Category — Mumbai

No one had believed MSRDC when they claimed that the flyover on the Western Express Highway near the Mumbai domestic airport junction would be partially opened for traffic on the 15th of July. But true to their word, the north-bound part of the flyover was duly inaugurated on 15th as planned.

I know for a fact that people heaved sighs of relief knowing that the days of crawling, bumper-to-bumper traffic in that area were at an end. One FM radio station in Mumbai had even run a contest in the last few days asking people if they believed the flyover would indeed be inaugurated as planned on the 15th. I had also experienced those terrible traffic snarls while commuting back from work.

For now, the three lanes that have been opened for traffic have been divided into two single lanes for traffic to flow in either direction. With this arrangement, the traffic situation has improved tremendously. I know that because I tried out the flyover in both directions during my commute to and from office today. The surface finishing on the flyover is tacky and the haste to meet the 15th July deadline shows in the rough edges. But for once MSRDC delivered on their promise (even though the promise was given after repeatedly failing to meet earlier deadlines) and one can only hope that the flyover will begin full service on 31st December 2008, which incidentally is the second half of MSRDC’s promise regarding the domestic airport junction flyover.

Fresh margherita pizza from the wood-fired ovens at Vista, the 24-hour café at Taj Land’s End, Mumbai. It was the part of a scrumptious brunch buffet I enjoyed there, with a couple of dear friends, last Sunday. The Sunday Brunch buffet at Vista comes highly recommended… if one discounts the desserts. I think the best buffet desserts are available at any of the restaurants in at Marriott, Mumbai.

… before they hatch!

That was the thought in my mind early this morning when I read a report in the print edition of DNA while having my breakfast. The report mentioned that the Scotland Yard of UK had expressed its desire to meet the Mumbai police in order to understand how the 7/11 case was cracked so swiftly.

Of course I do not know the volume and quality of hard evidence gathered by the crime branch or the ATS in connection with the 7/11 case. But it was pretty clear that most of the case would have been built around confessions from the ‘accused’ who had been arrested by the police. And pretty much everyone knows how short-lived these confessions can be! So… to talk about showing off to Scotland Yard, was pretty premature, in my opinion.

And sure enough, as if on cue… comes another report which informs that the seven accused in 7/11 train bombings had retracted their statements saying that the ‘confessions’ were made under duress! And this, even before the accused have been taken out of police custody (and into judicial custody) where they made the ‘confessions’ in the first place!

Well, I just hope that the claims of cracking the 7/11 case, made in that impressive press-conference by AN Roy and the ATS, were made based on concrete proofs and not just circumstancial evidence along with confessions from the fickle accused!

A Congress delegation will meet Maharashtra CM today, to ask for tax exemption for Lage Raho Munnabhai.

The problem is… the movie has already been declared ‘Tax Free’ with effect from today!

Some time back, I had the opportunity of hearing Kumar Ketkar (currently chief editor of Loksatta and formerly editor of Maharashtra Times and other leading newspapers) speak at a private function. It was a freewheeling talk without structure but a lot of relevance. I usually don’t agree with his political views, but his talk that day was not political. He spoke of the genesis of his leftist leanings and the part played by his school, teachers, friends, etc. in his life. An important point that he stressed quite elaborately was the manner in which Marathi was fast losing relevance in contemporary times in Maharashtra in general and Mumbai in particular. He was quite saddened by the fact that not a lot of people could articulate effectively in Marathi. Most of the people present there nodded in silent agreement… Marathi has indeed been reduced to a second-grade language, they thought.

Cut to yesterday…

I was commuting home after a long day at work when I saw a huge billboard exhorting people to take their pick. On choice were two newspapers, ‘Mumbai Mirror’ and ‘Maharashtra Times’. The offer was to choose either one of these dailies as a complimentary accompaniment to a subscription of ‘The Times of India’.

I could not help but cringe at the thought of pairing up an institution like ‘Maharashtra Times’ (true it has lost a lot of its sheen in recent times, but it remains a Maharashtrian institution in spirit) with a sensational tabloid like ‘Mumbai Mirror’.

I know this isn’t fully representative of a general apathy towards Marathi, but it does go a long way towards that! And I couldn’t help but nod silently as I thought back to Kumar Ketkar’s words while staring at the hoarding before the traffic lights turned green and the bus lurched headlong into the rush hour traffic.