03.06.2010 AMD-BOM
The day was largely uneventful, except for Bombay traffic. We started around 5.30am, and there was nothing noticeable about the trip or landscape till we hit Maharashtra border. One has to see the industrial 'corridor' from Baroda to Vapi in order to grasp its scale - a myriad expanse of factories insterspersed in the agricultural-urban complex. We hit a wave of heavy vehicle traffic on this corridor, and even a 6-lane highway seems to wear out before the mind-boggling train of transport. Not surprisingly, the traffic turned to a trickle as one left Vapi, the last town of Gujarat. The highway enters the western ghats at the Maharashtra border, and the impending rainstorm brought hopes of seeing a waterfall or two. Unfortunately it didn't rain as expected the whole way, as we later came to know that the storm had veered off towards Oman from the Saurashtra coast.
The western ghats part of the highway is a winding road will moderate slopes through scenic forested areas. TheVasai creek announces the arrival of Mumbai, and we took the Ghodbandar road towards Thane to meet a friend. Looking out from the 22nd floor of Hiranandani estate provides the quintessential view of Mumbai - skyscrapers clamouring for a footing with the traditional village houses and slums and a piece of the sky with the hills of the Sahyadris - all stuck along the border of Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
The way onwards to Dombivali is a challenge for any driver. Weaving through peak Thane Traffic in the core of the city, one navigates towards the Bhiwandi bypass, which itself is choc-a-block with heavy vehicles trying to escape the urban chaos. One crosses back to the other side of the Vasai creek towards the satellite towns of Bhiwandi- Kalyan. Another turn took us to Kalyan - which is surprisingly huge, and equally unorganized. Mumbai is a dream only for those who live in the main town, this place was completely godforsaken - like an oversized village shying away from its size, in fact trying to hide it with a mirage of small lanes and bye lanes along the bypass. However, it continued for a good 10-12 kms along the bypass, which essentially meant it could be the size of Gandhinagar town, or even larger! Make no mistakes, these towns are Municipal Corporations, larger than most capitals and cities in the country, but do not get their due only because they are located in the shadow of the behemoth expanse of Mumbai. As one enters Dombivali (after a garangutan effort), the quintessential stress between Mumbai and its surrounds comes into view. One sees the traditionally farming and fishing locals overwhelmed by the money, crowds, cosmopolitan lifestyle and speed of the neighbouring giant that has now been imposed on their previously simple and frugal lifestyle. The trouble starts with this fact - the locals used to an impoverished lifestyle are suddenly flooded with immeasurable amounts of money from their land combined with a loss of livelihood creating a capital rich person with nothing to do and no capability to do anything in the new lifestyle. This is surmounted by the fact that the new immigrants are the lower-middle class who cannot afford a place in mainland Mumbai. However cosmopolitan this new lifestyle is, it still doesn't solve the problem of the locals - who would have done best to follow the examples of investment from those who do - which the struggling immigrants fail to provide for.
A peek into a local bar provides many answers to this confustion - hundreds of people, overwhelmingly males, drinking away in each of the hundreds of bars in Dombivali - every single evening. The bars are strategically located between the railway station - the transit backbone to Mumbai - and the residential district. So, each evening the immigrants looking to forget their worldly struggle in this city and the locals with nothing better to do meet at the bars - never to befriend, always to end in brawls.
And that is why one would pray for a dry state - however wet it is behind closed doors. What kind of civil administration would expect to reap official dividends by sending its citizens into a drunken stupor each night, leading to domestic stress, street fights, etc? I would rather live in a state that looks away from one's drinking habits behind closed doors, stops all official access to intoxication, and does not believe in looking for tax income from alochol - even if the officials get rich in the illicit trade behind doors - only the desperate ones spend, and they should pay a price. Associated taboos that discourage a person would be no access to hospitals if something goes wrong, dealing with the police and courts under prohibition act, and the same.
Dombivali is the place where the immigrants work round the clock - leaving at 6 and returning at 10, only to sleep with a roof on their heads. Weekends are washed away in completing the week's domestic chores. It is also the place where the locals hang about all day in empty streets, trying to comprehend the changes and fit in. It leaves both in discomfort - no sense of acceptance or security for the immigrants and no sense of acceptance or direction of life for the locals, a very dangerous mix that may fall either way. Only one certainty prevails - nobody goes to sleep with a content mind.
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