Mumbai, Meri Jaan.
Saw a pet dog on a walk at Shivaji Park with his owner. The children from the nearby school come to the park for their games. They were surrounding this Labrador and playing with him. The dog was completely peaceful around the children. The children were delighted by his every action and were following him. The Master was preening like a peacock and very cool with children touching his dog.What if schools allowed pets? What if each class could keep one pet and one week every child had to take care of it? It would be so much fun for the child. And the sense of responsibility of taking care of someone would be developed naturally in the child. The feeling of caring and nurturing.
I am not so hot on pets. I feel I have enough work and responsibilities and would not want to take on more. I feel two children are enough. I cannot take on one more child. No point having a pet if you cannot treat him like your own child. A week maybe but only a dog. I am not yet open to felines, turtles, birds and all. There is so much I am still scared of. Most of us city bred,are scared of wildlife. Yet elephants and tigers are being killed. Are we killing, because we are scared?
There is a construction site near our house. the workers come to a restaurant to eat. This restaurant has no name, no tables or chairs. There is a cooking area and a serving area. It serves hot fresh food. Washing of the dishes happen on the footpath. There is a tree above so workers can stand and eat. The kitchen is visible and almost clean. Though I cant rule out the dust and grime. They all look happy when they eat or post their meal. They are totally lost in their own world. then they take a mobile phone recharge i.e. top up their card and make calls to their family. I pass that place at least once a day and admire the spirit of the people. SO much hard work and not a trace of sadness. Tiredness may be but the eyes are bright.
The building has gone up 44 floors and many more to go. They have started putting up the glass facade. The parking lot structure is a monstrosity in itself. There are no provisions to handle the crazy surge of traffic into and out of this building. No road widening. No laying down of new drainage pipes or water pipes. Just the slums which had encroached the pavement and built concrete houses were broken. These people have been given apartments in Mankurd which is just a 40 min drive from here. They were offered huge sums of money to vacate to the tune of eleven lacs. They refused to leave, so were given flats. Not a bad deal. First encroach, then get all govt documents like ration card, water,electricity etc. Then refuse to vacate and manage a flat in the not so far suburbs. Yeh hai Mumbai, Meri Jaan.
I am not so hot on pets. I feel I have enough work and responsibilities and would not want to take on more. I feel two children are enough. I cannot take on one more child. No point having a pet if you cannot treat him like your own child. A week maybe but only a dog. I am not yet open to felines, turtles, birds and all. There is so much I am still scared of. Most of us city bred,are scared of wildlife. Yet elephants and tigers are being killed. Are we killing, because we are scared?
There is a construction site near our house. the workers come to a restaurant to eat. This restaurant has no name, no tables or chairs. There is a cooking area and a serving area. It serves hot fresh food. Washing of the dishes happen on the footpath. There is a tree above so workers can stand and eat. The kitchen is visible and almost clean. Though I cant rule out the dust and grime. They all look happy when they eat or post their meal. They are totally lost in their own world. then they take a mobile phone recharge i.e. top up their card and make calls to their family. I pass that place at least once a day and admire the spirit of the people. SO much hard work and not a trace of sadness. Tiredness may be but the eyes are bright.
The building has gone up 44 floors and many more to go. They have started putting up the glass facade. The parking lot structure is a monstrosity in itself. There are no provisions to handle the crazy surge of traffic into and out of this building. No road widening. No laying down of new drainage pipes or water pipes. Just the slums which had encroached the pavement and built concrete houses were broken. These people have been given apartments in Mankurd which is just a 40 min drive from here. They were offered huge sums of money to vacate to the tune of eleven lacs. They refused to leave, so were given flats. Not a bad deal. First encroach, then get all govt documents like ration card, water,electricity etc. Then refuse to vacate and manage a flat in the not so far suburbs. Yeh hai Mumbai, Meri Jaan.
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