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Published: March 14th 2006
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As scheduled we left for Mumbai from Lonavala on Tuesday morning. The scenic drive was exhilarating and I was back at my favorite rant again, “I can’t believe that such a beautiful place exists so close to Mumbai!!” Mumbai city made its presence felt sooner than expected. The topography was flat, the roads dusty, the air pungent and the omnipresent shanties. We checked into the hotel, which was luxurious and comfortable. A peek outside the balcony revealed a well-manicured lawn lined with acacia palms along the peripheral wall and adjacent to the wall on the other side were the shanties with their asbestos roofs and mud brick walls. You couldn’t escape sights of poverty even from the comfort of a five-star hotel. We snacked on the subway sandwich we picked up that afternoon and I settled down to continue reading Suketu Mehta’s bestseller, part memoir/part travelogue book titled ‘Maximum City - Bombay - Lost and Found.’ Mehta; a Gujarati, who had migrated to Africa and then moved to America, was back in India after many years and the book was a concise record of his experiences during his many later visits. I could easily identify with him during the early stages
of the book and his account of his conversations with the local thugs was quite unnerving to say the least.
The next day was a state holiday and we decided to do some sightseeing. Our driver took us around the city showing us important landmarks like the Mani Bhavan (the old residence of Mahatma Gandhi that now houses a library, a photo gallery and some well preserved memorabilia), the Raj Bhavan(Governor’s residence), Victoria Terminus, Bombay University, the Marine drive, the vintage five star hotels like the old and new Oberoi, the old and new Taj opposite the Gateway of India. We got off and took some pictures. A peddler was selling old picture postcards of Mumbai, probably from the time it used to be called Bombay. (The photograph of the Gateway of India looked better then, than it did now with a little lawn in front of it and some greenery) The Arabian Sea inlet behind the structure was dotted with ferries waiting to ferry passengers/tourists to the Elephanta caves.
The weather was hot and sunny and the air terribly fishy. We promptly got back into the car and decided to drive back to the hotel. On popular demand, we asked the driver to show us some Bollywood celebrity homes en route. The first residence he showed us was that of the longest reigning nightingale of Hindi cinema, the legendary playback singer Lata Mangeshkar. She lived on the first floor of a building near Jaslok Hospital. Then he pointed out to us Jackie Shroff’s and Anupum Kher’s apartments and they all looked like they could be maintained better. On a comparative basis, Tollywood celebrities seemed to be living in style, in beautiful humongous mansions. It was beginning to make sense why people were relocating to other cities from here. Sharukh Khan’s home, Mannat (wish) was sea facing - great location eh? Now before you start imagining a great view, take a step back and remember that the city in question is Mumbai! The air was unbearably fishy and smelled of sweat. We took some pictures while holding our breath and quickly got back in the car! From there we next caught a glimpse of Big B’s house named Jalsa (a celebration), our unanimous comment - it needed a fresh coat of paint! Pali Hill road had junctions named after Rajendra Kumar and Nargis Dutt. Sanjay Dutt had a new apartment building built on his lot and thespian Dilip Kumar’s bungalow had an old Mercedes parked outside it. Other than star homes, we also saw the hanging gardens and the Sidhhi vinayak temple on our way back.
The rest of the day was spent reading my book on Mumbai interspersed with the TV coverage of the earthquake that hit the PoK region causing casualties in the Kashmir valley. It pained me to see such total devastation and was very disturbing to know that such natural calamities were occurring at an alarmingly higher frequency than ever before.
Back in Mumbai, the city was just chugging along. For the Mumbaikars, Mumbai is the epicenter of the world, probably even ‘paradise’, but for the average visitor, it’s a city that could very well do without its heaps of garbage along the roadsides and its mounds of construction debris left behind long after the project is completed. Post 26/7, it becomes more imperative to recycle and reduce waste. The need of the hour is personal accountability towards the environment and it requires no capital investment. All that is needed is a sincere effort on everyone’s part to be a responsible citizen and prevent another ‘Terrible Tuesday’. With the backing of a dedicated and sound civic authority and an environmentally conscious janta, this could very well be a plausible possibility.
On Thursday morning after breakfast, we went to Andheri east to see ‘Salaam Namaste’. The movie had already grossed in an amazing 62 crore rupees and now the theatre was almost empty. It was a new generation type of Hindi movie and a coming of age film for Hindi cinema. The morality of the indian adolescent (as portrayed in the film) is on the wane. Since it was the ‘Navrathri’ season, newspapers were carrying reports on the celebrations in the city and advising the young crop of adults to take precautions against pregnancies and AIDS. Its hard on us parents (and hard on our children too) to be strict and lay down rules and say ‘no’ to get together in malls of 12-13 year olds who wish to meet and hangout un chaperoned. I thought I was escaping the devil/demon by bringing my then pre-teen to India, little did I realize that the demons been here too and is alive and kicking!
Our vacation was drawing to a close and soon it would be time for us to get back to the humdrum of our life, but it was good while it lasted. On my earlier visits to Mumbai as a child, we had traveled by the local train and had visited the Haji Ali dargah, taken the ferry to the Elephanta caves and walked along Marine Drive. I remember looking at the high rise buildings with awe and amazement as Bombay was fascinating then. Now the same Marine drive did not appeal to me as much and the present day long commutes do not help either. The city has burst at its seams and has expanded many times over but nevertheless Mumbai will continue to be on the agenda of the average Indian and foreign tourist.
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