[Reader-list] Is the City of Dreams Lost in the Emerging Urban?

[zainab at xtdnet.nl]

Is the City of Dreams Lost in the Emerging Urban?

I am @ Sarai.net. Last evening we were engaged in an exercise on looking
at how to create categories. And of course, we talked and exercised city!
As we were arranging categories, we had:
·	Immigration
·	Livelihood
·	Migration
·	Media
·	Self
·	Other
·	Individual and Space
·	Death

And amidst all of this, we suddenly realized that there were no dreams,
just economic categories for our cities.

Let me get back to Bombay because that is my domain. Bombay, also known as
Urbs Prima Indis. Bombay, the City of Dreams. Old Bollywood films featured
the sea, the rocks, Nariman Point, VT Station and each of these spaces had
symbolic meanings. The individual comes from a small town or village to
realize his dream in the city. I remember Raj Kapoor’s films – Awara, Boot
Polish, etc. Bombay, the land of glamour and evil designs and political
games where the hero wins in the end!

Bombay, as I have understood it in the past, has been a city where class
has been about fluidity and mobility. Each one came to the city with
dreams and the enterprising and street-smart made it from rags to the
riches. And I believe a lot of us in the city dreamt. But I wonder whether
we really dream today?

The presence of the poor, the slums, the hawkers and the pavement dwellers
represents the spirit of the city. Their presence is indicative of
networks in the city, of relationships, of struggle, survival, etc. in the
city. And I wonder where the city of dreams has gone. It is not just the
poor who dream. It is us in the middle class who dream as well. Khatta
Meetha is a film of that genre. I also wonder whether dreams enable us to
truly love our cities as homes, as habitats? I don’t know.

My reference point to Bombay at this moment is the Chief Minister’s Task
Force Report to ‘transform Mumbai into a world class city’. And I believe
that it is not necessary that a beautiful city (including flyovers,
multiplexes, malls, etc.) is the ultimate culmination of dreams. If I
trace my own research, I realize that dreams are made up with the
presences of all – the rich, the poor, the ugly, the ragged, the
glamorous, the beautiful, et al. I did not study Rawls’ Theory of Justice
for my political science examination because it was too much to handle in
times of stress and pressure (and I could not understand it either). I
don’t know Habermas, Gramsci or Marx for that matter. I am a poor
theoretician on issues of rights, equality, liberty and freedom. All I
know is that I am just an individual, a dweller of the city. I am the
experiencer, the practitioner, the researcher, the subject and the
dweller. As I live, I engage with my habitat and my environment. Questions
circle my mind and hover around constantly:

·	What’s a city in the context of emerging urbanism?
·	How do we move from where we are – neither romance nor frustration are
of great help in moving forward concertedly?
·	Whose dreams are being executed in the city?
·	What is the space of the unorganized and the poor in the city? Do we
simply relegate them to the margins or do we glorify them (neither of
which helps I believe)?
·	Who represents whom? Is publics homogenous? And if not, what kinds of
spaces can exist and with what kinds of dynamics?
·	What are the terms on which we can start negotiating with groups around
us? And through what tactics, means and resources?

I don’t have these answers. I am just looking and watching. I have come to
realize that my community is with Arjun bhai, with my neighbours Sonal and
Pankaj, with Shah Rukh, Santhya, Manoj Kumar. My community is with the
people of The Everyday. Perhaps I shall get somewhere, someday 




Zainab Bawa
Bombay
www.xanga.com/CityBytes