The Old Order Changeth

Plaza Cinema at Dadar has been an iconic landmark to the local Mumbaikar. Earlier days when people traveled by bus and trains and so many cars did not exist, Plaza was the middle point of Mumbai. Mumbai map is more or less a straight line and Plaza cinema at Dadar was treated as a mid point. From there you moved to the suburbs. When I used to visit my Masi (my Mother's sister)at Chembur from the hostel, once the bus crossed Plaza, I felt I was almost close to Masi's house. Her house symbolised love, care and warmth for me. Plaza Cinema is at a circle where three roads meet. You can travel between central and western suburbs from this circle. You can also switch from Dadar East to West near Plaza. It connects South Mumbai to the suburbs. The Cinema hall was known for screening Marathi movies. The building has a circular facade with sculptures of men and women dancing in erotic poses. When they painted it a few years back, the sculptures on the walls were painted golden yellow. The small garden at this roundabout actually has old trees and provided shade to many passerby. This is one buzzing traffic junction. The Dadar vegetable market which is from where all the vendors in Mumbai pick up their vegetables starts way before sunrise. Thats hardly a good example as sun rises really late in Mumbai. By 3.30 am all the vegetable trucks are parked here. The buyers load their selected veggies in smaller tempo travellers. The 'Bhaji' as vegetables are known in mumbai is fresh and wholesale. The vendors clean the leafy green vegetables before selling them else where and the prices of coriander , spinach , fenugreek leaves etc shoots up. Vendors also add green colour to certain vegetables like Parwal, Bhindi to make them look  green. Everything has to appeal to the eye. Looks like the eyes have become the most important sense organ for us. 

Remember watching a film at Plaza with my husband and our first born, who was a few months old. We watched parts of the movie in turns. One of us stood out in the lobby with the baby as she was not willing to be in the movie hall. The film was a sad one but we did not want to disturb the audience with a child's wails. But after that be it a restaurant dinner or a film , both children were always comfortable and we could enjoy as a family. Now Plaza Cinema is renovated with easy push back chairs and a fully air conditioned hall as the hoarding outside screams. They have preview theatres inside to be given on rent. The golden sculptures which gave it a traditional Marathi look have gone. Instead there is some black iron railing structures on the facade with which the decorator is trying to give it a modern look.  No one has told the authorities or the guy who designed it that it looks ghastly. All the Plaza Cinema symbolised has gone in its modernisation. The other day my mother, who doesn't notice things unless they directly impact her life, asked me when did Plaza Cinema change.

How do I tell my Mom that That Old order changeth yielding place to new. I myself am so resistant to old buildings being broken down and these ugly glass facades coming up after chopping all the trees in the vicinity. I cant see any good in the city going vertical and the green cover disappearing. It might be the need of the hour. I took years to like our new house when the family moved from the ancestral home in Jharia to a new swanky one in Dhanbad. Everyone praised the new house but I was so stingy with acknowledging my father for the palatial well designed house with all having their own rooms, sunlight, breeze and greenery, all that I had dreamed of always. The neighbourhood was cosmopolitan and sort of more educated and I had a couple of friends there. My Mom moves houses and is always so happy in her new home. She doesn't even miss her old space. For me, we have been in this building for five years and yet me and the children miss our old building, old friends and our old house. I even miss the shops there. Gosh I am just not open to any kind of change. I take so long to like and get used to anything new. When I got married, for years, I missed the space in the hostel, the greenery, the free time, my friends and the amazing food. Yes, I lived in a hostel with great food and amazing waiters. Home was about buying your own veggies, groceries, planning a meal, cooking it yourself, serving it yourself and even cleaning up and doing the dishes yourself. And no friends and laughter to give you company and make life easy. Today on Anant Chaturdashi, with Ganpati Visarjan in Mumbai, the city has a melancholy note to it. Though the Dhol is upbeat, the mood is not. Letting go of Bappa is never easy. I am okay with letting go of the past, the anger and the hurt and the obstacles which I hold on to or self create. But it also means letting go of the memories good or bad, cleansing one's own self, creating space for the new to come in. And God fulfills himself in many ways lest one good system should corrupt the world.