How we learnt to live with shabby

Your only son didnrsquot turn out the way yoursquod hoped he would Not a comet but a mudball Not a fastrising manager or data analyst not an architect or chef not a poet or a programmer just a thud He loiters all day whistling at girls chews paan and spits on the pavement He never shaves bathes just three or four times a week and swears all the time His armpits smell and he has halitosisBut hersquos your child to you hersquos adorable even at his worst Traits that might have shocked and disgusted you in someone elsersquos son are just normal even charming in yoursMumbai is a bit like that tolerated son If yoursquove lived here four decades like I have then you too may have a long list of things best considered lsquonormalrsquo and left alone Here are a fewMumbai has had potholes for four decades Theyrsquore fixed every year and reappear like clockwork the next monsoon They form even where concrete has replaced asphalt We just assume theyrsquoll always be aroundBeloved Mumbai hasnrsquot had flat unbroken smooth pavements for four decades Debris cracks overgrown trees and arbitrary shrines to arbitrary gods are guaranteed to make every step a hazard Wersquove never known better and now we donrsquot expect betterYour city has always had random mounds of garbage where mongrels crows ragpickers and squadrons of flies rummage for scraps We curse like hell but all we do is tiptoe around the filthy hill every dayThe air has always been dirty You can pick it up by sliding a finger along your window sill You can wash it off your face and hands in rivuletsevery eveningEverything is damp and dank bedrooms smell mouldy Housing colonies are black and green with moss and rust is ubiquitous Mumbai has always looked like a bombedout wartorn city with ruins everywhereThis too is lsquonormalrsquo Four decades of lsquonormalrsquoOne word describes Mumbai perfectlymdashshabby To live in it you must be reconciled to an ambience that is perpetually unkempt neglected and in chaotic disarray Mumbaiis nobodyrsquos childA Mumbaikar lives without hope of change assuming based on experience that things are doomed to be just like this forever This is what she is told any city of 20 million people would look like if it was growing so rapidly that the municipality simply could not keep paceReally Can we find another city of 20 million and see how itrsquos doingYou may never have been to Shanghai so you might not realise how similar it is to Mumbai Also a coastal city it is densely populated with 24 million people or 4 million more than Mumbai It is also a magnet for Chinese workers and young people seeking a better lifeLike Mumbai it is an economic and financial hub home to the Shanghai Stock Exchange with one of the busiest ports in the world It is a vibrant colourful city of towering skyscrapers a rich history and a thriving art sceneUrbanising rapidly it has the usual contradictions housing shortages amidst highrises green spaces amidst traffic jams a sleek metro rail along with problems of mass transitBut herersquos a difference Shanghai is not shabby It is proud of itself and does not assume things are doomed to get worse It is an expert at selfcare Its pavements and roads are flat durable and wellmaintained Things work as they should Public toilets do not reek of urine and the leaves in public parks are not covered with dustUnlike Aamchi Mumbai Shanghairsquos municipal corporation seems to believe that it is their job to make the city livableWhat then should we say to our municipal corporation not even slightly embarrassed or apologetic about its battered thoroughfares and planned potholes that regrow like fungus each yearCould it be that they are strapped for cash Letrsquos checkOh dear According to every source Irsquove consulted the BMC is the worldrsquos richest municipal corporation by far No city on the planet has more money to make life better for its teeming millions than Mumbai Its budget for 20232024 is R52619 crore You could buy a lot of pizzas with thatSurely that ought to cover the cost of forever flat roads and pavements forever dustfree air and regular garbage pickups for the foreseeable futureApparently not A contractor paving an Andheri intersection with peanutshaped tiles explained why he always left his work incomplete ldquoI had to bribe a municipal officer onethird of the contract amount just to get the job Now I donrsquot have enough money to complete the paving and must leave something unfinishedrdquoSo he lsquoforgetsrsquo to cement the gap where the curved tiles meet the straight pavement Brick by brick the tiles come loose along that precise edge Business booms a year later the contractor is recalled to rebuild the damaged pavingldquoEverybody wins sirrdquo he said with humilityActually no You loseYou can reach C Y Gopinath at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper