Whenever I'm in Mumbai , I have a small ritual.i go to churchgate , to 'book street' as they call it , to get the latest bestsellers(pirated of course) dirt cheap.i have even made friends wid a few booksellers there.
on this occasion i decided i wanna buy some books, so off i was. onli this time , there was no book street.the street was there of course ,but no booksellers.all ,it seems , in the name of 'bombay ka beautification to make it shanghailike'...the onli trace of bookstreet dat is left is 4 vendors trying to sell whatever they can to a pretty loyal customer-set (before the municipality vehicle rudely takes their wares away.)
business is bad , they say. almost 40% down than it was earlier.i feel bad for them.they're doing good service to poor ,book-hungry people like me(believe me there are lots like me)
i'm not against beautification.but doesnt mumbai have bigger problems on hand than troubling small livelihoods?
sure, mumbai will look like shanghai.but will it feel like mumbai then??
4 comments:
yeah i got that shock last time i was there...and i was like, that part of the city was so much part of the culture...and i dont think in any way they were creating trouble, such as pollution or unhygiene...if it was a matter of space, there is not exactly a constraint...
Recently we hav seen an increasing no of multiplexes in Mumbai wich has led 2 the downfall of the conventional "theatres" around the city.The "balcony" experience has given way to multiple screens in a single compound.Just like dat.
wid roadside booksellers becomin history, i wonder if same wud b d fate of fashion street (read: malls comin up everywhere)
r we nt leaving out the essence of the city in tryin 2 make it shanghai ?
shocker it was for me! i saw the whole process of bmc van comin and throwin the books all over..people were walking on the pile of books.. police were jus liftng the books and throwin in their vans..like we trhow garbage ( literally) suchaaa sad site!! though i managed to buy a couple of books in that mess happenin... ( totally reduced price...)
haha..sneha u r too much man...u bought those books at what we in mba lingo call - 'distress selling price' ....hahaha....doosre ki majboori ka fayda uthana types..
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