Maximum City, Minimum Infrastructure

 

To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
                                                                                       - Raymond Williams

Myth

Reality

Mumbai Mein kisi ke pass time nahi hai. Mumbai your apathy is deafening. 7 dead and 42 injured in a crowded  market place in Mumbai (Kurla) as a BEST bus lost control and collided with some vehicles and pedestrians.

You expect roads to have a deserted look next day, protests marches, bandhs, hartals, strikes but what do you see next day, it is again hustling roads with people going back and forth to their offices/homes. Mumbai is back to its feet and news channels will definitely praise its resilience.

No Mumbai if you do no protest now, you are bound to lose your basic necessities. The roads would become narrower and narrower, there would be vehicles parked on either side, there would be illegal shops mushrooming on each side of the bustling roads of Mumbai.Its nerve wracking to cross the roads.

It is pretty easy to find a scapegoat. How does a poor BEST driver drive on such narrow roads, with autorickshaws and two wheelers riding as if it’s their last ride. Only god’s grace saves them each day. 

Can’t we ask for wider roads, can’t we put safely of our people on priority. Can’t we have more buses so as to reduce the cramped BEST buses, also to reduce the waiting time, so that we can travel with dignity and space.

Forget about the local trains of Mumbai, as the Bombay High Court put it "that passengers are treated like cattle", I completely disagree, I believe that  “cattle’s are treated much better than the passengers in the local trains of Mumbai”. Can’t we have multiple tracks for trains to run simultaneously, or better still India specific double decker trains.

I heard that 52% of the total FDI that comes to India goes to Maharashtra, but where is it, I don’t see it anywhere, neither on the infrastructure nor on job creation.All I can see is dilapidated buildings,crumbling roads,unemployed youth, and overcrowded trains.

I remember the famous dialogue from Krantiveer 

"

थोड़ी देर में मुझे यहां लटका दिया जाएगा,
ये घर जाएंगे, खाना खाएंगे, सो जाएंगे
सोने की आदत पड़ चुकी है इन्हे |

“

Mumbai your silence is deafening than your resilience.

Wake up Mumbai!

PS: I travel to my office on the same route everyday by BEST buses.

 

Mumbai Meri Jaan – Always lending a helping hand.

All they know is that you are trying to get to the city of gold and that is enough. Come on board, they say.We will adjust.-Suketu Mehta

Mumbai is correctly described as a city of dreams and a city that never sleeps.Mumbai’s vast expansiveness, the magnanimity and generosity with which it accepts all caste ,creed,religion,region rich,poor,educated ,illiterate is simple astounding.Nowhere in the world would so many people with such diversity and cultural differences coexist and live together in harmony. Mumbai embraces people wholeheartedly who are ready to work hard and honest to their consciousness.

Mumbai exemplary behavior is best symbolized by its suburban local trains.It runs at the same pace,it runs at the same times, it is crowded as ever yet a person wanting to reach a destination is lend a helping hand,even if it is an overcrowded 6:00 pm local from Dadar to Kalyan.

It makes space for each one even when there is absolutely no space.It accepts all irrespective of he being an Obama’s son,or a small roadside vada pav vendor.It treats everyone with respect whether he is from Harvard or from a local Kendriya Vidyalaya.It distinguishes no one whether he is a Malayali,Punjabi,a Christian or a Sikh.

It accommodates people from all walks of life housewife’s, senior citizens, working professionals,business tycoons, politicians,cricketers,filmmakers and journalists.

It is the single most unifying factor maybe even bigger then cricket.