Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Maximum City, Miniscule View

After a long wait (mainly due to warnings from those who had read and knew me well), i had a chance to lay hands upon a much critically acclaimed book called Maximum City by Suketu Mehta. In many media quarters and references, Mumbai has been named as Maximum city. The awards etc have also been given for this writing and is supposed to be critically acclaimed (as every book is nowadays).
Lets start with good points about the book. Its very interesting read. Never he lets down reader off hook and disinterested (except maybe last few episodes) and thats an acheivement for a non fiction. The characters and topics are chosen carefully and they cover many salient points about Mumbai. Daily life, Polictics, Bollywood, live entertainment, Underworld, food , transport, people all aspects are covered except maybe cricket which is a nostalgic for true Mumbaikar and as PL said its more game to be talked than played in Mumbai. The author has put in lot of effort in connecting to people he wanted to cover. Language is simple and yet crisp. The cynicism and paradoxes have been expressed very beautifully. also he has taken correct digs at corruption, contradictions in public persona of an Indian which is national phenomenon not restricted to mumbai. Delhi would have added more spice to the view of India from NRI returnee angle..
That ends the good point about book. But the main problem i have with the book (i mean views of author) is his simplistic attribution of problems of city to a single phenomenon. Though author has tried best to portray his own views to be narrated by people who are subject of his discussion.  Curiously he takes real names of real celebrities and officers where as he uses pseudonames for ordinary people. The celebrities are either promoted or denounced based on his personal bias. The protagonists who are ordinary people get sympathies based on which political affiliation author subscribes to. Lets approach the biggest flaw. The author attributes rise of Shivsena and its rise to power since mid 80s in city till it controlled state govt in 95 as main problem city has faced. Before he left for US his "bombay' was different than the "mumbai' he saw in mid 90s. Thats a very simplistic view. He feels all previous congress governements and government post 2000 were corruption free. The society has changed due to shivsena. Police got corrupted owing to shivsena. Housing problems were introduced by shivsena. Underworld and gang war was created by Sena. Transport problems arised due to sena. Better films cannot be produced because of shivsena. Sanjay Dutt is a better person than Amitabh. Vidhu vinod and Mahesh Bhatts are the only respectable film directors who mean business and have right opinion on everything. while rest produce candy floss. The underworld dons are victims of system created by sena and have all sympathies of author.  The dec92 riots are because of police opression of minorities and jan 93 were caused by sena without any concrete proof of hindu persecution and the great saviour of minorities Saint Shree Dawoodji Ibrahim had to kill innocents on a march friday in order to create equilibrium and it was the need of the day. Shri Shri Chota shakeel is the most respectable member of Indian diaspoia involved in saintly activities in Mumbai. Chota Rajan has false facade of being patriotic Don (as if we care). Sena supremo is flawed leader with flaw vision messing up with the maximum city. He is the most responsible person for ills of this Maximum city. Sir you are oversimplifying problems. If you want to go to roots you have to start with fact that neither muslims nor marathas ruled Mumbai. Mumbai was created by british. Though there is right mention of House rent act and fire in 1947 creating housing problems and expanding city. You have to understand dynamics of United Maharashtra movement, you have to undertsand the mill workers unrest in early 80s, you have to understand demographics which has resulted in shivsena being in power for nearly 3 decades in Mumbai. You also have to note state politics involves western maharashtra, vidharbha, konkan and marathwada as well. You need to understand high command politics which result in fact that battles for Mumbai have to be fought in Delhi. You need to understand the main event which was liberalization which for me is the turning point. You need to understand migrant influx. Mumbai is defenceless and welcomes all. US which is world's intellectial capital has strict immigration laws filtering out best. while mumbai welcomes all and sundry. Resources are limited. Reason mumbai attracts influx is open society, economic avenues, and hope which are the greatest strenths of this beautiful city which are now converted into weakness. Shivsena occupied political vacuum created by all these parameters. They are no different from any other political outfit except for being forthright and clear on communication of its agenda as compared to so called secular parties who have one public statement contradicting private politics below which is as communal , casteist as author claims shivsena to be.
There are other minor flaws as well but am running out of time. However intersted read this books offers very minisclue window to city with a singular view point and agenda which is very commonplace especially in english speaking media, art, and society. Same bias, same criticism, same targets. Time for all to recover from jaundiced view . Mumbai city is Kaledioscope. It can be ugly and beautiful in single view. It can be vibrant and dead in single instance. It can be part empty, part full. No one has maximum view to this Kaledioscope. Thats the essence of Mumbai. Ask any true Mumbaikar. Having lived in Mumbai in same time span author depicted, i know it first hand though have been out of real mumbai touch for last 12 years. Only have to pass highways to reach international airport.And i admit thats a very miniscule view which is same case with Mr Suketu Mehta....

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Ganesha The God

Rains have gone by. Thought technically monsoon hasn’t retreated. Rainy season was intriguing. June July dry, wet august and steady start to sep. Dams have been filled 100% (on records still 90% as 10% was given to agriculture and downstream towns by guardian minister). The worries of dry year ahead were dispelled thanks to the almighty. The leaders and admin should thank their lucky stars for mismanagement last year when we had excessive rains as were planning paralysis especially for contingencies. We won’t learn from past. Let the lord of wisdom prevail and let there be proper approach to problems faced by our city. It is now time to welcome arrival of the Lord. Whole atmosphere has changed for something auspicious, festive and enjoyable. Though terror looms large (especially after J M Rd events on 1st Aug) but I think sense has prevailed and police seem to be on toes involving mandals and communities. Let the lord show way there to the digressed souls who don’t have any mercy to kill in name of lord. How does name or way of worship of the same lord matter. Why kill? Why insult someone’s beliefs in name of free speech. And why kill to protest same. How irrelevant. Let’s all bury our differences and live happily ever after. Just like terrorism and bad governance another obstacle we wish to almighty is to stop corruption which has resulted in loss of public money, faith in systems and has created role models for young to make big using hook or crook. And finally let there be innovation, let knowledge drive the quest to excellence and let’s break stereotypes, lets conquer our self beliefs, vices, shortcomings to really make our own selves, family, society and country a very better place than what it is now. Ganesha always comes with goodies and hope he helps us achieve my never ending wish list. Wish you a very happy Ganesh festival.


This blog enters fifth year as I complete four years on eve of Ganesh Chaturthi on 2008. This blog has following posts to mark each of Ganpati festival. Would also like to add blog for Ganpati in 2007 when we won inaugural ICCT20. This blog started in next year. What an event that was. Who can forget that last over by much maligned and forgotten Ajit Agarkar leading to bowl out , six sixes by yuvi, great catch by Kartik and great spell from RP choking SAFers, Yuvi knock against Aussies and Shreeshant bowling out mighty Hayden, and finally Gambhir’s knock and that catch by Shreeshant...

Wish all these scenes get repeated once more as this T20 happens to be in Ganesh fest. Bappa’s wish list gets added by one more item. 09 and 10 T20 WCs were followed by IPL seasons where Kirsten had complained about burn out but this time things are different and that difference is emergence of Virat Kohli. I will stick my neck out to say that he will be difference between teams in any match. Let’s get Unmukt Chand into mix as i saw the knock in U19 WC finals. But the big question remains is HIS exit. Or will He have third wind. Important home series follow after T20 WC. The final warrior of golden generation which has defined our cricket life (college and professional live for my generation) will decide upon his future course. New season will be landmark for that reason as we will witness change of guard. And let History begin with shortest format.....

The title of this blog is named after one of the few innovations i got involved with my entrepreneurship career. This CD ROM was inaugurated by Shammi Kapoor who is no more. Though was just there at right time at right place, but that reminds me back to those early IT days (pre Y2K). We all were driven by a vague zeal to be next Infosys. After interacting with young entrepreneurs of today at IIT Kharagpur alumni events and other networks, I can see now people aim to be next Apple or Google or Facebook or some new web3.0 service or some cutting age mobile app, or some new cloud based solution and so on... Things have changed drastically in last decade as we welcome Walmarts and Tescos of world to enter Indian shores. As we also go ahead on US elections, Arab Iran Pak crisis, Prelude to 2014 general elections in India, Maybe MNS-SS joining hands in state, New development plan for Pune, or when we will enact PL’s Narayan this Ganesha in society or will embrace upon new personal challenges , wish for the Lord Ganesha’s blessing. Starting from global to country to state to city to society and self, the timeline ahead is intriguing. Also awaiting start to last quarter which traditionally has been action packed and defining for next year......