Once They Had A Home ,,, Now They Live On The Roads

This scene is from my Demolition diaries ,,, these are the survivors of a demolition of their shanties off Rang Sharda Hotel Bandra Reclamation ,,

When these illegal shanties were being built not a single person nor the police or Municipality took objection..and when it became populous noisy adding to the urban chaos the bulldozers rolled in.. and these few families are still living with a hope ,, their kids study in nearby Municipal schools ,, husbands work as daily wage earners ,, or the older kids do odd jobs rest move around as vagrants .

And now a road is being built here I was told connecting to the sealink so work is going on.. there are lots of slums on either side of this road ..mostly migrants contract laborers ,, I really dont know much about them I see them as humanbeings ,,and feel sad for the kids .. who come hovering around me to take their pictures ,,,

The women wash cook do their domestic chores on this road ..sadness written on their faces ,, somebody who set them up here to build their homes in collusion with rogues in the authorities must have taken huge sums as protection money illegal electricity water connection... leaving them high and dry.

I have shot a lot of demolished communities Mahim Mori Road , Byculla and as Mumbai is a integral city of Dreams they come ,, in hordes to try out their luck.. failed youth get into wrong society become drug addicts drug peddlers ,,some end up as scavengers collecting dry garbage ,..for plastic bottles and beer bottles other junk.

Bandra Reclamation is the saddest place filthy ugly and will never be slum free ,, slums were created here by the politicians their sycophants as vote banks ,, some became rich now have number of rooms in the slums that are given out on hire to the rickshawalas .. after Gazdar Bandh Santa Cruz .. we have the largest number of auto rickshas and not a single toilet from Nargis Dutt Nagar till Lilavati Hospital.. so the migrants use the seafront off the Bandra Reclamation Promenade ,, most of the politicians are aware of all this but some are opportunists ,, and have caused this state of turmoil in the first place .

Lot of petty criminals , anti social elements live in the Lal Mitti belt ,,robberies at Bandra Bazar Road .. happen and crime continues ,, the criminals are certainly not scared of the cops ,, and what do you expect when you read cops taking to crime involved in blackmail extortion rape and custodial deaths ,,

And nobody wants to sensitize the cops ,, there is no Police reforms .. long hours of duty on stretch , potbellied cops .. and once when we were young we though Mumbai Police was better than Scotland Yard.. police has been politicized ,, and these are my personal views I dont belong to any political or religious party..but it saddens me as an Indian ,.. our religion has become politicized too.. we run our lives via Facebook Twitter hellbent on propagating our bias our faith .. on the soul of our Nation.. we are badly divided as Congis Leftists Bhakts and Sanghis Aptards ,,

We are hardly Indians anymore .

Mr Karnik Bandra Reclamation

Artistically at ease peacefully resplendent he was sitting on a bench with his friends at the MET Grounds Bandra Reclamation.. I was taking my walk but the photographer in me could not resist walking up to him and complimenting him on the splendor of his well sculpted face and asking him if I could take his picture on my camera phone HTC Desire 826,, As his friends sitting next to him knew me , he obliged and I shot him in the evening of of our 69 Independence Day,, I took three shots , and he saw the colored version I told him I would work on them at home..

And I love shooting senior citizens , they have seen more winters than me , their struggle hardships in their youthful days and now in their 80 s relaxing looking back at those days ,, as memories .

Most of these senior citizens are retired bureaucrats , and live around the MET Grounds , evenings are spent at the park, watching kids playing cricket and football or the other walkers joggers ..at the far end of the park maintained by MET is the iconic tennis courts ,, and one of the tennis court is a basketball court too..

I normally walk in the mornings play some tennis thanks to Coach Surendra Pawar , but sometimes if I am free I come and walk about 3 km in the evenings at the MET Grounds ..

Sundays is chaotic and boisterous with the entire park reverberating with filthy abuses by the skull caps playing cricket as though it is the last day on Earth.

A Coach Is A Guide Who Lights Your Way ..

Everyone needs a coach. It doesn't matter whether you're a basketball player, a tennis player, a gymnast or a bridge player.
Bill Gates

While I was taking my rounds at the MET Grounds Bandra Reclamation , the weather absolutely endearing , Mr Surendra Pawar invited me to the tennis court for a round of Tennis and so a racket in hand I began to learn the fine art and nuances of the game I had never played as a child or later as an adult ,,

While I was playing this 83 year old senior citizen Mr Dhome was watching us from behind the fence , he too was fascinated  seeing me play , so to ease his curiosity Mr Pawar invited him in , made him get over his surprise and fear handed him the racket and I shot these few frames ,, Mr Dhome 83 is a retired bureaucrat who was a champion in other sports but had never played tennis in his life ,, so Mr Pawar our coach has decided to teach us both .. I was drenched to the bone playing tennis , but after the game I continued my rounds and headed home after 4 km.

So Mr Surendra Pawar is giving us- senior citizens a chance to become young .. and get back into the greater game of life with fresh zeal and vigor ,,

He Came From Orissa To Follow His Dreams ,, He Is A Bandra Ragpicker

He was wondering why I called him out he was sorting garbage ,scavenging for items to sell .. near the garbage site close to my house and bang opposite the Bandra BJP office adjoining the Indraji Nagar slums .. And I sometime wonder is it Muslim slums that generated the maximum filth .. all Muslim slums be it the Nargis Dutt Nagar Shastri Nagar Bandra Station , Bandra Slaughter House are deplorable unattended by the Municipality .

Most of the dumping site like Shastri Nagar  Bandra and Bandra Bazar road are meeting places for drunks drugaddicts and the Bandra cops know it too but than they wont dirty their hands catching scums that have nothing to give or live for .

And so back to Sudip from Orissa , he was hesitant to talk to me but I was dressed in normal clothes and did not look like a cop or a Sufi monk.

He works odd hours and this garbage site is his normal beat ..he earns about 300 per day scavenging plastic , metal stuff and other odds and ends .

He eats food at the stalls and survives on tea .. I did not ask him if he was a drug addict.. or the interview would have abruptly stopped .

And I am now seriously documenting the unknown ragpicker who does a great service to selfish society.. he does it passionately with devotion than the highly paid Municipal sweeper .. with reasonable hours great perks .

As for our ragpicker who the fuck really cares for him , he is a social stigma ,an untouchable in all reality ..the ministers talk discuss about the dumping grounds of Kanjur Marg and Mulund do they discuss about ragpicker Tamil ladies , men children besides this motley crew of drugaddicts .

And as a street photographer I need fodder for my blogs .. and so I train my lens on these lowest of the low scavengers ,, and some of them because of their drug intake can be violent hyper and volatile ..and they dont trust anyone but their own.

They are dirty , unclean and some have gangrenous wounds  they get treated at Bhabha Hospital and beg outside St Peter Church..and Jesus is the only God with compassion they identify with his followers who give them food alms ..

I met a mother son duo a few days back the son was about 10 years old assisting his mother  searching for Hope in the over spilling garbage bins ,,

The corporators ministers who go on foreign junket to learn about sewage and other facilities .. dont they learn something about garbage management that could help Mumbai city of Garbage bursting at the seams ..I am really astonished at the waste of public money without any accountability without any returns ..

And now that Mr Sharukh Khans Ramp has been duly demolished can we get back to Bandra .. The Christians are happy its time they made all of Bandra happy too..

The Rickshawalas of Bandra Reclamation

Perhaps the largest congregation of rickshas in Bandra , a hub for the drivers is Bandra Reclamation ,, from Lal Mitti till the end of Bandra Reclamation you can see the rickshas parked in the wee hours of the morning for the morning shift.

Most of the ricksha drivers are from Uttar Pradesh and most of them are from Kannauj a few are from Allahabad .

Some of the rich rickshawallas have rented rooms at Lal Mitti or at Nargis Dutt Nagar and live as a community , maybe up to ten in a room and they share the rent possibly.

Most of the rickshah belong to the drivers or to the bosses ..a large number of ricksha drivers live in their rickshas , sleep in the rickshas , As there is no public toilet at Lal Mitti most of them use the mound of Rang Sharda , They bathe at other public toilets it seems .. and tea and snacks at the the lady Chaiwali at the corner of Bandra Reclamation.

Close to this ladys tea stall is another tea stall near the MNS office he makes vada pav pav bhaji and has a booming business and has a tea stall too.

In the morning when I set out for my walk the ricksha wallas or all up , and they have hired a few guys who clean their rickshas , I know most of the drivers as they take me on my trips around Bandra Juhu or Kurla.

And as most of them know I am a Dam Madar Malang the Holy Shrine of Makanpur is very close to Kannauj, they are very hospitable and kind..and hospitality and kindness is not the key words in the dictionary of the rickshawala.

But compared to the Bandra Shastri Nagar sharing ricksha goons these guys are more timid and not that blunt or rough.

But they get robbed by cops too,beaten and bullied and have to bear the torture , so most of the Rickshas here are are affiliated to one political party or another .

And these are my mental estimate of the ricksha guys i have talked to , I have not interviewed them per se.

And somebody more journalistic than me should do a storu on these migrant workers all UP based and sadly none were invited to the Tilak ceremony of the Mulayam Singh scion at Saifai.

And seeing the happy lot of Delhi rickshawalla who have a great patron in Mr Arvind Kejriwal they hope that he comes to Mumbai and takes up their cause as they say the Unions here are only self beneficiaries and have done nothing to save them from rogue cops  and others.And most of them tell me they would support  the Am Admi Party to get a better deal and better prospects living here ..some are Mumbai based voters among these lot ,their patrons and sponsors who are rich rickshaw owners  .Most of them predominantly are Muslims .
I think the Hindu ricksha drivers UP migrants are from Gazdar Bandh.. one of the biggest ricksha hubs of Santacruz .all parked at North Avenue close to the Potohar Gurudwara.

The MET Grounds Bandra Reclamation Where I Take My Walks

I began walking since 10 Feb ..I walk for about an hour ..
For instance okay  I left my house wearing a new pair of non branded keds ..as I normally walk barefeet or wear slippers I was wearing my wifes keds ,,

This morning I left my house at Bandra Reclamation at 5.40 I walked all the way till the end of Bandra Reclamation beyond the bus depot and took a U turn from Agasty building ,, last building there .. I reached there at 6.09 and walked back via Leelavati Hospital to the MET Grounds to the second part of my walk..

I entered the grounds at 6.15 am .. took 10 rounds the ground is 280 mtrs I was out by 6.45 am than took some street shots of our famous garbage sites at Bandra Reclamation a BJP stronghold and Swach Bandra to me is an impossible dream simply because  the residents mostly slum dwellers dump the garbage in the most abominable manner the garbage bins overflow and the garbage is mostly aimed to the bin but fails to make its mark..

And the garbage bin outside our erstwhile MLA Advocate Ashish Shelars office is another ugly site , here to the slum dwellers throw the garbage outside the bin.. and the Bandra Municipality is the laziest it hardly has staff that can implement Modijis favorite  Swach Bharat Abhiyan..and I say all this as a Bandraite , and this part of ugly Bandra has literally gone to the Dogs.

And I dont merely talk I show it with pictures be it on my mobile hone and it is a sad display of peoples love for filth that they will throw carelessly on public property and roads ..

Neither am I an activist or member of any political party I am a resident of Bandra if it hurts me I am sure it should hurt my MP and my MLA too... our Congress Corporator wont even come to this side of Bandra because of the recent Congress losses ..is all I can think in his defense.

MTNL BROADBAND A NIGHTMARE ON DEMAND

photo courtesy Google images

I am a subscriber
MTNL Broadband
i am at their mercy for bad
service infrastructure
why i dont understand
this is technology in our land
corruption scams hope
of a nation on quicksand
so many letters of complaint
to their office at Bandra Reclamation
my poetic pain i wont expand
internet service provider
tasteless totally bland
MTNL broadband
a nightmare on demand
their linesmen come
change wires using
an old magic wand but
after some time
it is the same story
my cosmic fate caught
in catastrophe of a
screwed up cybernetic plan
tears i shed as a photographer
poet blogger i hope
their GM Of MTNL reads this
humanly understands
but if he has a Reliance
connection at his home
dont blame him
than this is my last
plea of agony
my sartorial satire
serendipity serenity
my bejeweled hand
my equity my home grown brand