Dadar , Mumbai
A PAGE FROM MY DIARY
A PAGE FROM MY DIARY
Mumbai.........16-07-2014
Mumbai is simply rains these days. It has been a nonstop downpour since yesterday.
Dadar West is a mix of rain-washed old buildings, high-rise apartments, crowded middle-class bazars and spacious shopping stores. Crowded roads, speeding buses and every time available taxis painted in black and yellow; pay roughly 19 rupees per km for your taxi ride, which is damn cheap by every standard. I paid Rs180 from the Jahangir Art Gallery, Fort to Dadar about 11 km via Marine Drive, Haji Ali and Prabhadevi route auto rickshaw is allowed within this part of the interior city.
Life moves on as usual in the rain. Every person carries an umbrella with him, but almost every person has wet clothes. The executives who come down from their offices to get inside their cars, students pouring out from the school buses, ladies shopping in markets, people moving on roads, vada paav and sandwich sellers, flower sellers, banana sellers, coconut sellers, commuters pulling themselves out from local trains and traders on footpaths are drenched but unmindful. Possibly getting wet is not a serious issue for a Mumbaikar.
The high tide (15 feet) near Marine Drive that originated from the angry monsoon sea swept away two persons yesterday. Some buildings collapsed. Flooded Juhu airport turns into a lake. The six lakes that supply water to the city, Modak Sagar, Tansa, Vihar, Tulsi, Upper Vaitarna and Bhatsa, are getting filled by the downpour. Water water everywhere and so much water to drink. I am informed that the water supplied by the Municipality is safe and fit for drinking. Dr Ranade, our neighbour in Dadar, has been drinking it for many years now. He believes that it is better than the so-called packaged drinking water sold in the market.
My son stays in an apartment that is close to Dadar Railway junction, Kabutar khaana, Shivaji Park, Old Jain Temple, Portuguese Church, Peer Bagdadi Mosque, Sidhi Vinayak Temple, Fresh Flower Market and Sabzi Mandi. Could not find Nadru, Haak or Kadam (Kohlrabi) over here.Yes, too much of something like Kashmiri Wosta Haak and Toraai of UP or Kashmiri Torail.
Bhure Lal, the man who irons clothes using a 2-foot by 5-foot wooden plank on the foot path, sleeps below the plank at night. Badar ud Din, the denting help in a car workshop, sleeps on the plank. If the rains disturb them, they sleep on the steps leading to 'Banglore Ayyangar's Bakery' shop. Badru and Bhure are from eastern UP. Bhure gets 4000 rupees per month, and he has to iron around 250 clothes per day. We pay @ 5 rupees per item given for ironing. Ramdhan, the owner of the wooden plank and the so-called ironing shop, is also from eastern UP. He brings clothes from nearby apartments on his bicycle. He also delivers the ironed clothes using his bicycle. He has to pay rent for using the footpath space apart from paying electricity bills. Ramdhan speaks fluent Marathi. Acting as a night watchman, Ramdhan sleeps inside the shop of Joseph Kabaadi. Joseph Kabaadi has a shop nearby in the lane. Joseph has a toilet as well inside the shop that looks like a shabby living room full of old newspapers, books and broken plastic pieces. It is stuffy and filthy. Ramdhan, Bhure and Badru pay ( Rs200 each per month ) to Joseph Kabaadi for allowing them one time ( early morning )use of his toilet. Joseph comes to his shop at 10.30 am and locks the toilet.
This is Mumbai.
(Avtar Mota)
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.
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