Who is hoarding it… who is paying for it….

Got a chance to see a few BMC workers take down political hoardings. They then put the same in a vehicle which was already loaded with such more, which they seemed to have taken down from other places.

Political parties, Mandals and the likes, deface Mumbai with hoardings and then “conveniently” forget to take them down. And then BMC does the “job” of removing them.

But then was wondering of the expenses incurred in taking down these hoardings. Manpower, time involved, vehicle expenses etc. Does BMC actually take the charges from those who put up these hoardings? I hope so… but very seriously doubt the same. I doubt if all the hoardings are even paid for and official.

Why is the common man made to suffer by such defacement and also bear the expense of removing the same. After all BMC is not paying from its pocket but collecting it by way of taxes on the common man.

Why are such people allowed to go away with this… karre koi bhare koi…. who is hoarding it(and also reaping benefits from it).. who is paying for it !!!!

Kar bhala…ho lafda

Got a visit from police today at home. I am here sitting in the office, my dad met them. Way back in 2005-06(cant even remember the year now), saw a biker dead on the road, his bike besides him. My dad, my brother, and myself were in our car. We called the police and informed them. The next day we read in the paper that he was a policeman, and a truck driver was arrested in a hit and run case.

Now we three have to go to the court as witness. Seriously!! After more than 7-8 yrs… out of the blue they want us to stand witness? And what witness…we did not witness the accident…we just saw the biker. We did what we thought is our duty and informed the police by calling 100. They took our statement on the day of the accident.

Now having second thoughts of whether one should help an accident victim or no. Now will have to take a day off from work and attend the court. Not sure if by attending on a single day will be the end of it, or will have to visit court on more dates. Salaam India.

Statue!!

Today passed Worli Naka four times throughout the day. Few years back a Ambedkar statue was installed there outside the Worli Naka petrol pump with much fanfare, but today on his death anniversary the statue seemed to be totally ignored. It was covered with dust...no garland over it. Just two political hoardings around it...that's all. The point is what is the use of installing statues ..that too in full public view...if they are to be ignored over the years...The first three times I passed it...I thought maybe later they might do something..but till evening ..when I passed it for last time for the day...there was no change in the situation...

Why just this statue, there are so many other statues which are lying in ignored states. Would in not be better to use the money spent on statues to pay for someone's hospital bill, or pay for someone education.

Pay and frown

Mumbai…a city which heavily depends on BEST buses and its local trains….a city which cribs that these facilities are overcrowded, not comfortable….a city which has on several occasions been given a chance to travel in style…but no…I would say that these new modes of transport did not fail…Mumbai failed.

From private intercity A/c buses to AC cool cabs….everything has failed in Mumbai. For one Mumbaikarrs know just to crib about being overcharged and at the same time ready to pay and frown in the overcrowded buses and trains.

These private buses and cool cabs were not supported by our Government also. Our Government itself is incapable of providing quality services and when private players try to venture in, they are not helped by providing parking lots and even stops for them.

Pass from under any Mumbai flyover and you will find these buses and cabs rotting away, already having eroded the funds of the entrepreneurs who thought Mumbai could have better services and in turn they could earn from it.

Many might argue that Cool Cabs are still running, well they are , but looking at how they are maintained nowadays says a lot about cost cutting to me atleast.

We want services…we want them at dirt cheap rates…and would even prefer to have them cheap….

Having said that…I know people will use the Monorail and Metro…they will Pay but frown…..

Western Express HIGHWAY(?)

Having been driving on the Western Express Highway of Mumbai since past 9 years now, I consider myself somewhat an expert of that road. So much so that I thought of writing this blog and also trying and making the Traffic Commissioner read this.

I have seen the highway grow…from a plain road to flyovers, from bottle necks to wide roads. But still its not enough. The traffic jams just do not reduce. Infact its a shame to call it a Highway anymore.

So let me rant off my wisdom…if anybody is interested…

I simply dont understand what is the use of flyovers when there are traffic jams at the exit ends…either because of Nakabandi by police(currently observed daily at the north end of Andheri flyover) or because BEST busstops are hardly 100 meters away from the end of the flyovers(south end of Malad flyover). These busstops dont only create a traffic jams because of buses stopping there, it also because of rickshaw drivers and other vehicles stopping there trying to woo the harried bus travelers who are getting late because the bus has not come in yet.

One more observation I have made is that the beginning of flyovers are being used by private buses as a collection point. This leads to a bottleneck thus leading to slowing of traffic.

We are a major city with no facility of immediate removal of breakdown vehicles or vehicles involved in accidents. Neither have we demarked any service lane to move such vehicles. Some vehicles are allowed to be repaired right in the middle of the road, which is one more reason for the jams.

Driving slow in the fast lane is one more headache. There are various kinds of drivers in this category…the rickshaw drivers, the busy on the mobile drivers, the lady drivers. They take pride in keeping the lane ahead of them totally empty, leader of the pack of the long line of cars behind them. The busy on the phone drivers are still ok as they wake up from their slumber moment the call is over and speed up again…the remaining two…less spoken of the better!!! Our Traffic department knows of only asking for fine for overspeeding not for underspeeding.

Oh forgot the old uncles, who are out there in the fast lane to protest against the fast cars. No matter how many cars overtake them, they drive at their own leisurely speed, reminding us of their times when cars never used to touch even 50 KMPH!!! ( I dont think they understand my sign of middle finger also )

Dedicated public crossings seem to be decided not by the traffic departments, but by the public and the local politicians. Dividers disappear overnight, barbed wires are effortlessly cut to create a new gap for the local public to cross. Forget public crossings, at some places U-turns appear overnight creating trouble to the cars.

Sigh!! I can go on and on and on…..

I know the traffic department alone is not to be blamed , even we as the citizens are responsible for most of this mess. But then when rules are implement strictly( and not just to pocket the money by enforcers), things can change….but who is going to bell the cat….

Traff*&ked

Being a Mumbaikarr I know how bad it can get when you are stuck in traffic. A two minute distance takes not less than 15-20 mins to cover sometimes. Sometimes the car is just stuck there in the same place. One cant even move in any direction.

Yesterday was stuck for nearly 20 mins at the same place. While there I could hear a faint siren of an ambulance. Now I am not sure if the ambulance was on its way to pick up a patient, or on its way to drop the patient to a hospital… or if at all in line of duty. But yes…began to wonder what would happen to a patient in case stuck in such traffic.

Why just get Traffucked on any road…imagine getting stuck on the road to an important hospital. Take the case of Hinduja Hospital at Mahim. A school in its vicinity with its all ultra rich students coming in cars occupy the road and create jams over there for almost half an hour in the morning. These car owners care a damn about traffic rules, cutting across the lanes, taking U-turns from where ever they feel comfortable. I have seen parents just park their cars and talk to other parents without caring a damn about the traffic situation. I shudder to think of a medical emergency patient getting stuck because of this stupidity. I am being told that there are other schools also, where similar situations occur daily.

Forget ambulance, what if there is a medical emergency to a driver or a co-passenger. Are we equipped for such eventualities?

Surely not. Our State Government has funds to build a stupid monument over the sea. But they have never planned any air lifting medical facilities in Mumbai. This is one facility we need badly in Mumbai, not just when we get Traffucked on the roads, but also in case of disaster management. Is anybody listening????

Potty karro Saaf karro….

Come  Mumbai elections and the hopeful candidates who already think that your property is their Jagir start using it more for their election campaigning. Setting up tables near your building gates, putting up hoardings, visiting your premises at odd hours, asking for votes.
Last week was so bugged to see that at least two political parties had used my Housing Society Lift as a Notice Board to stick their campaigning stickers. Infact had even twitted about it.

Jayant R. Gajria @jayantgajria

Dear Political Parties, My building lift is not an Election Notice Board to put up ur candidates stickers. #fail

8 Feb 12

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Today again one more  tweet caught my attention….here a Car Windshield Glass was used to put up a Sticker!!

PoojaS @PoojaSolanki

Vijaya Kanti Dhulla... What gives you the right to paste your face on someone else's car windows? Seeti party #sucks pic.twitter.com/SFzyYxxH

14 Feb 12

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These candidates, they put up stickers, hoardings etc all over and once the Elections are over, for the winner they are replaced with Congratulatory Hoardings and for the Losers, conveniently forgotten.
Why just elections, even otherwise, such political hoardings displaying congratulatory messages during religious festivals are conveniently forgotten and left for the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai to bring them down at the cost of tax payers money.
I have my doubts if these culprits are fined. Its like Potty woh logg karre…Saaf koi aur…aur saaf karne ka paisa bhare koi aur….!!!!

I have tried experimenting with embed tweets in this blog…but did not succeed much..will learn and rectify soon

Crossing the Limits

Was just passing by Worli Seaface and saw a couple in a liplock(though it looked more like the boy pumping in air in the girls mouth), but more than that it, the sea in the background reminded me of the word 'Maryada' (Limit) which was once told to me by a lady who was travelling with us on the same route once.

She said that like humans who should remain within their Maryada or else lives will be ruined, so does the sea.

This sometimes calm sometimes ferocious sea remains within its limits. We human beings pollute it, throw things into it...it will calmly take a few things within itself or just rejects it back by washing it ashore. It never protests. Never shows its anger of how things are thrown into it. Silently it is bearing reclamation. If this sea was to cross it Maryada and reclaim what is rightfully its think of the destruction it will cause, the lives it can ruin.

These words were spoken before 26th July deluge which we experienced in Mumbai. Stuck overnight it really looked like the sea is trying to reclaim its place back between the seven islands which comprised of Mumbai. Thank God its still not crossed its limit, though we Humans are crossing all such limits and taking aways its space.

Kudos to the Mumbai Police

After having spent nearly 8 years at a stretch celebrating New Year Eve in our building parties, this year a certain action by some members ended as a boon to me.

This year I decided to take my wife and kids to Gateway of India to see the revelry at New Year Eve. Many people who heard my plans were warning me against it…too much of crowd…

drunk revelers, traffic, drunk drivers on the road while coming back home.

But finally we did land up at Gateway of India, and were in for a very pleasant surprise. The Mumbai Police had segregated the area around Gateway of India into two. Family Enclosure around the main structure of Gateway of India and Stags on the road outside Hotel Taj. They were putting in excellent efforts in seeing not a single stag was allowed in the family enclosure. Unluckily for boys who were expecting to see some eye candies, their plans certainly were not going as per their expectations. This ensured that there were no untoward incidences like eve teasing etc.

Even the roads were much safer, Police stationed at important accident spots, ensuring that we did not face any trouble by drunk drivers.

Kudos to our Mumbai Police who instead of Celebrating New Year Eve, were out there ensuring our safety. Hats off to them

 

9/11

I have my own reasons to remember 9/11 anniversary.

Had a shocking experience with the Mumbai police that day. Infact got a call from home regarding the WTC crash while was at the police station.

My car stereo got stolen from my building in the evening and so went to the police station to file a complaint.

There the inspector on asking me what the problem was, pointed out to a father and son duo sitting in front of him, told me....ur stereo got stolen, these guys are here to lodge a stolen car complaint, and I am informing them that finding the car is impossible, so u better go home without filing the complaint!!!!

Was seriously shocked at hearing this but then the news of 9/11 attacks poured in, so rushed home to witness the worst ever terrorist attacks unfold live on TV, my stereo all forgotten that day.....

Twitter an uncontrolled bane

In the past there have been trends on twitter like RIP Jackie Chan, there have been other rumors which circulated more faster than before even Media could get hold of it.
There was a bridge cavein in Mumbai recently…and Mumbaikarrs were tweeting about it like an entire bridge had fallen down…..
Yesterday Twitter was abuzz with tweets regarding possible end to Anna Hazare’s fast by use of force by the Government of India. There was nothing on NEWS about it….but slowly media started picking up the NEWS after more than 20 mins of this coming up on twitter.
My point is : Is Twitter faster than Media and is Media also just picking up titbits from Twitter. There was a lot of controversy later with both the Police and GOI denying any plans of forcefully arresting/ending Annas fast.
Twitter has become a very powerful medium. But it can also create a lot of problems. Some people who are used to passing out chain mails, or unverified information on emails, just start retweeting or posting on their on profiles about things they read without verifying.
It is difficult to control so many tweeters, but the only request is to verify the facts before passing out any information and not resort to spreading rumors……
IT IS GOOD TO BE SOCIALLY ACTIVE BUT BE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE TOO……

Fleecing the traveller

Having a very bad experience with Kolkatta taxis, during my initial visits, now I always head straight to the Pre-paid counter. During my last visit also I did the same, but the taxi driver was not happy to know the destination. Once he moved out of the airport, he is telling me, Sir I can take you through a shortcut, if you pay me 100 rupees extra. I put my foot down over the matter and told him, I have all the time in the world to reach my destination, and dont care if he takes the shortcut or the normal route. On the way, he tried many a times to tell me to get off some other place citing that he didnt know the route, but then again I stood my ground and finally he reluctantly dropped me off to my destination.
I thought this was the end of it, but had more in store ….and this time not at Kolkatta but at my home turf…ie. at Mumbai. My flight landed after 12 am, so i was quite aware that I will have to shell out night charges. Being tired I was mentally set to sit in the first cab/AC cab or autorickshaw whatever was available immediately. The first person I met was a Cool Cab driver who agreed to take me to the my home address. When I asked him to start the meter, his response was that his meter was not working and he would charge me 600 Rupees for a distance which would normally in a cool cab would have taken only 250 rupees even with night charges. I refused point blank. Got out and approached a normal taxi. Same response, I wont take you on meter, I will charge your 350!!!! I moved ahead, and was surprised to see same responses from most of the taxi drivers. I was not beginning to lose my patience and infact told one that I am not from Alibaug( a common term by most mumbaikars). There was one taxi driver who even went on to tell me….Sir I will take your from Highway which will be empty right now and not from SV Road. He is telling me..this is Mumbai saab…never sleeps in the night. I told him….tell me something I dont know!!!!
Finally I had walked all the way from the terminal to the Main Highway from where I caught a rickshaw and reached home by paying normal charges.
Since I am from Mumbai, and know the roads and the rates, I knew I was being fleeced. But I really pity people from outside who are not aware of such things :(

Transit camps in Mumbai

Mumbai is seeing a lot of Slum Redevelopment or chawl redevelopment. What the redevelopers are doing is building Transit Camps for the residents, breaking down their old houses, and constructing new buildings, before shifting them back to the new place.
However there is new trend nowadays…these transit camps are made of Iron girder framework and have cement sheets as walls. Not sure how safe they are. On top of it, these structures are going up as high as 7 storeys!!!!
Yesterday I saw one more such structure with shops on the ground floor. One of the shop was a Marble shop. I shudder to think what will happen if the load of Marbles fall on the side wall….will the cement sheet wall and iron girders be able to handle the weight of the marbles then or will the entire structure of seven storey fall down like a pack of cards. God only can save the people staying in transit there.

Mumbai water woes

Recently I read an article in the newspaper about how a Municipal Corporater almost came to tears in the Municipal house while describing her situation with the people in her constituency, who came to her residence at odd times complaining about the erratic water supply, this inspite the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai, withdrawing its water cut. The Hydraulic Department  responsible for water supply responded back saying that if they tried rectifying the supply for one are, another area started suffering because of the way the entire network of pipeline was layed.

Frankly, I am not an expert at this, but it did made me recall a simulator game I used to play, Simcity 2000. As my city used to grow, I needed to connect more and more water pipelines, and as the web of pipelines started growing there were always areas which faced difficulties with the supply of water.

Mumbai’s growth I guess is something similar to my experience of Simcity, connections are just added and the loop of pipelines, just keep on adding to the mess. Our people in Municipal Corporation might be inexperienced like me, or are at loss at rectifying the problem, because somebody before them might have sanctioned laying of pipeline, without worrying about the future.

I dont thing this issue will ever get solved, unless the entire pipe network is re-layed……..

Monuments

In the past I have written about the waste of money planned on building the Shivaji Maharaj Statue in Mumbai. Now with the Government which had planned for the statue back in power, for the next 5 years, the work will be starting soon on it.  Recently I  read the novel The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. Since I have not ever been to Washington, I saw the pictures of the monuments mentioned in the book on the net.

These monuments built ages ago are today a symbol for the city of Washington. That made me think of any monument present in Mumbai.

Well we do have some structures….under Heritage Structures….but I dont think they are taken good care of. We have age old gardens like Hanging Garden, Five Garden, National Park….but they are all in a very bad shape. We have structures like the Victoria Terminus, Central Library, Rajabai Tower(the less said about its condition the better). But are these monuments really looked upon as tourist attractions.

There are other places in India which are hardly taken care of …..Jalianwala Baug in Amritsar, one doesnt even come to know of the infamous well, which has now been covered up, and not a single signboard has been kept in its vicinity to indicate its history. The bullet marks on the wall are left to everybodies imagination.

So that again make me think, that if we dont want to take good care of such huge monuments why build them at all. Ofcourse a developing city like Mumbai needs tourist attractions, but first atleast take care of the existing ones. If we cant take care of our existing monuments, there is absolutely no need for additional ones.

Just a few stray thoughts..

Its been quite a while since I have put up something. Not that life has been quite. Something or the other keeps on happening. So this time I trying to put down a few stray thoughts over here….

E-Book : I have downloaded for myself Dan Brown’s latest book, The Lost Symbol. Hardly I have been through 11 pages, and I am wondering what am I doing. I miss holding the book in my hands and reading it. I miss turning the pages. I miss lying down and reading the book. Dont know if I am old fashioned, but I am not able to adjust to this idea of Ebooks.

Water woes : Mumbai has been facing shortage of water since past 3 months due to the erratic rainfalls. Our building has one big support line in having a bore well, the water from which is used for flushing. Somehow I have noticed that since past 5 years, whenever the question comes of overhauling the bore pump, there are rumblings over the expenses. People tend to question the expenses involved in the process. Why they cant understand the only expenses they have to incur is the once in 2 years maintenance, while they have to pay for the Municipal water, is beyond my understanding. Whenever the pump fails, it has a tendency to do so every one to one and half years, our management people just start pumping in water from the Municipality for flushing purposes, thereby not having it repaired. Currently the pump is not working since 2 months, there is water shortage, and now after two months, it has been realized that the bore well is required. Its like digging for a well when the fire is out of control.

Diwali : It is odd that here I am typing a blog on a Saturday, and by next Saturday, Diwali will be over. Over the last few years, for me Diwali has been growing less and less glamorous or exciting as it used to be. Dont know why. Cant understand why. When we were small Diwali celebrations used to start 2 week before the actual D-Day. Now it has become more of a 4-5 days affair around the actual day. Dadar used to be full of hustle-bustle during diwali, and one would find it difficult to even find a place to put down ones foot. But now with malls and shopping complexes springing up in far flung areas, the crowd has got divided. There are no more Diwali shopping rushes to be actually seen. Not that people are not buying, but now there are so many places for them to go and shop, that there is less of overcrowding.

Obama wins the Nobel for Peace : My only question is for what? What has he done in that field? The fact is that he has just started his stint. Its tooooooo early I feel for Obama. The poor guy is already living under a shadow of expectations of “Change”. And now he will have to live under the heavy expectations of Peace Keeper. Can American policies make this person keep up with these expectations? I dont think so.

2012 – end of the world? : News channels are going overboard, saying that the current floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons are dress rehearsals for the predictions which state that 2012 will be the end of the world. I feel it is a clever publicity stunt for an upcoming movie by the title “2012”. No doubt, these disasters are taking place, but the publicity guys are having a field day promoting their movie.

Shivaji Statue and the waste of money

Maharashtra Government has gone ahead with a plan to build a statue of Shivaji Maharaj in the middle Arabian Sea, almost on lines of Statue of Liberty. What is bugging most is the expense of 350 crores being done on this.

Mumbai has got problems galore. Everytime we hear politicians say that the budget allocation by the Central Government leaves a lot of be desired. After every budget we read in the newspapers that Mumbai only gives but does not receive in terms of monetary gains.

Not surprising this decision makes one wonder from where the 350 crores will be used for the construction. And of course, the Bandra Worli Sea Link has proved that the mid-sea endeavors by our government have also escalated to more than the original cost. So we can safely assume that this cost will be over and above minimum 500 crores. We are not talking of Rs.150 difference over Rs. 350, but a difference of over 150 crore rupees.

This money can easily be utilized for improving the infrastructure, improving the water supply system, drainage system. No I wont argue, that in Mahahashtra farmers are committing suicide, I am arguing for my Mumbai, which is collapsing daily. We want better quality of life. Instead of building statues, why isn't the waterway being developed as a public transport system. We have a good chance to explore the sea as an alternate route of transport which is much needed.

Why cant the open drains(nallahs) be closed all over Mumbai. There has been a definite drop in Mosquitoes in areas where they have been closed.

There are many more options, but statue is surely a big waste of money. 350 crores for the statue, and other expenses per month to clean the bird shits which will be covering it daily……..