Here is a city that messes around like a home; that lets you get under its skin, into its secret sanctuaries. A city so drenched in infatuated love; an image for flights of fantasies, the mayhem of agony, indigence and ugliness. A city that worries you for all the joy it offers.A city of never demanded obeisance, but downright addictive indeed.
Belong to a city where local trains chase even the last bit of sunlight. Watch itself unfolding in both the sides of your compartment. Cheer the boys and girls, naked, soaked from head to toe from a fresh bath along the tracks. Look for the creased skin of hand in the handles above, wearing dark green bangles mostly, confused by pale gold ones in between. You might also find those glossy, second-copy watches they buy from Colaba causeway. Glance down for worn out shoes bought with all his passion from CST fashion street. Please stomach the smell of the fish that break through from Mahim station. It is the Koli woman sorting out fishes inside the luggage compartment. Do not miss the islands of green along the tracks of harbour line. No, do not give that boring amusement about spotting lush in this city. As having emerged from the sea, this city is so damn full of sensory overloads!
Retreat to a city that gives you the surprise of a sudden rain, the drama of suddenly darkened skies; to a city that rises when the sun sets. A city that wants you to slow down even at the heart of its busy bee-ness, to find your space and to own it selfishly. But don’t go mad when the 2 am police bang their lathis on the seawall to keep you on move from Marine drive, it is just a ritual. They don’t want you to leave. They want you to stay and take a lungful of the sea with you, so does the city!
Everyday Anarchy 
Yes, a beautiful city indeed. Nothing I can take away from what you have described. But all this at what cost? How many people are suffering underneath this, how much blood have been shed, how many children have lost their joy for this, how many women have lost their freedom for this, how many people have lost their Rights and the list never ends.
Its not only the story of Mumbai city alone but most of the cities in India. Your blog came to my notice while I was doing studies on water scarcity. More than 90% of water supply to Mumbai comes from Shahpur Taluk in Thane, 100 kms away from Mumbai. Drought is the story of more than 5000 villages in Maharashtra while they supply 3.4 billion litres of water daily to Mumbai where urban people get 135 litres per day per person for consumption while slums get 25 litres of water per day per household(not per person). That is just a question of how much unfairness it is. What about the Rights, freedom, lives Mumbai have taken away from the people in Shahpur Taluk? With a population of only 12,000 people, they require only 0.025% of water which is supplied to Mumbai. Stills they don’t get it?? Water tanker comes once in 3-4 days here and over the fighting people have lost their lives. Women have to walk 4-5 kms three times everyday for water. Children torn away from school because their parents are spending 3-4 hours/day just for water. Yes, a city have to make the people living within Smile, but not by taking away from the face of others. Whatever you are taking off is not yours.
In an interview, one villager in Shahpur said “I can see the water from my home, still don’t get it. Its our water that they’re taking and we can just watch. Only Mumbaians have the right to live?”
Yes, its the municipality doing, but is that really your justification?? After all municipalities is not an artificial person, it is a group of real people only. And they are doing it only for the people that live in Mumbai.
It is just a portion of darkside to the city. If I turn back the pages and another issues, I can go on and on.
People who have lost their homes and lives in the name of development, in the race of biggest/tallest building you can build. Deonar garbage dumping ground, where Mumbai city’s tons of garbage goes, made 66 babies out 1000 born die before reaching age 1. Average life expectancy here is 39 years, while lung diseases, respiratory problems at early ages is usual here. Studies said the condition is worse than some of the African counties. Fire occurred here in last year made Mumbai pollution record high.
Not against anything you said, but a city shining above all this does really shine? You can close your eyes on all these things, but will anything be left when you open your eyes?
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No city shines, and there is nothing perfect about anything about the life there. We both can vent as much as we can about what goes on there, but at the end, it only matters if we positively contributed towards the situations! And yeah, about the fire you mentioned, I inhaled that toxicity for months. And it is necessary to ‘dark side’ conceptions, it denies people’s everyday engagements in shaping their own futures.
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First of all I’m sorry, your post was beautifully written in short, clever and funny way, and so different from cliched styles of writings and I realize that my long comment😴 was least related to it. All I wanted to say was, isn’t it good if you can also tell the dark side of the story?? Not to let Mumbai down, but to save it and keep it alive for the future. Obviously none of them are perfect, yet we still try to make it, bcos the facts (both moral and scientific) are so worrisome that it will become “the city that forever sleeps”
P.S: ain’t gonna bore you with facts and figures again😜
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Write ups are superb
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Thanks a lot Zamil, How I wish I could post more often!
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Dear Haifay,
Your writing are awesome. Keep writing more about the lovely mumbai. I just loved reading your writings. Keep up your great talent and expecting more from you. May Allah bless you and fulfill all your dreams.
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Thanks Shahman. Keep reading 🙂
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Good
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