[Reader-list] “December Woes: The Story of Beautification of City Pave me Pavements”

[zainab at xtdnet.nl]

Let’s Talk City!

Now, now, I know what you think of me. I always talk city, so what’s new
today huh? Well, this evening, I’d like to present to you all:

“December Woes: The Story of Beautification of City Pavements”

Pavements of a City: Mumbai is a city of streets, of roads. As I write
these words sitting in Delhi, I miss the life that operates on the city’s
roads. There’s a lot of it out there. And roads are a multi-purpose entity
in Mumbai. There are no borders or boundaries. Its just roads! And roads
can be public toilets (for the people of the pavements as well as people
of the private houses!). Then, roads are the hubs of employment for
thousands of people who sell food and various consumer items on the
streets. Roads are hubs for people like Raghu kaka, who not only sell
newspapers on the streets, but also have their own networks operating
around them. Then, roads are sources of information for lots of people in
the city. It is on the city’s streets that gossips circulate, newspapers
lie on the roads and people sneak a peek at them as they pass by. Roads
and streets – that’s what the legal and illegal city of Mumbai is all
about.

But the city is changing. It’s about transformations honey! And we are
this dying city which needs to be revived. And revive we must. So we start
reviving. We start with creating definite boundaries. We lay down dividers
and barricade the roads. We create pavements. And as we create pavements,
we make the difference between pedestrians and car owners obvious. Some
public must walk within the dividers and some of it must drive on the
roads – definite boundaries! And as I see pavement beautification works
all over the city, I realize that really, we pedestrians were dadas, goons
of some sort. Absolutely! We pedestrians in Mumbai are the bullies of the
streets. And car owners are helpless before us. Our hurry is their worry.
And we can snarl at the Mercedes owner if s/he comes too close to our
liking, even though the fault may very much lie with us! That’s how we
are, the legal and illegal people of this insane city.

Pavements must be beautified. Mosaic tiles are being laid down. Trees are
being planted. We are a nice people, a very nice and clean people. We are
a people of a city which is dying and which is being revived from death.
As I walk along the streets of the city, I think through some of the words
which I read in Rachel Carson’s book ‘Silent Spring’. I think of
monocultures. Cities are unique entities. Our histories and trajectories
have been different. But current processes in the city are moving along
common trajectories. Our journeys are about the same, because our goals
are to become ultimately “World Class Cities”! World Class City – yeah,
World Class City! What in the world is a World Class City?

Dear God,
This evening, I pray to you to grant me return tickets to Los Angeles and
New York (and a couple of thousand dollars to survive). I want to see what
a World Class City looks like!


December Woes: Bulldozers are working hard at Nariman Point. It is a
spectacle to watch these mammoth creatures drop each tetra-pod heavily
into the sea! And spectacle it is as about fifty people surround the
bulldozer and watch it at work. And all of this is happening in public
view, full public gaze! But we are talking about pavements right? So
here’s the real story. The pavements on the back side of Hilton Towers are
being beautified and if pavements there have to be beautified, Santhya,
Shah Rukh, Manoj Kumar and their entire tribe must go. And go they must!
Gradually, I see few of them around. These days, there are no encounters
with Shah Rukh and none of his false promises. These days, I don’t see my
favourite hawker who walks barefoot in the promenade and plays with all
the children along the way as he sells tea. I just see people sitting on
the walls of Nariman Point. My community is gone, because pavements are
being beautified!
And this brings us to the end of “December Woes”!








Zainab Bawa
Bombay
www.xanga.com/CityBytes