One Big Slum

Kabir said....
Ati Ka Bhala Na Bolna, Ati Ki Bhali Na Choop
Ati Ka Bhala Na Barasna, Ati Ki Bhali Na Dhoop

How well Mumbiites and Delhites will relate to the second line! Till only two years back, one would talk of Mumbai rains with a romantic tinge. These days it brings fear of God.

They say once private builders move into a city, the 'slummisation' of the city begins. Today this city is one big slum - of concrete. The builder-politico nexus has virtually killed the city.

Generally, in any city, the walled city is the haphahazard one, and the new areas are better planned and livable. In Mumbai it's the reverse. That means that there has been no planned new construction.

One has to look at a Hyderabad or a Delhi to learn what planned construction is all about.

Pune too is going Mumbai's way, or should I say already gone. On every hillock, and every pit, you can see apartments coming up without any proper roads. Whatever roads were there are either very narrow, or they have been washed away in the just-begun monsoons.

There is no entity called Pune Development Authority, while most other cities do have. They might have never developed a single apartment over here. Builders do it all. But they don't make roads. Corporation guys don't seem to do that either.

I pity those people who pay obscene sum to the builders, after taking ridiculous amount of loan, for the nth floor flat, in a building which lies in the remotest pit of the city with no roads, no corporation water, and no shops around.

One day, that pit will also get filled with rain water. Like it did last year.

This is what I call a slum, even though its not by the strict definition. Bad town planning has killed this paradise.