[Urbanstudy] Spacing Bombay

Fri Apr 7 19:04:12 IST 2006

Dear all,

I am a part of the Student Stipendship Programme at Sarai. My research
broadly looks at the implications of the sale of mill lands to the city. I
don't quite know what else to say, what follows is my first post. I hope I
make sense.

Cheers,

Ramya.

 ----------------------------------------------

The story of the mills of Bombay is not a new one. I am not trying to
present them in a new light. From being the heart of an industrial city to
relics of the past in a transitional city to hot property worth thousands of
crores in a post industrial city, the mills in Bombay have come a full
circle indeed.

Growing up in the city of dreams, Bombay has always been all pervasive.
There is little this city leaves untouched. And yet in the past three years
or so I feel like I am losing this city from inside me. I don't relate to it
any more, its landscape is changing so fast, I sometimes feel like I am a
part a surreal movie. It feels like Bombay is in a tearing hurry to fast
become a 'global city'. In the process this new city seems to think that
there is no place for the old here. Service is what drives the city now, no
matter who you are, a BPO job c.omes by you what you do and where you have
studied. Malls dot the landscape and more seem to cropping up every time one
looks around. Bigger, larger, more branding seems to be the way.

Bombay has been looked at in different ways, I am not attempting that
either.

The sale of the Mill Lands has been in and out of the news. These days the
news seems to like the 'issue'. Everyone wants to come up with a solution.
Lots of ideas have come to preserve the vast heritage these mills have. I am
not attempting to come with a new solution though I will be looking at the
viability of some.

My project is simple. Based on my new found obsession for binaries I am
attempting to find the voices of the many actors in the cityscape and their
vision for the city.

Some of them are:

*Mill workers*- the few who do remain. I want to ask them about their 'city'
and if they identify with this new city that has sprung up in the past two
decades.

*Mill owners*- they will be one of the hardest to find and talk, but I want
to know what they make out of the other actors in the city scape.**

*Realtors*- they are the toughest to break into. My simple aim of wanting to
talk to them is to understand what they think of being demonized the way
they have. Does it make a difference? And where do they think their
grandiose sub-cities on the mill lands will lead to? Do they care? Would
they give some land to make available some open space if they were given an
assurance the infrastructure would not only catch but be maintained to
ensure the redevelopment does not become another relic?

*The middle class*- the great Indian middle class, burgeoning with every
passing month. What does it think of the 'legacy' it has inherited? Is that
even important in the time of the global city when Bombay is trying so hard
to get money to build infrastructure and amenities. What is 'mainstream' for
this class? And what are its sub-classes? What does it think of the BPOs and
the Phoenix and Kamala mills? Apart from the name (which sooner or later
will be renamed after Shivaji or Phule or Gandhi) is there anything to
preserve? Does the industrial past have a part to play in the post
industrial city that sees itself competing with the likes of New York? What
do they see as icons of globalization already in Bombay? Malls? What are
Sundays about now? How important is the Big Bazaar?

*Students*- as the 'tomorrow' what do they think of this city? What are
their images and their dreams? My attempt here to see what students
especially college students think of the current developments. How
significant is the global city to them?

*The rich-* a bit of a socialist categorization I know, but as a middle
class Bombayite I want to know how the rich map the city in their heads, the
parts they exclude and the parts they consider home. What is home therefore?

*The poor*- the much abused and the most vulnerable. With more than half of
Bombay's population living in slums, the urban poor stand as an eyesore in
the grandiose plans for a global city. Where do they see themselves? Is the
dream of becoming a big shot still something that drives people to this
city?

*Activists*- the most challenging. Not because they want to preserve this
industrial monuments but because a middle ground does not seem to be an
option. Realtors are demons and the state has abdicated its responsibility.
And the mill lands must be saved as industrial museums, but in a city that
struggles to keep its head above the water (especially post 26/7), who will
the museum cater to? Where do they see themselves fitting into the scheme of
things in this fast changing city?

**

*Civil society organizations – *in a city known for its 'chalta hai'
attitude, where does civil society play? Is it about making the unequals
equal? With the city set to become the most populous city in the world in
less than two decades, where does the civil society  think Bombay is headed.

*The Media-* a lot of the leading papers in the city are now housed in these
old mill compounds. One of the first to move in where The Indian Express and
the Asian Age. What dreams does the media have for the city? What does
Bombay mean to the media? Is Bombay a global city?**

*Non Mills workers living in Girangaon *by these I mean, people who have
lived in the areas but are not connected to the mills directly.  Has talking
about Girangaon become like a flogging a head horse long after its been
exhumed

*First generation Bombayites not associated with the mills* through this
group I am trying to map the city through the eyes of a person who is the
quintessential Bombayite but whose identity does not necessarily stem from
the mills themselves. Where do they place Girangaon? Why is Girangaon
important to the city?

*Me: *forever confused about this city, unable to relate sometimes to it.

* *

There is a another couple of group of people I want to talk to but I don't
know where to place them. One is* children *between the ages of 11-17. I
think they are relevant because they are growing up in a time where the city
is changing so rapidly, also because they are post the strike and the
closure of the mills. So they have inherited only a post industrial-service
city. So how do they place and map the city? What does Bombay mean to them?

* *

*Another is the ITC Sheraton *which is located right in the middle of the
Mill district. The hotel boasts of catering to the culinary needs of the
media offices in the area and being so centrally located. Considering it
almost kisses the chawls and sits opposite one of the oldest mill compounds
in the city which is still running, what do guests think of its surroundings
**

One of the most important implications of the inevitable redevelopment of
the cityscape. The last remnants of the industrial town Bombay was will be
gone and through the new area that will emerge the transition to the service
city will be complete. I attempt to find out the psyche of this city.

The timeline of redevelopment and its spatial component will define how the
mill area places itself into the cityscape.

The sheer spatial change in the city is mind boggling and I plan to map this
change not just the physicality of it but the mental maps too. Through the
mental redrawing of maps, distances I want to juxtapose the changing culture
of the city on these maps. But placing the maps on top of each other I want
to realize a quiche time, space, identity and culture.

--
~Ramya~
Text and voice 91-9869513903
Blog: http://quixoticgnat.blogspot.com
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