Life in a metro

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India is very keen about building modern metro rapid transit systems for its cities (three already have one, twelve more are planning to), but very few of those cities are thinking about planning convenient pedestrian access to their stations. As sound as the intent is to make urban commuters shun cars for fast and comfortable public transport, walking to metro stations from home or office is an extremely unpleasant experience.

The pedestrian infrastructure is particularly worrisome in Mumbai, India's most congested and land-crunched metropolis, where footpaths have continuously shrunk (sometimes disappeared) to give way to roads under pressure from an 18 million plus (and increasing) motor vehicle strength. Mumbai Metro, whose first line opens to the public this year, has its elevated stations perched atop cramped land footprints without any scope of support-infrastructure such as parking lots (not even for bicycles) in the periphery. The station staircases descend to narrow footpaths whose widths are often a fourth of those in New Delhi, the only Indian city with a successful metro. Traffic intersections closer to the stations do not have indicators for those crossing on foot.

The ownership structure of some of these metros is partly to blame. Mumbai's metro project is co-owned by a private company (Reliance Infra) and the city's urban development authority (MMRDA). Had the city's municipality (BMC) also co-owned it, the metro would have had better control over its immediate surroundings. In New Delhi, where the local government co-owns the metro, the walking infrastructure to metro stations has been proactively built.

But then, India has never really cared about pedestrian rights. If the 'right to walk' had been a mandatory constraint on those who planned our cities' futures, maybe our boroughs would have looked and felt differently. The need for such a right has been argued for before, but in a country where the summer heat wave is so harsh that it causes deaths, it has always been hard to think of your two feet as a pleasant mode of transport in the same way one associates walking with, say, Amsterdam, which can afford to have large car-free zones where people actually enjoy the cool June breeze.

Unless walking leads people to a metro station, which now it will in as many as fifteen Indian cities. Indians now have a reason to walk those ten minutes in the sun everyday, because at the end of the trek lies a cheaper, faster and air-conditioned ride to work. The time is ripe for India to implement pedestrians' rights (and duties, complete with incentives against jaywalking) so that our urban planners are forced to think of wider footpaths, safe and abundant road-crossing mechanisms, buffer areas for walkers to rest at, etc. each time they go to the drawing board. It is only when commutes become a wholly high-quality experience that the metro systems will truly integrate into a city and wean car-owners off the road.

I am not surprised that image-searching 'mumbai logo' on Google fetches more of the Mumbai Indians cricket team logo and hardly any of the official Mumbai logo that the city's municipality released three months ago. This logo was originally intended to brand Mumbai in the same way 'I

The Mumbai logo fails my own test of insignia popularity: If I can't draw a rough sketch of it on paper, if I can't make it my own, I wouldn't care about it.

Fridge magnets, the most enduringly universal tourist takeaways of all time, say a lot about the way a city or a nation thinks of itself, and how well tourists embrace those ideas. It is much easier for a foreigner to connect with an embossed sketch of the Eiffel Tower or the Notre Dame cathedral on a magnet rather than it would be with a logo that is a cocktail of exalted ideals commissioned by the Council of Paris. Or imagine the results had the Mayor of NYC rejected Milton Glaser's 'I

Most international cities have recurring themes drawn from popular culture or architectural icons on their fridge magnets. For example, NYC could equally well we known by either of the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge or the Statue of Liberty. Amsterdam has its windmills, weed, canals and wooden shoes. In comparison, Mumbai has under-utilised its own symbols to market itself. Here is a list of things that could have instead been employed in the Mumbai logo, and can well be used on Mumbai memorabilia.

1. The BEST bus and local train - If millions across the world can remember London by its red double-decker buses and 'Mind the Gap' signage on its tube, Mumbai's buses are equally peculiar and its suburban railway signage as memorable.

2. The Mumbai traffic cop - the paunch, the white shirt and black-yellow cap are more ubiquitous in Mumbai than the Queen's Guards in London.

3. Gateway of India, Rajabhai Tower, Bombay Stock Exchange, Mumbai CST Railway Station.

4. Bhel Puri, Vada Pav and other Street Food carts or the Dabbawallah.

5. The white-capital-letters on dark-indigo background street signage.

Those days, dance was a form to be appreciated in films, television or theatre perhaps. These days it is just a next-door thing with so many dance classes mushrooming everywhere. Today anybody can dance and dance teachers love it – for Rs 3-6,000 a month, they are a lucrative business too.

But it is not all about dancing. Having attended some of these classes for over a year, I can say for sure that dance is actually just being yourself. A look at any dance class happening in the vicinity will tell you it takes all kinds to learn dancing. Old, young, short, fat, dark, tall, celebrities, salesmen, students, housewives, brokers, teachers, doctors, dentists, aspiring models – a single class will have almost one of each kind. And they are all learning dance for different reasons.

For the young it is the aspiration to turn into an ace dancer some day and sizzle into glamour-related careers. But for the bulk of those, who are middle-aged, working professionals, dance is actually peace. A 45-year old businessman makes sure he locks his office by 5.30 pm on two days of the week to attend dance class on time. A dentist makes time for the class between two clinics. A housewife finishes her kitchen chores on time to put on her dancing shoes. “For me this one hour class is to get away from the maddening reality. To be myself,” says the businessman. For the housewife, it is to fulfill a dream she could never cope with when younger. “Those days it was taboo to learn dancing. Today, am older and no one can stop me.”

A pathologist says that he gets no emergency cases in the evening so he closes shop for the day and attends class. For a Japanse woman who came to India post marriage to a man she met while studying in the US, dance is a way to mingle with the locals. Quite a few see it as a measure to lose weight. Two years of dancing had made sure one salesman has lost ten kilos and this is after following no strict diet at all. Still others come by because there is no family back home and dance partners turn into 'confidantes.' Of course, reality dance shows have also pushed this craze to a different level and many dance learners harbor a dream to turn choreographers some days. If not anything else, dance also enhances one's knowledge about different dance forms and music genres and also betters posture and gait. Not to forget, acquiring a 'happy face' - happy dancers make happy dance movements, learners are told.

After the first 2-3 dance sessions and all pre-conceived notions about 'touching' another person or swinging with part-stranger, part-friend come to nil. Somewhere dance just takes over the body, the soul and the one hour of class seems like walking the stairway to heaven.

Come September, and Bandra, traditionally the Queen of Mumbai's suburbs, takes on a different hue. The 300-year old Bandra Fair descends on this suburb, once known for its pretty bungalows. The fair simply means, 8-15 days of lots of merry-making, streets filled with eateries, shopping and giant wheels. It also means lakhs of people descending on one hilly corner of this otherwise quiet suburb. The fair's origins are deep rooted in the Catholic religion, what gets the numbers to the Mount Mary Church, the focal point of the Fair. Legend has it that Mary's statue located inside the church was found floating in the Arabian Sea by fishermen in 1760.

Having seen this sea of humanity converge every year on this tiny spot of Bandra, the memories have been pleasant but these days a little worrisome too. Is it really so important for people to come from afar (as far as Kerala and Kolkata) for this annual pilgrimage? Am not talking about the God is Everywhere argument, am only asking whether technology can help take away some of this distance.

What if the Mount Mary Church's proceeding for the entire stretch of the Bandra Fair is streamed live into everyone's homes via satellite. Or what if the church fixed a deal with a service provider to telecast live the goings-on. Am saying this because even after coming from so far, pilgrims can get only a few minutes with Mary's statue, if not lesser. Sometimes they can see her only from a distance. Besides, the journey to the Mount and back is not an easy affair. All private transport to Mount Mary church comes to a halt during the Bandra Fair, except for residents of the area who have to obtain a pass from the police to get their vehicles in or out.

Pilgrims and residents, both have to walk long to hop into a public bus.Roads are blocked and difficult for ambulances and other emergency vehicles to enter Bandra Fair. Besides, countless incidents of visitors falling ill are reported everyday, those who are unable to take the strain of the crowds or the queues to have a glimpse of Mary's statue. Stampedes are common too. With regards to sanitation, there is just a public toilet near Mount Mary Steps which is perpetually frequented by shop keepers who set up stalls during the fair, and another one near the church is always crowded.

In such a case, if technology can make Bandra Fair a virtual experience, it is bound to reduce the crowd and congestion. And the countless cases of eve-teasing and molestation that come to the local police station. One local cablewalla tried it with a few households some years ago but stopped. Not that it brought down number of pilgrims but it gave worship a new-age twist.

I see them almost every night near the Bandra end of Bandra-Worli Sealink. I call them the speedsters. The guys on bikes who ride as if there was no tomorrow. A huge group, some with bandanas across their forehead, others with lose transparent shirts atop colourful singlets, but sadly none with helmets.

At about 11.00 pm, this group (which easily numbers 100) wait at a particular bend on the Bandra Worli Sea link road. Excited, talking in loud tones and staring at every vehicle passing by as if waiting for appreciation. At around 11.30 pm, they hop on their bikes, almost always with a pillion and start zooming along the Western Express Highway. They appear to start on gear 4 picking up speed at the very beginning. They crisscross through traffic, ignore traffic lights and rush along like lightening, often at 100 KMPH. For those who notice closely, the boys are actually racing each other and that is why the haste at any cost.

It is one scary time to be on the same road as these speedsters. Once while driving the car, at least three bikes narrowly missed bumping into my vehicle. More than anything else, it was a traumatic experience driving with the loud noise the bikes made. I could see other drivers also looking at the speedsters with disdain. They missed hitting many vehicles by a few inches.

The police often arrest these boys who are anywhere between 16-25 years old. Usually it is a joint operation between various police stations to catch these bikers. The Bandra-Andheri stretch that I pass by, police officials from Kherwadi, Nirmal Nagar, Vakola and BKC police stations jointly conduct nakabandis to nab them. Post arrest, the bikes are seized and bikers kept in lock-up for the night. The next day invariably the court releases them on bail. And the third day they are back on the road along with their bikes.

Seeing them everyday and how hopeless a case they make for the police, one way to curb the senseless racing is to get the parents of these youngsters to the police station and brief them because more than often parents do not know about their ward's zipping ways. In case, parents do not pay heed, make them ride pillion with their children on the highway. Or maybe just give the boys a stretch on some road, may be the main road in BKC to race along at night. The stretch of the road can be closed to other public. No, am not against young people trying to bring some fun into their lives. I just do not agree that their fun can actually end tragically for not only them but also others on the road. There have been cases of bikers meeting with tragic accidents. It is no fun, am sure, to die like this.

Cows produce milk just like humans and precisely for the same reasons – to feed their new-born. But cows in cities like Mumbai are rarely given a chance to celebrate motherhood. Their calves, mostly males, are weaned away within a day of birth and killed or kept in precarious conditions to be sold as veal days later.

Take a trip to areas like Kurla or Goregaon in the early hours, on many days you will see carcasses of young calves, skinned (because it makes 'good' soft leather) and strewn along the tracks. Tabelawallas often spare female calves since they can be 'milked' later.

But that is not the only reason why drinking local milk in Mumbai is a bad idea. Once the calves are snatched away, the mother cows are hooked up to milking machines numerous times a day. Cows are drugged, genetically manipulated, artificially inseminated to produce five times more milk than what they would produce for their young ones. Cows naturally live for 25 years, but those in the tabelas die after 4-6 years and a sad death too. They often develop limb problems because of little or no exercise and bodies contract various diseases due to the unhygienic conditions in the tabelas. And after the cows finish producing milk for human, they are silently packed off to the slaughter house. Cow slaughters banned in some states in India, including Maharashtra.

And if this is also not reason enough to stop drinking cow's milk in Mumbai, note that cows are often given a good measure of bovine growth hormones which lead to agonising infection of their udders. Not to forget the countless studies which conclude that drinking milk can actually put people at risk for prostate cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer's, acne and acidity too. Yes, there are enough studies to conclude the contrary too. Of course, a few vegans will not save a calf at the tabela nor will it ensure the best of health but it is just so much more healthy to have a fresh juice instead of milk.

And milk lovers need not fret. An array of delectable non-dairy products like milk made from soy, rice, and almond are easily available. There is also the Vegan Society in Mumbai which meets regularly and conducts 'healthy cooking' workshops. Its blog page also discusses non-milk recipes. There is also the Vegan Shake at Café Coffee Day (made from coffee, chocolate, and ice) for those who don't mind splurging and the Vegan sandwich at Ray's Café in Bandra which is not to be missed by non-vegans too.


Shah Rukh Khan and his surrogate baby have been in the eye of a storm lately. And only because the actor chose to have a surrogate child instead of an adopted one. Pray, why should Shah Rukh Khan adopt a child and not use surrogacy? The explanation to this from the hundreds hollering about it on television channels and newspapers and that since Shah Rukh Khan has the money and the means, he should adopt a child. And when he does that he is setting an example for others. Like Brangelina! Really, how many more children have been adopted in the US because of Brangelina?

That we expect Shah Rukh Khan to set us a way of thinking (which our parents and upbringing should have nurtured) is absurd and reeks of double standards. People adopt children when and if they want to. Ask any couple which has adopted a child, no actor or role model has made them do it. They do it if they have medical issues or because they feel the need to take care of a child in need of a home.

Why should Shah Rukh Khan be a role model? Why should Salman Khan be a role model? Like the accusations against the latter, several people are involved in hit and run cases in the country. Why don't we go after them as well? Not that it nullifies their act but Salman Khan as a citizen is being tried for the Hit-and-Run run and Black Buck case, not Salman Khan the actor. Why do we want our actor to set 'right' examples for us? They are actors; they play their part on celluloid and then off to their personal lives. It is we who take the decision to make them such an intrinsic part of our lives then we cannot differentiate between them as actors and people.

Adoption is not a hugely expensive process in our country. In India there are no charges for adoptions but all prospective parents are required to make their mandatory contribution to the Child Care Fund. This can be in the region of Rs 50,000. There is also a fee that has to be coughed up for the house visit that the adoption agencies conduct regularly, after the baby is adopted. Post that the expenses for looking after a baby, whether surrogate, adopted or one's own is the same. Yes, surrogacy can cost approximately Rs 1 lakh, depending on various factors. So the expenses Shah Rukh Khan is going to incur to raise the surrogate kid is the same as an adopted kid or if he were to have his own kid.

Yes, if the actor had sought to know the sex of his child, then yes that was something all could bellow about. Under the Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, no one is allowed to. But Khan has made it public that he did not have the test conducted.

Who does the stray dog in Mumbai belong to? Mumbaikars, NGOs or the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation? No one's really staking responsibility and that has resulted in a bitter court battle between the NGOs and the BMC over getting rid of the lot. In 1994, the BMC started the Animal Birth Control (ABC) (sterilsation programme) to eliminate stray dog menace.In 3 years, the BMC claimed to have sterilised 1,99,374 animals and there were only 74,926 strays left.Today, the number of strays has risen five times. Though the BMC takes help of NGOs for the sterilisations programme, it is nowhere close to castrating the entire stray dog population.There are various reasons for this.

One, the lack of enthusiasm on part of the BMC which has always been in favour of killing stray animals rather than neuturing them. So the pickup of stray dogs in done in a haphazard and cruel manner with ropes, gunny bags and small sickles. Second, NGOs do not do the job most earnestly. They claim to be burdened with other responsibilities. Besides, NGOs have little space in the animal shelters to accommodate every animal that is brought.

Added to that, the NGOs are paid a measly Rs 300 per dog which is little for the efforts that go into the exercise. We spoke to a BMC official who said that Mumbai will never reach a stage of sterilising every dog because they reproduce very fast. NGOS say the city needs to have patience. "It is not an overnight task to sterilise all strays. It will take years," said an official from an NGO.

But the biggest problem is the city's attitude towards stray animals. Mahatma Gandhi once said that the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. Sadly, India, more Mumbai proves the adage right. Countless stories on animal cruelty hit the papers every day. Parents seems to have stopped sensitising their children about animals. An an injured animal on the road moves no one. Some days ago, a bull was lying injured on the road and help came hours later. It is easy to frame photos of cows and worship them, it is difficult to attend to an injured bull. Some housing societies are known to poison stray animals by the dozen. The few who fight for the strays are always engaged in a losing battle. With no laws to protect animals in our country, the police at the most file an NC and slap a meagre fine.

NGOs have found a small way out though. They have started animal sensitising programmes in schools which seem to be eliciting a good response. In the programmes, children are taught to not only appreciate animals but also care for them. That animals have a right to exist just like human beings is what is made known. But whether these programmes will produce empathetic adults, only time will tell.

State home minister RR Patil will be pleased to know that college students have now joined the moral policing brigade. A few days ago, about 70 students belonging to different Rotaract Clubs got together and gheroed couples who were sitting along the seafront in Bandra. They held placards which read: 'Kuch toh sharam karo, yeh sab apne ghar pe karo' and 'Girlfriend ke saath kar rahe ho jurm, go get a room'.The police were in the vicinity to make sure that nothing untoward happened. The couples, apparently, ran away on seeing the protestors. But they came back the very next day.

We spoke to a few of them and they said –Where do we do? The placards instructed the couples to book a hotel room to indulge in 'indecent behaviour.' The couples however said that they did not have that kind of money. “If we were rich, we would have multiple rooms in our homes or definitely booked a hotel room to spend some cozy time,”said one of the couples at Bandstand. Couples who frequent the sea side are typically from the middle class. One couple I encountered was married. They live in a chawl with a family that has five other members. “There is no privacy at home. Yes, at night a curtain is drawn between where my wife and I sleep and the rest of the family. But other times it is difficult to even spend a moment together,” said the husband. Yet another couple said that not all couples indulge in what the students call 'embarrassing' behaviour - sitting close to one's lover and putting an arm around him or her is interpreted wrongly.

Moral policing has always been a touchy issue in India, particularly Mumbai where everyone wants to have a say on what the other is doing or should do. Right from the Shiv Sena which decided that Valentine's Day was anti-Indian destroyed shops selling 'romantic' merchandise to RR Patil who decided that dance bars make husbands do evil things. In the same vein, what really gives some rich kids the right to decide what is morally acceptable and how couples should behave in public. Why does nobody take on a fight against dowry deaths or rapes which are far more serious issues than couples necking?

What has the Shiv Sena or RR Patil done about malnourished children on the outskirts of Mumbai. Why can't the rich Rotract kids fight for a more efficient public transport system in the city. May be they don't care since they have cars. And the police don't bother while giving permission to such childish efforts because they think as similarly. If the hooligans in political parties and the rich kids have the same view on morality, education did little for the latter.

Should shoppers pay to enter a shopping mall? A decision by an Ahmedabad mall to charge Rs 20 to visitors on a public holiday has triggered a debate on the pros and cons of such an entry fee.

Ahmedabad's Himalaya Mall justified its entry fee with the need to regulate the flow of visitors into the mall amidst the surge in footfalls during festivals and public holidays.

Keeping their timing of the entry fee aside, is charging shoppers to enter a mall a good idea? I spoke to a few shoppers in one of Mumbai's malls who seem to suggest that they were mildly in favour of such an entry fee on special occasions, especially since it would keep out 'undesirable' people.

"Yes, I think it is a good idea," said a frequent mall visitor. "Holidays attract huge crowds to malls and it becomes difficult for genuine shoppers to shop. But I doubt if a Rs 20 charge will really keep the crowds at bay."

A mall operator from High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, also pointed out that charging an entry fee might not even be feasible. "Everyday, in addition to customers, we also get business people (vendors, suppliers, etc) and interview candidates," said an official who works for one of Mumbai's upmarket shopping destinations. "It becomes difficult to separate such business-related people and customers. In addition, making customers stamp a piece of paper on their way in and out is not possible."

However, not all shoppers agree. "I think most malls already have basic screening facilities at every entry point," says Shirley V, 41, a mall visitor. "All they need to do is add one extra staff member to collect cash and hand a receipt if required. I am in favour of an entry fee on special occasions because on holidays, most malls are hugely crowded and I don't like visiting them. The crowds make me uncomfortable I prefer instead to visit on other days of the week."

Malls of course, would like to attract shoppers since that increase chances of sales. However, if the number of shoppers surges sharply to the point where visitors start to feel like sardines in a can, the joy of shopping can disappear very quickly.

So will you pay to enter a mall on festival or religious days, I know I would.

Bangalore.

Hired an auto rickshaw from Majestic to BTM, had to bribe him with my shoe to charge me meter fare. On reaching BTM, I had to give him my second shoe to pay the fare.

Now, I was Bilbo Baggins.

The weather was cool; my friend was missing. I called him; he gave me the address and suggested I take a rickshaw. I cried. I do not cry easily, but that statement had made me feel lonely. Anyhow, I took another auto but had to leave my bag behind in it. This guy was kinder, he allowed me to take my documents from the bag. I hugged him before saying goodbye.

There was a list of names posted on the door: fairly long and comprehensive and divided into two columns. Some artist had drawn a Sun above one column and stars on the second. I failed to understand their significances but was pleasantly surprised to find the name of my friend in the star list. As I entered, a man was leaving the apartment with a laptop. He greeted me and shook my hand, I felt very comfortable despite being barefoot. Before leaving, he even said goodbye and handed me a pair of earphones with an earbud missing. I thanked him and pocketed the earphones. There were three rooms in the apartment with a lot of people sleeping. It was like a railway platform except that no trains were leaving here. But people quietly leaving the apartment with laptops seemed normal because I met another man who was doing the same thing. He said "hi," shook my hand and handed me a pair of earphones. Bangalore, wow.

There were people everywhere. Some sleeping in a bunk-bed system, although there were no bunk-beds and they were just piled up like corpses. One was sleeping with an empty rum bottle clutched in his chubby fist. His underwear had rat-holes. I felt guilty looking at him. I flipped some of the people and ugly as they were, they were not my friend. So I woke up a few, but nobody had ever heard of my friend. I asked for the washroom. One bottle pointed towards it. I opened the door and there he was, my friend, sleeping on the commode. I was delighted. He too seemed very happy after he woke up. He hugged me and suggested that we move out of the toilet and go out for tea. I was pleased that he was still his hospitable self. As we moved out, I asked my friend why nobody knew his name. "Oh! But I am the night shift guy." I understood what the stars column stood for now but was nonetheless still proud of him. As we were leaving, there was a huge hue and cry in the apartment. Two laptops were missing. I felt bad, but what really hurt me was the expletive-laden curse on someone who had taken earphones without earbuds.

The Mumbai gangrape rape case will take centre stage for a few days now. The police will or will not find all the accused (can definitely in 24 hours if it wants to). The political parties have started their blame game. Media has planned a couple of protests. And this will be the drama for the next few days. Since it is a photographer (a press person), the case has taken up prime time and so the police should act faster. The police commissioner Mr Satyapal Singh has assured 'action' within 24 hours. What is action, the next few hours will tell.

Having dealt with the police for many years now, especially with regards to rape cases, that is where much of our problem lies. Ever rape is actually a 'lafda' for the Mumbai police. The first thing that the police will tell you is that the victim (the girl) was probably having an affair with the accused and the rape complaint is the result of a relationship gone sour. Have had police telling me that as “long as everything is fine, it is fine. Once the couple fights or the relationship breaks, the girl talks about rape.”

In very few cases, the police have been right and this they hold as the thumb rule now. The issue is their attitude. For most police, there are two kinds of women. One, the kind they leave at home, who work indoors and never utter a word in protest. The other is the kinds that have male friends, wear 'modern' clothes and are always in the fear of getting raped. And when rape cases reach court, often accused get acquitted for lack of evidence.

Political parties are on a high drama tirade. BJP loves the facts that both the high-profile rape cases (Nirbhaya in Delhi and this one in Mumbai) have happened in Congress-led states. This is when only a while ago Karnataka was witness to women being assaulted in a pub. There are Shiv Sena leaders talking about how women should be respected when its MLA only yesterday abused and assaulted women at the Nasik poll booth. And there is the Congress in the state which prefers to let police 'protect' their corrupt politicians rather than protect the common man. If there are more police on the roads and doing their duty, maybe there would be few cases of wrongful doing. Shakti Mills, what I remember, has been deserted for a while and home to drug addicts.

We as a society also needs to change. There were Mumbaikars who were telling television channels this morning that women should not frequent dark places. What kind of a solution is that and that too for journalists who are known to face every kind of wrath? Journalists have been killed, beaten up, threatened and warned over the years. It is all part of the job, the more risky an assignment, deeper the message to get across.

Delhi heat is unbearable, if you do not have any ready change on you. By the time one scrimmages around for the change, the ice cream cone in one's hand reduces into a gooey mess. Of course, this did not happen to me. I was just standing there at the Maharani Bag bus stop. Waiting.

“Buses today are filled like dogs,” a bystander complained. I couldn't gather what he meant by this, he too looked puzzled. He was behaving a tad mysteriously and was balding. His toupee had expired, it seemed. He later explained that his wife had offered to redo the wig but she could not get the skin tone right. I ignored him because now the bus was arriving. The heat had gone to my head because when the bus arrived, I tried forming a queue. I found myself heading the one to nowhere. The bus left, leaving a smoky taste in my mouth. I was unperturbed.

I tried my left arm bowling action, one that really swings the ball. I chuck with the right hand. It dates back to my childhood when upon seeing a Gypsy car, I became so excited that I jumped off the roof and dislocated my collarbone. Although Naeem Hakim had quickly fixed my arm using asparagus roots and fresh mud, the arm had shortened by a couple of inches after the incident. Tailors have been known to stitch newborns' underwear from the leftovers of clothes covering my right arm.

Anyway, I really got the swing going in Delhi. I had almost balled three overs from both ends of the bus stop and was getting a bit tired, so I decided to take a break. I asked for a sip of water from the vendor; he handed me two plastic pouches for the price of one. Now disposing them off was my problem. Plastic was banned. Anyway, I drank the water and pocketed the empty pouches. There was a young couple waiting with their toddler. He (she?) was standing near my knee. It licked my hand, the one where the ice cream had melted. Perhaps the child had a terrific nose, or the heat was really unbearable.

The bus arrived, I started running alongside and jumped in. Once everyone was in, the bus left. The conductor handed me a Rs 10 ticket, I told him I had a pass but he maintained that the deal was non-negotiable, so I paid anyway. It was beginning to rain, now that I was in a bus. The driver promptly switched off the air-conditioning. It felt like betrayal but I was occupied by the sight of the water accumulating on the road.

The enterprising people were already selling umbrellas. I bought one for Rs 100, and fifty complementary articles came with it. A few television journalists were standing right inside the potholes to complain about the road conditions. Our bus had to swerve around them to move ahead.


I chose to write about this nondescript article because it offended me. It showed an ugly side of the city I so proudly boast about hailing from.

I have been fond of Mumbai ever since I first moved here. But Calcutta (that's right, no right-wing extremists object to it being Calcutta) has always been special to me.

Maybe I inherit this flexibility of being comfortable in any city from my father. He is an urban nomad, and takes to his current city of residence, like a chameleon. He felt very attached to Mumbai because of its pace and professionalism. I recall the following conversation with him once by the door of our apartment.

My mother had forgotten the only set of house keys inside, and so we were running pillar-to-post for half an hour. Eventually, a locksmith was put to work hard on the lock, when he said, "This is what I like about Mumbai. Neighbours come and go, exchange pleasantries and make smalltalk, but then they retreat into their houses and shut the door." Had this been Calcutta, he continued, there would have been a hoard of dadas and boudis watching each move of his, shouting out instructions, while reprimanding my mother for getting locked out in the first place, discussing Jyoti Basu's policies with my dad, a dozen people offering to keep a duplicate pair of keys in their apartments to avoid future mishaps like this.

(Yeah, right. We should install multi-lever locks for added security, then hand over the keys to strangers who live just down the hall. Sounds like genius.)


Anyway, I can completely identify with the locksmith's picture of Calcutta. Even during quarrels with people on Calcutta public transport, they have addressed me as dada and referred to me as aap. I have seen bus conductors halt buses shouting "Baaccha ladies" (A call to stop the bus to a complete halt instead of it rolling along, so that women and children can board.) The hospitality or courtesy has always been reassuring.

Which is why the news story about the suicide shocked me. I know, I would have interfered. I have got myself into plenty of trouble in Mumbai without regret, because I felt that I had to intervene. (Yes, I fancy myself as a good samaritan). What I do regret is the life of this Calcutta woman, lost in vain.

The recent sexual assault of a 22 year photojournalist by five men in one of the 'better areas' of Mumbai has stirred a debate on the safety of women across India. We decided to check out the statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in their report 'Crime in India 2012” to uncover some statistics on crime in the country. Here are some inputs about rape cases in India from the report:

• Out of the 54 cities mentioned in the report, 12 reported a fall in cases over the last year. Kanpur, Agra, Lucknow are some of the cities which have seen a fall in reported incidents.

• Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Indore and Bhopal rank as the top five cities with the highest number of rape cases in 2012. Delhi has the highest cases at 585 followed by Mumbai (232), Jaipur (134), Indore (125) and Bhopal (114).

• A sharp increase was noted in places like Raipur (166.7 percent), Kozhikode (157 percent), Coimbatore (122 percent), Ghaziabad (200 percent) and Varanasi (120 percent).

• Among the five zones of India, the South zone is the only one where there has been a visible fall in cases over the last year. Barring Tamil Nadu, the three other states, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka reported a fall of 7%, 10% and 2.4 %, respectively over the last year.

• Cases reported in the East zone are more or less flat with the exception of Odisha which has seen a 31 percent jump. The West zone has surged by 13.8 percent mainly due to a jump in cases in Maharastra.

• States like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal have the highest number of reported cases in 2012.

Indore seems to be shedding tears, lots of them. Heavy rains have left many parts of the city submerged and life has been thrown out of gear. To top that there are local police, Army and Airforce personnel streaming all over. While the defense officials are there to help the state recover from the torrent floods, the local police are trying to quell temperatures after Hindu-Muslim riots broke out last week.

Sad to see the city of namkeens and dhania chuvda looking so out of sorts. Last year, a similar official trip to the city and the place buzzed with people all around, the scent of fresh kachoris available at every possible street stall overpowered. Namkeen stores were crowded and attendants could never do justice to all visitors.

This time, the kachoris looked stale and there was hardly anyone outdoors.

Not only Indore but the entire state has been seeing heavy rains for a while now and already some 106 people have lost their lives. All reservoirs having crossed the danger mark.

In Indore, what is worse is that now sewage water is also spilling into low lying areas. Local doctors are hoping there is no outbreak of any disease. About 40 housing colonies are water logged. Every third crossroad intersection looks like a mini lake with just a little of the road seen. Schools and colleges have been asked to remain close today.

Indore's roads look worse than Mumbai. Without exaggeration it feels like riding a camel on the road. In fact, car drivers have been stopping for a few seconds after combating a pothole just to recover from the 'sinking' feeling. And jams are big-city type – vehicles bumper to bumper for hundreds of metres.

People in Indore feels worse because there were floods only a month ago and the municipal corporation had promised to clean the drainage system then. Residents of different localities had even marched to the civic authorities demanding better facilities but nothing worked.

To top Indore's problems is the fact that Hindu-Muslim riots have rendered one part of the city totally paralysed. Chandan Nagar, where the riots took place is placed under curfew. Many small time traders and retailers stay there and they have not gone to work for the last two to three days. And now the rains are not allowing them to leave home.

While Mumbai's undying spirit in adverse times is thoroughly missed, one cannot miss Indore's beauty in the rains. If you keep apart the drainage overflow, there are few tall buildings and lots of greenery around and the city actually looks refreshing. Some hot kachoris in the rains would have been a great combination.

The heinous crime that took place last week in Mumbai has drawn righteous anger from all sections of the society. The police did good work by nabbing the criminals quickly, and now hopefully justice will also be swift and fair. Between all this there were remarks made by a few politicians and a section of the media asking women to wear "proper clothes" (not sure what exactly that means). Let's assume they were asking women not to wear western clothes. This is nonsense because of two reasons (among many).

First, instead of preventing the crime from happening, these people are asking women, the victims, to compromise with their lifestyle. What kind of society asks victims to compromise and try to convince them that it is for their own good?

Second, it does not even demonstrate a proper understanding of the problem. If western clothes cause rapes, what explains the rampant cases of rape in India's villages? Or the victimisation of women who wear the burqa?

The problem is not with clothes, but with the mentality with which we see women. We view them as the weaker sex and dominate them with our dogmas. We also expect women to accept our ill-conceived notions without question. And when they do question, we mistreat them. This attitude should change. Change will not happen quickly but at least we should move in the right direction. We need stronger implementation of the law. Educating children about gender issues from an early age will help. NGOs that are doing great work in this area need better support from the government.

Only steps like these can eliminate ancient ideas weakening society. A change in the thinking would do more good than a change in clothes.

Food bill for poor and hunger people of India, has been passed in upper house of parliament few days before, I would like to ask one question here that ,Is this really needed.? Does by providing food to hunger people, government can reincarnate health and wealth in there life.?.... NO.!!

Total budget for food bill is 0.3% of GDP , this amount of money is not enough to feed the hunger of 80Cr population. This just a strategy of government to pull the vote bank. If they really care for the poor the they could have done this much earlier or after recovering the economy setback but introducing it exactly at the time of economic drop down shows a large motive of government to.Money in the budget of food bill can be use in different way to educate the people living in dark of rural area. This money can be use to produce jobs, to educate poor, we need not to provide them food alone we must educate them in such a way that they can make food for them self and make them self independent from any government policies.

Rupees value is making a new milestone every day against dollar, in 1917, 1R=3$, in 1947 1R=1$ ,today 1$=70R where we going in economy? This is the clear indication of our development ,today we are paying to nation and tomorrow our next generation will pay for wrong policy, Government should make their citizen self reliance not beggar and this food security bill a step for poor towards beggars.

I must say India is going back to stone age , No growth,No stability only corruption.

"Andar chal! Andar CHAL!!" (Move your ass!)

The first words I encounter, while catching the train to work.

It's been two years since I moved to the city, but Mumbai continues to teach me something new everyday. My most high-handed teacher has been the local trains.

The Mumbai locals are an ecosystem of their own. Depending on your viewpoint, this ecosystem embraces or engulfs you. Rewards you lavishly when you are good. Punishes you ruthlessly when you are wrong.

Don't look for any life hacks when it comes to this, you need to learn the hard way. I have learned a lot by experience and observation. How people hang their backpacks on their fronts (oxymoron, that. But it is a deterrent to pickpocketing and does not get in people's way. There is less wear and tear on the bag) or the way people always have their headphones plugged in (no love of music this, but yet another deterrent to pickpocketing, because the tug on your headphone cable will guide you towards the direction of your culprit.)

But the most important thing, your height can be a huge advantage, or severe disadvantage. Here's how.

When you are stuck in between a swarm of people, the only thing to do is to go with the flow. But in order to avoid stepping on toes, or elbowing someone in their ribs, you need some form of support. If you have a tall frame, you can reach over and grip the overhead handles or the overhead luggage racks to steady yourself. Taller people tend to be shoved around lesser than the others.

On the not-so-greener side, the same swarm of people collectively increase the surrounding air temperature in the already hot humid weather. When viewed from the vantage point of a tall person, these sweaty gentlemen are not a pretty sight. It doesn't help that all the unpleasant sweaty odours waft upwards, right into the nostrils of the tall man. Not good, not good.

One of the consistent sights in a train compartment (other than people playing subway surfer) are Bhajan Mandals. They are groups of commuters who travel together everyday in the same compartment, same time, carrying the loudest musical instruments they can procure, and sing devotional songs in unison. You will hear them before you see them.

Actually, they are not bad. The singing sort of empties your mind, like meditation on wheels. Though my ears don't stop ringing for hours afterwards.

My only suggestion: mix it up a little, folks. Try some carols, a hymn or two, put some Jewish prayers in there, throw in a Sufi chant once in a while. Keep the audiences engaged!