Column

There is some shame in admitting this: I had never been to Mira Road before I visited it a few days ago. Of course, since it erupted on to our consciousness almost 20 years ago, Mira Road has been an important part of Mumbai.

The discussions about it usually focused on the legality of the development, the distance from the city centre, and the terrible civic conditions in which people lived. I even had two colleagues who bought flats there in the early days. Soon after, one migrated to New Zealand and the other to Canada. That sort of ended any argument about Mira Road in my mind.

Till I actually went there. For one, it didn’t take as long as I thought it would. For another, it was quite pleasantly well developed. In fact, unlike so many other Mumbai suburbs which blend seamlessly into each other, Mira Road stood apart. It is now an answer to the teeming middle classes in search of suitable accommodation in this heartless metropolis.

Having said that, Mira Road is very far away and not salubrious enough or even posh enough as I believe those other parts of the new Mumbai are. This is hearsay evidence as I have not really spent any time in Navi Mumbai and Vashi either. Nor have I ever been on the Marine Drive of the East, Palm Beach Road.

Yet, a fight broke out between a Goregoan and a Vashi resident over the suitability of Mira Road, where Goregaon said that whatever the attractions of the east, the western suburbs were the west suburbs. Vashi would have none of it and pointed out that those who had never been to Vashi perhaps deserved Mira Road. At this point, luckily, someone served lunch.

What this proves, perhaps, is that every part of Mumbai is too far away from the other and this does not help to create a one-city feeling. Is that why North Mumbai wallahs will not light candles for a South Mumbai tragedy, and so on? Or why I cannot accept that Palm Beach Road and Marine Drive are the same?

Meanwhile, on the Bandra World Sea Link, the special air-conditioned BEST bus to Mira Road appears to be running empty. I have no idea what that signifies!