I moved to Mumbai in July last year. I was highly relieved and excited when I found that unlike most of my peers, I would be spending next couple of years at a place other than Bangalore. I have a terrible experience struggling with the mismanaged transport infrastructure of Bangalore during my internship time. The city lacks subways, and one can rarely cross a street without getting stranded for minutes.

I must mention that the relief I talked about was not unfounded. I visited Mumbai for 5 days in September 2003 for the Aditya Birla Scholarships interview. Though I did not get much time to roam around, that visit reinforced the cosmopolitan image of Mumbai I had my mind. While travelling from the railway station to the destination and back, the weather and the path made it feel exactly like the movie scenes where the lead is travelling in a cool town in his open jeep. The only place we visited out of our way was Gateway of India (well, not exactly “out of the way”; we stayed in The Taj). I left the city wanting to come back and have a better look around soon.

Ironically, it saddens me to realize that I now work and stay in Mumbai. Sixteen months into it, I have found that the city is nowhere near the “Mumbai” I experienced in my first trip. Well, a lot of things still attract me, and will always do. But if I leave these “fascinations” aside, I dare say that everything else about this city is screwed up. Yes, in the real sense of the word!

Picture this:

7:00 AM. Wake up. Check email. Internet not working. Bah.

7:30 AM. Wake up call from Mom. Start talking. Call gets dropped after 20 seconds. Huh.

8:00 AM. Watch news channels. Read newspaper. Someone broke something in town yesterday. Someone is doing something about it. All the same. Crib. Show me the NEWs!

9:00 AM. Get ready for office. Fortunately everything is in order in the bath. Yay!

9:35 AM. Auto-rickshaws not on strike. Relief. Hunt for an empty one.

9:40 AM. Could not find an empty one. Curse mankind for over-population. Start walking towards office.

9:45 AM. Walked nearly 1 km. Pity the godforsaken roads. Finally found an auto. Thank God. Yippee!

9:50 AM. Stuck in traffic jam. Half road blocked due to construction. Vehicles parked carelessly on the other half. Curse mankind again. Curse yourself. Curse everyone. No point. Wait and watch.

10:00 AM. Somehow manage to reach office on time. Thank God.

2:00 PM. Feel like eating outside today. Come out. Get wet – either due to heavy rain or due to sultry sun. Crib. Return. Eat random office meal.

9:00 PM. Reach home. Check mail. Net working dead slow. Try calling Mom. Network strength weak. Wait.

9:15 PM. Try calling Mom again. Connects this time. Voice breaking. Crib. Get frustrated. Bid an early good night. Have dinner.

10:00 PM. Net crawling. Takes minutes to open mail account. Curse. Curse. Curse.

To sum up, no network connectivity on Vodafone phone, crawling Tata Indicom “broadband”, broken roads, no traffic management, overcrowded local trains – all in all, a total infrastructure breakdown.

Would you want to stay in a “financial capital” that offers you this kind of a lifestyle? And, above all, costs you more than Rs. 15 thousand per month?

I have to. And many others.

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(Photo courtesy Norfolk website)

I hope it works.I hope this does not get away as just another enacted-but-hardly-implemented law.

In an extra-ordinary development, I found the news channels flooding with a real breaking-news (yes, for a change, a real breaking news). I emphasize that bit because a real breaking news comes as a fresh change in a nation full of news channels treating all kind of non-stories as breaking news (in the rarest chance that you do not get what I mean, read about the great INDIA TV here, here and here). Let me stop talking here about the news channels because their stupidity needs another blog post.

I strongly believe that smoking in public places should be banned. While other addictions (drugs, alcohol etc.) do not affect anyone other than the active user, smoking is one thing that affects even the most remotely concerned. At numerous occasions, I have found myself seeking freedom to breathe when I am with friends in a bar/pub.

I started the article with the “I hope” statement for a reason. Today morning, the day when this smoking ban starts, I saw a news reporting that Mumbai government will find it hard to impose the smoking ban/fine due to insufficient manpower. So, although this ban does not bring any bit of relief to Mumbaikars (including me), I am happy for frustrated fellows like me all over the country. Now they (and hopefully after some months, I) can have the freedom to breathe-in fresh air while the smokers smoke it out at their homes.

To be honest, I treat a smoker walking on a street while I am walking around him exactly like a vehicle emitting a bad smoke while I am driving around it. Just like no one would prefer to be around a vehicle emitting repugnant black smoke, I would not prefer to be in few meters radius around a smoker. A driver will try to overtake the offending vehicle asap, and I try to overtake the smoker as soon as possible. In fact at times I find them so similar that I even contemplate pollution check for smokers! (Do comment on this post if you agree with me)

Rightfully recognized by the government, these smokers have no right to destroy the atmosphere in a serene public place with their stupidity. A drunkard becomes destructive only when he is out of his senses and starts hitting and destroying public property for no particular reason. A smoker does not even have to go through the latter bit to become a destroyer.

Come on, why can’t you smokers think of other innocent people in your vicinity who have to go through the torture because of YOUR stupidity ! Pretty simple logic; no rocket science, isn’t it?

I think I have blurted out enough to show my frustration (and a bit of relief, provided the law becomes a success).

Now, the uphill task in front of the government is to think of cool (yes, I mean cool) ways to implement this law. I, on this public space, declare that I am ready to (and will) do my bit in making this law a success.

I think given their reach and influence, this is the issue that the news channels need to be talking about for a day or two. All you “India TV”s out there, wake up and use your most influential hours, for a change, on a story that deserves mention. Use your brains and try to mobilize the masses to take up a task that will help them (and give you your most coveted TRPs). Believe me, this is the time to act and make it a huge success.

If man-power is the only issue, our valuable citizen-power can be used to catch the offenders. I was impressed by the “Shoot at sight” campaign started by The Hindustan Times to clean up Mumbai. In case you do not remember, it had planted banners all around the city urging citizens to click pics of garbage-throwers using their cellphones and send it to the newspaper office. I am sure that this works. The offender will be too embarrassed to see his picture in the next day’s newspaper.

I will update the post with more ideas as they cross my mind. You are free to comment/send your ideas to me at me@pawanjain.com.

P.S. : I love my hometown. Chandigarh, the first Indian city to go smoke free.

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