Fasnastic. Cabs are off the road. Personally, support the reasons. But also glad that there is less pollution. Cold weather is not good, the smog just refuses to lift, and that's why we have so many chest and throat infections around.
Anyway, I wish all non-maharashtrians gang up and go on strike on a single day (ADA switches of electricity, UP cows refuse to be milked, bhaajiwalahs refuse to do business, Palanpur Jains stop trading diamonds, Bombay House shuts shop and all bawas deliberate on how to advance the Parsi clan ("I got an idea. Why don't we have more sex?").
Future of any city depends on business. I had a fascinating conversation with a kurta trader (Jain btw) a couple of days ago. His view was that, Bombay's reputaton as a trading hub (may be not as a financial capital) is being fairly quickly eroded. A lot of new jobs have moved to Pune, textile manufacturing (Girgoan to Bhiwandi) has been usurped by Surat. Gujarat has done away with octroi - one of biggest roadblock (literally) in an efficient business transcation. Infrastructure has improved leaps and bounds there. Smallest of towns there are now buzzing with business activity. Narendra Modi is a zealot (my thoughts), but he is a superb administrator (his thoughts and I am inclined to agree), who has improved the lives of average Gujaratis and made one thing that they are good at - enterprise - easy.
It's increasingly common to see massive paradigm shifts in the blink of an eye. If Gujarat and other states continue the onward march and Bombay continues to plagued by governmental neglect and mental bigotry, then Bombay will return to how it was - the land of the kolis.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
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