consecutive weekends and the rains have perfected the downpour routine starting from Friday night. Bombay shivered under the overcast of thunderous clouds and gusty winds. It poured incessantly brining back the fears of 26/7. News Channels were a depressing slot with pictures of water logged Bombay, violent high tide sea, land slides in low lying areas to weak structures collapsing like pack of cards. It's the same scene every monsoon yet the pictures are disturbing and evoke anger against the never-performing-BMC. The Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation is the receiver of lowest grades when it comes to maintaining and developing the city. Bunch of useless jokers!

I have always spoken in support of Bombay, denied negative claims against the city, fought mindlessly with people who indulged in name calling, been an activist of sorts advocating the spirit of this city, her charm, her flamboyance, her contrasting backdrop of rich-poor co-existence, her glitterati, her skyline, her gutters, the filth, ever-increasing slums. (The commas will not end as I would support every bit that makes this city what she is.) Today when I have a better sense of looking at her, with some objectivity, I find all the claims of Bombay-the-next-Shanghai terribly lame, this emotion is commonly shared by everyone who has lived a while in Bombay.

True, the city has real problems, real lives, and with real struggle of sustenance, but it has no real will to improve upon its deplorable conditions making her vulnerable to a breakdown. Living in Bombay is like surviving on a live ticking atom bomb. While one might consider the expansion of the island city as development by way of reclaiming land, the bigger picture is forgotten of how this leads to mangrove destruction which further leads to an ecological imbalance. Environmentalists and concerned citizens filed Public Interest Litigations (PILs), Bombay HC placed stay orders on some construction projects', slaying of mangroves was curbed, only for a while, the builders lobby is far strong to be stopped by mere PILs (we are a democracy that is ideally supposed to be of the people, for the people, by the people, but the fact is, it is concentration of power in the hands of few, making it a mock of democracy, thus- for the powerful, of the powerful, by the powerful). The mangrove issue is done to death with, protests see their ebbs and tides and Bombay grows on reclaimed land.

I am surprised how there no PILs filed against the railways. The Lifeline of the city: Central railway (Main line and Harbour line) and Western Railway limps and halts at the instance of heavy showers and also are the favourite target of the terrorists to plant bombs. Monsoon or no monsoon railways get the hit anyway. There are never enough tracks and trains to support the ever growing population of this megalopolis. The condition of the mode is beyond expression. It reeks of ignorance by the authorities, it runs under pressure, it’s a pity that its ill maintained and raped to its last bit.

Slums: They exist in Bombay on every inch of free space available and profiler faster than the GDP of the nation. Be it the footpaths or land adjoining the gutters, slums dominate the arena undisputed. The migrant influx never ceases to decrease and is on an all time high. If there was an animated version of the city to me made, we would see the city bursting at its seams with people, people and more people, more concrete (poor quality concrete with no lifespan), more shanties in all forms, plastic, asbestos, aluminium, bricks et al, more flyovers-more traffic, less of land so encroach the sea. Life of this city comes a complete circle.

Whenever I stand at Marine Drive and look at that amazing Bombay skyline, am filled with awe for this city, I fall in love with her all over again, I take pride in being a thorough Bombay-ite who has grown up on Vada pavs, Ussal-Missal (not to forget the cheap and tasty food of Jhunka Bhakar), the Shiv Sena mania, riots-bomb blasts, crowded local trains, slums and filth, people-concrete-lack of space scenario, her diversity, superb British architecture visible in south Bombay. This city the caretaker of the sensex capable of
shaking the spine of Indian economy, more often than not, fails to strengthen her own spine and is hunching dangerously. It’s when I look beyond that skyline, the love turns into concern and I see her crumbling under her own weight. Its not that the efforts are not been made, it’s just that there is no road map or a blueprint that holds water enough to give a direction to our aimless efforts. If trouble is less, we have the babudom to ruin the case.

The ethos of living in Bombay is far more deep that what is mentioned above, its about how you live through the mess to create your own space, to make a living in this crazy rat race, where people forget that there is an element called life, what they live is payment of EMIs, a house to obtain under SRA, a bucket to fill (full) from the weak line of water that flows from the municipal tap, a payer that existence is as unfailing as the indicator of the railway station. We have the pace, but we are an indifferent lot who care not beyond their job.

Aashi aaheas Aamchi Mumbai…