A GRAPHIC RANT BY DHWANI SHAH
I MIMICKED HER* IN THE BATHROOM MIRROR....
LOOK...I DON’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT SHIT! BUT I DO KNOW MY POSTER GIRL OF CHANGE SWELLED UP IN ME... AND I TOOK ON A SELF APPOINTED MISSION TO TELL A ‘NOT-SO-FAIRY’ TALE...
RIGHT FROM WRONG!!! *
IT IS KINDA TRUE... DESPITE HAVING LIVED HERE ALL OUR LIVES, MOST OF US HAD NOT HEARD OF MUMBAI’S RIVER MITHI. IT TOOK THE FLOODS OF JULY 26, 2005 TO TELL ME THAT THE STINKY HELL OF A SEWER, I CROSSED EVERY DAY ON MY WAY WAS ACTUALLY A RIVER! THE DELUGE THAT FOLLOWED THE 944MM RAIN (HIGHEST RAINFALL EVER RECORDED HERE IN ONE DAY) WAS LIKE IT’S CLAIM TO FAME! MORE THAN A 1000 LIVES WERE LOST AND DAMAGES WORTH MILLIONS INCURRED. ROUTINES DISRUPTED, PEOPLE WERE OUTRAGED!
THESE SARKARI BABUS ARE BLOODY KAAMCHORS! AND ALL THESE ZHOPAR-PATTI WALLAHS, THEY TRASH OUR RIVERS! FILTHY BASTARDS!
BUT MOST OF US RECOVER QUICKLY. COME HELL OR HIGH WATER, WE CONTINUE TO GO TO WORK. BECAUSE WE MUMBAIKARS ARE A HARD WORKING TRIBE.
Mumbai bounces back!
AND SO IS OUR DEAR GOVERNMENT. NO? WE HAVE LONG BELIEVED IN THE INEFFICIENCES OF OUR AUTHORITIES. BUT WE COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG! TOGETHER WITH DEVELOPERS, THEY HAVE SKILLFULLY GAMBLED OUR NATURAL RESOURCES TO GET WHAT THEY SET OUT TO DO. AT ALL COSTS!
IN A MATTER OF FEW YEARS, THEY HAVE MANAGED TO CONVERT A ONCE THRIVING RIVER
WHICH ATTRACTED MIGRATORY BIRDS, INTO A NARROW DRAIN WITH PITCH BLACK WATER OOZING WITH HAZARDOUS EFFLUENTSS. ALL IN THE INTEREST OF US BELOVED CITIZENS.
THE PAST IS STREWN WITH THEIR PAST ACHIEVEMENTS.
WHAT I STUMBLED UPON WAS ONLY THE TIP OF A (VERY DIRTY) ICEBERG.
The authorities called Mithi a ‘nallah’ (sewer) in the development plans to facilitate new building projects.
MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority) pinched her banks in the 90s to give us our business district- ‘Bandra Kurla Complex’ by destroying mangroves, ignoring warnings by several committees.
MITHI’S ORIGINAL COURSE
DIVERTED COURSE
And while the authorities demolish slums for illegal encroachment of banks, the head office of MMRDA itself stands proudly on what earlier was the basin of Mithi, violating CRZ (Coastal regulatory zone) rules.
They changed her course to extend the runaway of our international airport; diverting the river at 90 degrees at four places within half a km of it’s stretch.
More recently, they gave us the gift of ‘Bandra Worli Sea Link’ shortening a forty five minute drive to a mere seven minute; as a result, obstructing the exit of Mithi into the creek and the entering of the sea into the creek during high tide.
ALL THE WHILE, MAKING MUMBAI MORE VULNERABLE TO FLOODS!!!
NOW WAIT! DON’T YOU GO JUDGING THEM AGAIN
THE AUTHORITIES HAVEN’T IGNORED MITHI’S SACRIFICES. YES, THEY HAVE SOME BIG PLANS FOR HER TOO!
INSPIRED BY OUR NEIGHBOUR * THE AUTHORITIES WANT TO GIVE HER A GRAND MAKEOVER...
* Ahmedabad’s
Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project (supposedly a pioneer in urban transformation) had more to do with real estate than river restoration. This best practice inspiring several other river restoration projects across the nation, changed the character of Sabarmati from seasonally flowing to an impounded tank, borrowing water from the Narmada canal. The project not only tampered with its water carrying capacity but also displaced many urban poor.
A SWANKING NEW RIVERFRONT THAT WILL SWEEP YOU AWAY.
L-I-T-E-R-A-L-L-Y
THIS YEAR WILL MARK THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 2005 DELUGE. AND EVERYTHING IS GOING GOOD.
MITHI CONTINUES TO LIMP THROUGH THE CITY. The river’s revival plan has been progressing at a snail’s pace. Scarcely any action has been taken to fulfil the promises to clean her, in a bid to prevent a repeat of July 26, 2005 when the city experienced what were its worst ever floods.
THE AUTHORITIES PRESENT US WITH SOME MORE TICKING TIME BOMBS GIFT-WRAPPED IN LIES AND WE REJOICE!
Despite the Mithi diversion fiasco, the authorities new ambition is the Navi Mumbai Airport, which would, besides the diversion of Gadhi and Ulwe rivers, involve reclamation of low-lying areas in an ecologically fragile zone as well as damage and destruction of about five thousand acres of mangroves, which according to the Union Environment & Forests Ministry is a serious threat considering the destruction Mumbai faced during the 2005 floods. AFTER GOING THROUGH A CONFUSING SET OF EMOTIONS, THE ECO-WARRIOR IN ME DISAPPEARED. A RELUCTANT SEARCH PARTY HAS BEEN ORGANIZED.
SCHOOL CHILDREN MUG UP NAMES OF IMPORTANT RIVERS OF THE WORLD, BUT REMAIN UNAWARE OF THE ONES DYING IN THEIR OWN BACKYARD.
WATER LOGGING CONTINUES TO BE AN ANNUAL EVENT AND THE INSURANCE COMPANIES HAVE QUIETLY DROPPED ‘FLOOD’ FROM HOUSEHOLD INSURANCE POLICIES. NOW, THAT NEEDS TO BE COVERED SEPARATELY.
BUT YAAR, THERE’S NOTHING TO WORRY. JUST KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON!
GOOD DAYS ARE HERE NOW