Sunday 15 March, 2009

6 Feet Land

Asiad Bus Station. Dadar. 7 a.m. Lovely Sunday morning, just when you think everything is so normal as normal as it should be - you are struck by a realization that even when you are dreaming of a good life and a nice lovely house for yourself, there are millions of people who just need 6 Feet Land to cross that night. For the record, 52% of Mumbai's ever burgeoning population of 1.6 Crores lives in slums. This man, doesn't seem to have the luxury of that too.

13 comments:

R. Ramesh said...

oofff..what a touching picture boss, that portrays the reality..felt like seeing slumdog millionaire again..!!

Ragpicker said...

Thats the cold reality my friend ! I remember when I went to mumbai from one side of the road I saw an ultra rich woman reading a newspaper inside her Audi A6 , a tensed employee rushing for his work on his motorbike , a newspaper-boy and a ice cream vendor at the other corner of the road , a blind beggar -- within a few meters of concrete road , all reflections of life moving in parallel directions ! Seeing your post that memory splashed out infront of my eyes from lost corners of mind ....

Himanshu Bhagat said...

@ ragpicker - exactly, everything coexists and we have gotten used to this to an extent that we don't bother about it..right? sigh..

@ Ramesh - Thanks.. :)

Ragpicker said...

Well himanshu .. recently I visited a small tribal village in uganda,africa and I was surprised to see that people over there are untouched by this cold reality and where a single crying child is a cause of sorrow for the whole tribe ... the people over there were genuinely good and were devoid of any worldly ambitions and sucky natures (ego,hubris,shallowness,etc) I picture them and then the people in the Times Square and then the streets of mumbai ! Bingo the answer lies in the reverse evolution of our civilization ..

Himanshu Bhagat said...

@ Ragpicker - Couldn't agree more with you :)

Reverse Evolution - I liked that...

R. Ramesh said...

buddy, thanks for passing by...cheers

R. Ramesh said...

40 mins of torture on flight?? v used to withstand 24 hours of torture on chennai-mumbai trains..haha..hey buddy thanks for comment..say hi to nikki and all other good friends there..

Corinne Rodrigues said...

Love your blog - am blogrolling you.

This is such a poignant post....and so true.

Corinne

Himanshu Bhagat said...

@ Corinne - Thanks for the appreciation sir. Both Nikki and I try to potray Mumbai and Delhi (the cities that have been our lives) here. You may also like to see:

http://delhiodelhi.blogspot.com/

See ya! :)

R. Ramesh said...

my wife hardly sees my blog..so that's gr8 advantage..lol..boss, why r u increasing the list of yr blogs?

Himanshu Bhagat said...

@ Ramesh - Ah! that new addition is for some other purpose...will see if it works out and then only open it to all. :P

R. Ramesh said...

buddy, dont keep suspense yaar..what's "your side of the story? (Net experince)"

Razzer said...

Such is life. Sad but true.
Damn !!