Mumbai Musings

Shivaji for one, Shivaji for all

Keeping their eyes firmly on the upcoming elections (as if the dates are announced), union minister Jayanti Natarajan, who was in the city to discuss several environmental issues, has given an in principle approval for the Shivaji Maharaj Memorial off the Mumbai coast. She has made is clear that it was a ‘special’ case considering the memorial is likely to be built on a cluster of rocks in the Arabian Sea. Environmentalists have opposed it saying this is breach of Coastal Regulation Rules. More importantly, some have asked, “Does the government need to spend so much money on creating/constructing a 300 feet statue in the middle of the sea instead of using that money for the drought, dilapidated buildings or safety and security of the people?” Yes and no. According to the chief minister it is a very emotional issue for the people of Maharashtra. May be this is their way of claiming the warrior king from Shiv Sena and showing that Congress too can be emotional about Shivaji.

Dilapidated Mumbai

Since the start of the Monsoon, the city and its neighbouring suburbs has seen several cases of building collapse, of them four killing more than 70 people in all. Rizwan Merchant, who lost his mother, wife and son in the Altaf Mansion collapse earlier this month, has decided to fight and get to the bottom of the case. He told the press that he won’t let the deaths of his loved ones go futile. He was back at work in less than a week and has already filed applications opposing anticipatory bail for the owners of the building. He has been getting calls for help from residents of several such buildings, he said. When the systems fail, clearly the victims have no choice but to get together.

BMC Facebook

Amidst all the bad news, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is still hopeful about its popularity. Last week they started a ‘public interaction service’ through social networking site Facebook. A page called BMC, Mumbai : Public Interaction Forum has been launched on Facebook and citizens have been urged to ‘like’ the page and communicate with authorities. It has only got about 300 likes so far and has some nice sepia pictures of the city. Wonder how many would have clicked if FB had a thumbs down icon.

Oil spill fears

Two tankers anchored in the vicinity of Mumbai coast had coast guard and environment experts worried for the past few weeks. However, union minister Jayanti Natarajan’s visit may result in some positive action. She spoke of creating a corpus for salvage operations so that the government does not have to wait for funds to be released from the owners of the ship. This move is likely to help prevention of spread of oil spill if any and will minimise the ecological damage. She also said that Indian coast has 40 such ships, a large number and a bigger concern for authorities, who need to negotiate with different countries to get them removed.

Pilgrims' Return 

Of the nearly 3000 pilgrims from Mahrashtra, who were stuck in different parts of Uttarakhand more than 2100 have been rescued, said a government press release. At least 500 seem to be stuck and waiting to be rescued. CM Prithviraj Chavan has visited the site and spoken to some of the pilgrims. He announced financial and medical help. Most of the persons were stranded at Gaurikund, Badrinath, Sukhitop, Guptakashi, Rambada, Jangalchatti, Gangotri, Jamnotri. The pictures of those rescued and brought to Mumbai by flights or trains, speak a thousand words.

Marathi Karva Chauth

You may be aware that June 23 was a super moon day, when the moon looked its brightest because of its proximity to earth, but it was also Vata Purnima – the Marathi karva chauth. As a custom it involves fasting (as always) and tying a thread around the trunk of a banyan tree— all for health and happiness of your husband (of course it is done only by women) and the prayer holds good apparently for all seven lives.. Now since banyan trees are not as common as we would have liked, people sell the leaves on this day so that women can perform the puja. There is no estimate of how many poor banyan trees were robbed of their leaves but there were ample branches strewn around in markets by Sunday evening. And yes, all the Marathi serials celebrated it with ample dose of drama, conspiracy, competition and creativity, if I may say so.