Mumbai Musings

Stalker Attack
In keeping with the slightly new tradition of Unsafe Mumbai, actor Shruti Hassan was attacked in her house by a stalker, who reportedly followed her around everywhere. After she slammed the door on him in self-defence, screamed and followed, after he ran away, to alert the security, the man escaped nonetheless. She has now filed a police complaint with the Bandra Police station. And it turns out that it was a spot- boy from a film unit, who was stalking her. He has been arrested. Whether it is a security lapse, where he walked in after entering his name in the register, is another matter, but the fact remains that even the plush and supposedly free and safe cosmopolitan suburb of the city, Bandra, is also not free from the clutches of creeps. 

Unsafe Mumbai
As if to consolidate that perception of unsafe Mumbai, a white paper on city’s crime released by the Praja Foundation says nearly 21% of their respondents felt insecure in the city. Some of their findings:

• "However, a distinct majority (70%) of those who witnessed a crime or faced a crime were satisfied with the cop response.
• Rape cases have increased by a dramatic 57% between April-March 2011-12 and April-March 2012-13. In south central Mumbai, rape cases almost doubled from 37 in 2011-12 to 66 in 2012-13.
• Investigations for crimes are generally carried out by Police Sub Inspectors (PSI) and Assistant Police Inspectors (API). Data garnered for these two designations (API & PSI) reveals that a shocking 50% gap exists between personnel sanctioned and actual postings in the Mumbai police.
• Consequently, conviction rate for crimes in Mumbai has gone down to an abysmal low 7% in 2012 from 10% plus the previous year for class II serious offences.
• Only 11 MLAs have asked a total of only 15 questions on manpower shortage and low conviction rate in the legislative assembly during the year. 
• How will the police and the custodians of the city plan out policies and find solutions, if more and more elected representatives don’t ask pertinent questions?” 

True that.

The Silent Killer
And there were some other disturbing figures that made to some headlines. Two years ago, cases of extremely drug resistant tuberculosis (XXDR-TB) in Mumbai made everyone in New Delhi sit up and take notice of the deadly disease. Among many measures that were put in place was installation of Gene Xpert, a device that detects drug resistance almost immediately (other tests take a few weeks). Figures revealed by the civic body showed more than 2000 patients diagnosed with MDR-TB (multiple drug resistant TB) in 2012 and 2013. Prior to that only 181 and 53 were diagnosed. It also goes to show how many may have fallen through the gaps of diagnosis and treatment. More importantly, in other parts of the city and the state where these devices do not exist, how many may still be undetected?

Campa Cola Continues
No, nothing is going to happen to the compound till May 2014. However, the entire episode has rattled every related official and department from the BMC and the state government. Now the chief minister, who came under fire for following the rulebook and “not acting fast enough”, has written to the Centre regarding the pending Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, citing the chaos around Campa Cola, so that such incidents should not occur in future. The bill may address such issues related to purchase of apartments and the onus of such transactions. There is little doubt about the need for something of this sort for the housing woes of ever-increasing population of this island city. However, what happens to the already existing bad deals is another matter.

Curiouser and curiouser
Even as the hurriedly constructed and curated memorial garden for Bal Thackeray attracted thousands on November 17, Sena leaders met NCP chief Sharad Pawar to spearhead the movement for finding a plot for an appropriate memorial. He has graciously accepted. While there may be little doubt, that he is the most powerful politician in the state, especially now that Bal Thackeray is gone, not everyone is happy with the move. Reports say that among the party workers in Shiv Sena, the move is also being viewed as further weakening of Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership. May be he does not mind who gets the credit of getting the memorial done as long as a fitting space and structure is created. However, he may mind this-- what if it takes him further away from his father’s dream of Uddhav as a supreme Sena leader?

Another Memorial
Many will remember the cold-blooded murder of veteran crime reporter J Dey in broad daylight, allegedly committed by Chota Rajan gang in June 2011. No, not that the trial is over or fresh investigations reveal anything new. However, there is a proposal to name a chowk in Powai, where he lived and where he was shot at, after him. “Naming a chowk after him will be a great tribute to the departed journalist. It will also be an inspiration for the next generation,” said Krishna Parkar, chairperson of the Works Committee as quoted by a newspaper. Wouldn't a proper investigation and prosecution be a better tribute?

Forever Sachin
And we thought with that announcement of Bharat Ratna we had closed the Sachin chapter with a smile. No, not yet. The state government has decided to include a chapter on the little master in its school curriculum. Although nothing has been decided about the content, it is likely to be an inspirational account of his achievements and challenges he overcame during his 24-year-long illustrious career. Will it now attract parents and children going to other school boards such as ICSE, CBSE and IB? Those who studied in the 90s will remember a chapter from Sunny Days, which had a lovely account of Sunil Gavaskar playing the game with flair despite a nagging toothache. Whether it made cricketers out of children or not, it surely inspired us to bear toothaches with a grin.