A Holiday.. A Thought



Pagoda



Holiday Season and you suddenly have every one running helter-skelter trying to find a destination away from home, for a change.. Change could mean going back to one's home town, or if you are lucky, one takes a unknown destination in another country...



Going through the same thoughts with so many options being provided, it was literally a choice as to where one should go.. Too Hot, too Humid, too crowded, too expensive the combinations never to one's satisfaction.. Finally, the visit to go back home won over, and it was home sweet home. Mumbai or Bombay (as the purists still call it)

A visit to Bombay is always full of life, no matter how often you go, or how rare you go. The city seems more busier than the last time you visited, which could be as less as 20 days ago or as long as 10 years ago. My last visit in 2012 proved no less interesting and the 2013 equally so.



People come from and go to now where. Auto's whizz around swerving left and right, with people not having to move, and they miss you by a whisker. Scooties, Motor bikes, all zipping in and out and the noise decibel hitting the highs every day / week / year.. Every one is in a hurry to reach some where, every one is busy swearing, you miss a train, you swear, you get pushed, you swear, you slip on the road, you swear, you do not get a cab or an auto for more than two minutes, you swear, you walk on the road trying to avoid the cars, you swear.. Basically, you swear. I incidentally swore more in the first hour of landing in Bombay, than I did in the time frame between my two visits which was roughly a year.

But there is a good side too to Bombay. There are people who will stop to help you, no matter how busy they are, there are people who still talk nicely and give you respect, there are also people who are suddenly flabbergasted when you speak to them with respect. But then, my thought..



Gateway of India

As part of the vacation, had the opportunity to go see a few places in Bombay, that had not been to for years. Gateway of India, Hanging Gardens, the National Park and so on... What was heartening and disheartening at the same time was the state that many of our monuments and tourist spots are landing up into. Some beautifully managed like the Hanging Gardens, some spots filled with hawkers who outnumber the visitors to the spots. Similar experience in most of the places that one visited, taking the full fun out of a visit.

What was also disappointing was that in many places due to the various unsavoury incidents that the city has had to undergo, one finds spots filled with security personnel, who no doubt are there to take care of the place, but also, become a dampener for a visitor who would like to move freely to see the place. A decade ago, places were more accessible, one enjoyed a visit to any place that one went to, however as society grows and as time passes, one sees more and more restrictions that are imposed not due to any thing but due to security concerns which very well lead to the locking out of various places.

As I saw these different places over my stay, could not but help wonder.. We being law abiding citizens of our country live like prisoners at times, where in we do not have the freedom to move / do as we please. Not that one looks for absolute freedom, however many a time one sees even our basic rights curbed. Most of the time due to the negligent proportion of society that does not wish to follow norms of decency, respect for our culture and our heritage.

There could be anger no doubt for a variety of reasons, but taking this out in the form of violence is always a loss for the average citizen, who simply would like to live his life in peace. Unfortunately, we are heading far away from that dream, and with every man being for himself, would it be long before society itself reaches a point that it can only live in a controlled environment.

Whether that would be manageable or not is another question.

Bombay oh Bombay....

Some things never change.. No matter, how long the time gap, how many generations pass by, what ever changes come over, how much of technology overruns simple life, some things are not meant to change..

I guess my habit of disappearing at times is indeed one of my traits, however, for me it was Bombay, or rather for a big generation now, Mumbai.. Of course it will be a long time before the people who used to call it Bombay are all gone, and Mumbai becomes the standard name, but just like Bombay remaining Bombay, life in Bombay remains life in Bombay.

I recently went for a vaction back home after nearly 15 years, I have had my occassional trip to Bombay but has been only on work, hence it has been the standard office / hotel routine.. Going back home without having to work and on a break was indeed a long time off..

As I went through the standard routine of meeting relatives, aunts, uncles that I had not met for years, it did strike that though a lot had changed, basic life remained the same. There were tons of new flyovers, the Bandra Worli Sealink was a marvel no doubt, however the by lanes remained the same. You had all the international banks in Mumbai, the European ones, the German ones, the French ones, but you still had your SBI's, CBI's, IOB's still standing where they were.. Leave aside the fact that they still had setups that could take you years back in memory, with some not even changing the furniture.

The Jazzy Showrooms of the Volvo's, the Hyundais, the Mercs, standing next to the Tatas and the Maruti Showrooms.. Of course, competition had changed, it was no longer the dull old Fiat that one would see on the road and the long old time of people searching for a non AC cab, simply due to it being cheaper was long gone.. Call a Cab concepts were a dime a dozen, the Honda's, the Toyota's, the Hyundai's, all running in line with the diplidated Fiat's that were more than a dime a dozen. Chowpatty Beach / Worli Seaface / Haji Ali, all still there, some with no change, some like Juhu a sight simply to be avoided.

Dining was of course part of the game.. I recall the last time, I went for a Thali / Dosa in Mumbai, four years ago... A good restaurant was 200 Bucks for a thali, 40 bucks for a Dosa... Come 2012, 300+ Bucks for a decent thali, a Dosa at an Udipi restaurant at 60 - 80 bucks.. Ouch.. The road side stalls still there, the sandwitch waala, the bhel puri waala, the dosa waala, and how can I forget the road side Chai stall.. All there, still in the business, still catering to the masses, the people walking out of the train stations and having their first breakfast through them.. Many also having their pre train snacks at the same stall..

Prices no doubt have gone up.. No longer one finds chaai at Re 1, or a sandwitch at Re 4, Amul Butter sandwitches at Re 6, these days, every item is upmarketed. No matter what you have to offer, no matter how wild, there is always a buyer, as long as it is marketed well. Outsourcing is no longer limited to BPO's, every thing is outsourced. A medical test for blood, you cannot go, no problems sir, we will come to your house, for a fee.. A delivery that you cannot take, we will do it, for a fee..

MNC's hire BPO's, BPO's hire small time entreprenuers, STE's hire the day / night operators, and they in turn hire the free lancers.. Every one has a price, and the more it gets streamlined, the more expensive it becomes. Of course, it is initself a boon to the economy, as it runs, every one generating their share of the income in Bombay, but, when it comes to life in general, how much of it do people enjoy?

It is simply a run every day.. Residence to the station, station to the Work place, and back.. Hours disappear when commuting, yet people still flock to the Magical land.. One lives farther and farther with every passing year, with people now living a hour off Virar and communting to Churchgate. You spend more than half your life running up and down, without a thought, all trying to get that dream house of a 2/ 3 BHK and living life comfortably.. How many of us ever get to it, no one knows, how many never even reach the start is mind boggling, but yet, the magical lure of Bombay or Mumbai, once in your blood.....

Bombay oh Mumbai..

Nationalism

Have been reading a lot these days of the comment that SRK made about having Pakistani players in the IPL and the resultant furore about the same. Hundreds of responses, lots of views and of course many people chosing to be politically correct for not upsetting Mr. Thackeray.

Who is right and who is wrong? Is SRK wrong for chosing to comment on something that has been permitted to him by the Indian Constitution. Is Bal Thackeray correct for stating that Mumbai is for the Maharashtrians and that the Biharis and the Punjabis and Muslims are not allowed?

The irony is that most of the people simply do not bother. It does not make a difference if you are staying in Mumbai or Bombay, a Madras or a Chennai. The generation to whom it mattered are probably long gone, and the generations today are simply struggling to make a decent living and ensuring that their families grow up in an environment where there is a chance to grow, security and stability.

Bombay has always been the land of dreams and it is this place where every one comes to try their luck. It is said, no one goes hungry in Bombay and every one manages to eke out a living. Imagine if all the Tata's, Birla's, Ambani's, Bollywood (of which Mr. Thackeray's DIL is a big associate), the Wadia's were not there. What if they had received the facilities in their own home states and built themselves there. What would have happened if the Kishore Kumar's and the Mohammed Rafi's had not come to Bombay to try their luck.

Bombay is simply Bombay due to the unique cosmopolitan structure that it has built over the years. More so that a majority of the people are all from the same country, unlike a New York or a Paris, where the cosmopolitan structure is built on immigrants, and visitors who chose to live there, rather than people from the interiors of the villages deciding to try their luck.

The sheer complexity of the country with its hundreds of languages, with its cultures and the blend of people who stay side by side, away from their families, building up a life of their own, in place they call home can never be replicated by any city.

I am sure Bal Thackeray knows all this. And he knows very well, that people cannot leave, as they have their lives to think about, their families.. How best to utilize this to his advantage is some thing that the Shiv Sena has been doing for years, with its brand of terror rule, with a group of people who have no aim in life, but to enforce terror and fear into the lives of other people. There is at times no no difference from the British way of divide and rule. The more you divide people, the less they would form together, and the less chances of any one standing up to claim ones rights.

I remember reading some where long back.. The day the Indian citizen realizes his rights and stands up for it, more than half the politicians would lose their job. Unfortunately, they do not care and this is why this brand of terror and incompetency continues. The Shiv Sena's self centerd belief is forced upon people to accept, to not have a view of their own, and to have a false sense of belief of casteism and stateism.

Unfortunately, it is the country that loses. It is the identity of a citizen that is lost. You are no longer an Indian, but a Maharashtrian or a Bihari or a Tamilian.. Until and unless we wake up to the realization that we are Indians first and Indians last, we will continue to go deeper into this rut of casteism and will forever have our Modis and Thackerays to contend with. These are the people we will leave our children with, growing in a an environment of hate and anger.

Easier said than done !!