Column

The big fight in the New Mumbai is precisely that: Navi Mumbai or New Bombay or what exactly? Navi Mumbai, from all accounts, is a happening place, full of hipsters – people and jeans, get it? – malls, lounge bars and BPOs. The future of India. This makes it a far cry from what it was for years – a failed satellite city attached to a throbbing metrop. This one. Amchi Mumbai.

Perforce, I am looking back at Old Bombay, but this visit I did out of choice. Sunday morning at the Gateway of India and the heat is still incredible. What has happened to winter in this city? The northerners can laugh but Mumbaikars know that there comes a time when you feel an ineffable nip in the air and can soothe yourself with the balm that the next three months will be pleasant. It wasn’t there on Sunday morning.

Neither was the Gateway of India. The monument was there, of course, and so were a few straggling photographers and crowds of people rushing into ferries to get away to Elephanta or Alibaug. Everything else was a dug-up mess. Barricades, ompty-toompty molehills, obstructions, earthmovers and picnickers negotiating the terrain did not make for a pretty picture. Shivaji’s statue looked a little bemused as it competed with the beautification process.

There was talk of a 100 trees being cut here much to everyone’s distress. I never counted before and I have no idea now whether anything was cut or not. What I can say is that I unexpectedly bumped into Swami Vivekananda, whom I had forgotten about. Should one hope that the mess turns into beautification? Only if it doesn’t turn into the Marine Drivefiasco.

To run away from the mess, nostalgia nudged us into the Sea Lounge at the Old Taj (with a new name) where we grabbed a window table from favoured tourists, ordered a cold coffee since the Viennoise is gone and stared happily at the boats bobbing in the harbour. Much fancier than in the olden days and many sleek speedboats in evidence made for a jolly seaside scene, sensibly viewed from inside an air-conditioner.

Meanwhile, further down the road, Lal Bahadur Shastri looked quite pleased with himself. This is because he had a neat little garden around him and neat pathways for pedestrians to negotiate. The old Sailor’s Home, now Police HQ, was also spiffed up, ready to celebrate 125 years.

Is the Old Bombay/ New Mumbai (but not Navi Mumbai) only to do with old buildings? Now that some genius in the BMC, after closing down Café Naaz, has decided to make a viewing deck on Malabar Hill so people can enjoy a sweeping view of the bay and its buildings, we can put that to the test. Oh yes, and have to get the ed to send me to Navi Mumbai, preferably with a hipster.