Prabhukunj
Kaustubh Pingle
who MUST imitate sans the thought and care that went into the original.
In some places, the goal of the uppity octopus concrete skyline has
swallowed up an otherwise visible to everyone ocean.
Now... You pay per view!
And never mind construction dust ... never mind the fishing-folk and
lost livelihoods as well the fresh catch of the day being available to
all and sundry at a humane price ... never mind the fact that TODAY
there are more children (including those in the richest upper 5%
bracket) suffering from bronchitis, asthma and allied breathing
disorders ... never mind the numbers of labourers lost in the walls or
falling off the scaffolding in boiling heat... the skyline marches on.
You make it like Manhattan or you die!
I've walked into some 'compounds' and come away with the feeling
of being locked inside a shinier grey ghetto! The traffic doesn't
help, but after a while and as the crust of realities change, you get
used to it.
You will get used to it. You will obey or else ...
Remember the warnings of the author of the Milgram Experiment and Small
World phenomenon? Na...aah? Okay. Google it.
Maybe the realities I grew up with differ... but the beauty of a blue
sky and turquoise ocean, of space and sea and shore can never be
replaced by shiny concrete. Nor can they be replicated. Period!
There is no place for history or humanity in such projects. Those who
smell blood, are so hot on the chase that they go blind to all else.
And they must.
How else can you create a monument to a 21st century 95/5society? Yes
95% ordinary and 5% extraordinarily RICH!
How else can you exemplify allegiance to the big plan meant to crown
some and homogenise and neutralise the rest?
How else do you differentiate between the queen and the worker bees?
There is no place that is safe from this onslaught. It's called
'progress'... The Magic Word to conjure visions of such personal
glory/well being that poor Joe laps it up and cheerily goes to work-
stale sandwich and pills, all handy.
He doesn't know that in the final summation he remains 'Poor
Joe'.
And that's where the heartache is, in knowing that we are all being
steadily programmed to not know, nor think, discern or voice. .
_____
I used to drive past Peddar Road as a child, look up at this white
building close to the Mahalakshmi temple and everyone would point and
say "Prabhu Kunj - Mangeshkar Nivas". I could see people fold
their hands in mute namaskaar ... silently paying respects to the
fabulous family of singers and musicians who lived there on the first
floor. If the curtains on the extreme left windows were open, a
lifesize portrait of Lata Mangeshkar could be easily seen as also
sometimes the silhouettes of people moving around! My imgination would
run ... to greet everyone ... On the extreme right lives my hero! Asha
Bhosle. I had caught sight of her sitting on the swing once. And told
the world. And watched my world delight! Blue sky, open ocean and
all...
Prabhukunj ... the garden of the Gods! The Mangeshkars and the Bhosles
have lived there for almost half a century. And Mumbai or Bombay has
followed their phenomenal careers rise and take on the whole world.
Their home is a piece of our history, our culture, India's success
story.
Their home will now be out of sight, bunked under a flyover that will
give Peddar Road some relief from the growing traffic of the many, many
cars that must be bought and sold .... Never mind the pollution and
never mind the fact that Fire Trucks may not be able to cross over in
emergencies!
Forget history, even common sense has no place in this mode of
'Progress'!
And what of a family's personal heartache ... Does anybody really
care? 50 years of building lives, bit by bit ... a sense of belonging
... a sacred space?
No. The media will 'do' the story, some of us will hurt ... the
rest will 'do' their cluck and run and we'll get used to it.
After all, didn't we get used to living in matchboxes, with 3X3'
baths and 2X3' kitchens and 450 square feet of living space! Aren't
we now used to being profiled and e-coded, labelled and pigeonholed?
So now we build Manhattan! Asian Style. It just may be the way out of
the boxes/cages/hives ... we want desperately to believe
Or it may be an idea - without the spirit or the mind!
Wishing you AWAKE AND HOWLING!
-----------------
Written by a respected personality in Dubai, getting frustrated over
the shifting of the Mangeshkars and Bhosles from Prabhukunj
Abhay Phadnis
(snip)
> Wishing you AWAKE AND HOWLING!
>
> -----------------
>
> Written by a respected personality in Dubai, getting frustrated over
> the shifting of the Mangeshkars and Bhosles from Prabhukunj
Has the gentleman who wrote this ever driven on the flyover that spans
Mohammed Ali road, where - from the flyover - one can practically shake
hands with people in the buildings that line the road? Where were all
these people, who are so concerned about the environment now, when that
flyover - and so many like it - were built? Have any of them prostested
even retrospectively about these monstrosities? Why does it suddenly
become a big deal when people named Mangeshkar or Bhosle have to suffer
the same fate that the nameless, faceless, helpless residents of
Mohammed Ali Road have had to endure?
Warm regards,
Abhay
AR
I second Abhay. The needs of a city (in this case, solution to a
traffic problem) are of much greater importance than the (supposed)
comforts of one or two individuals. And it's not even as if the two
great ladies are being displaced from their home to make way for a new
road!
Ketan
Well they have voluntarily sought to be displaced. Mid-day says they have
purchased flats in the Lower Parel/Phoenix Mills area for around 7-8 crores
each. The primary reason cited is that "Prabhukunj" was becoming too small for
LM, AB and her one son and his family who lives with her, and HM and his family.
Given that earlier people in that part of town were used to the mill siren
blaring early in the a.m; they will now have to hear the voices of two sirens :)
doing their riyaaz.
As for the person who wrote this article who laments on the building of
flyovers...isn't it ironical that he lives in Dubai, a CITY which today uses
more cement than most COUNTRIES to build its hotels, flyovers and Palm shaped
islands. I am sure he thinks that's progress though.
Ketan
Kaustubh Pingle
> As for the person who wrote this article who laments on the building of
> flyovers...isn't it ironical that he lives in Dubai, a CITY which today uses
> more cement than most COUNTRIES to build its hotels, flyovers and Palm shaped
> islands.
She is a lady and a housewife staying here for 25+ years at the same
place which was very far from the city those days, but now surrounded
by concrete jungles in the past 4 years only ( 10years back that place
was right in the middle of a desert and ironically the name of the
locality is "Jebel Ali Village" ) :-)
> I am sure he thinks that's progress though.
Ketan and his assumptions !!!!!!!!!
KCP
Ketan
Pingle says...
Let's see. You post an anonymous article, put a postscript of "Written by a
respected personality in Dubai blah blah..." to give it a veneer of
authenticity, leave the door open wide enough to drive a truck through for all
possible interpretations, and then want to sit and accuse others of assuming
things? If your crib is that I put a "he" instead of a "s/he", I accept, but
that's a minor point. This person might be a respected personality to you, not
to me, since I don't even know who it is. And what's the big idea of now adding
that she is a lady and a housewife? Would her article have more/less relevance
if she was a street vagabond and/or a working woman? I fail to see what your
response is supposed to achieve besides showing that you agree with me on what I
have said about Dubai and its rapid growth.
I suggest you lay off those camel rides, lest they bounce out some further
outrageous posts.
Ketan
Kaustubh Pingle
> And what's the big idea of now adding
> that she is a lady and a housewife?
Read your own words Ketan. "laments" and "ironical" -
Housewife and 25+ years living in a village, literally explain things.
But anyways its difficult to make you understand simple things in life,
it seems :-)
KCP
Kaustubh Pingle
> This person might be a respected personality to you, not
> to me, since I don't even know who it is.
Ok then ask Dr Shekhar ( I am sure you have respect towards him :-) )
KCP
Ketan
Pingle says...
I had no idea Dr. Shekhar was a lady. I have met him and he didn't look like
one. When did this happen? [not that there's anything wrong with it]
Ketan