Megacity of the East
Mumbai's offerings in terms of cosmopolitan living shine through despite its deficiencies.
It is a worthy aspiration to mimic one of the glitziest business cities in the world - and there is no doubt that Mumbai is comparable to Shanghai in terms of economic vibrancy. However, there is still some distance between the cup and the lip. Mumbai is still far away from having the features - or even just the infrastructural framework - of an international city. Our roads are defined by potholes, insanely unregulated pedestrian movement, disruptive hawkers and street shops, ever-present garbage heaps and traffic jams. These are integral parts of Mumbai's ethos, and it would appear that their omnipresence safely put the city out of the reckoning for such a status.
Our defining landmarks are still the Dharavi slums and infrastructural disasters such as the Milan and Khar subways. The new Bandra Worli Sea Link makes us proud, but such exceptions to the rule do not negate the rule. On these and other key fronts, Mumbai is a whole two decades behind cities such as Shanghai and Beijing.
I recall the findings of a delegation that the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry sent to China to study these two cities back in 2002. The delegation rightly observed that it takes enormous vision and complete dedication by a country's Government to make such marvels happen - attributes that are seriously lacking in India even seven years later.
On the surface, this city is India's hub of prosperity, but squalor and crumbling infrastructure define its living underbelly. Nevertheless I, for one, am willing to accept Mumbai for what it is - a strange mix of economic progress and steadily eroding support structure. We must accept the fact that Mumbai cannot, at least in the current context, address its infrastructure deficit holistically - only symptomatically, slapping on a Band Aid whenever a particular area begins to bleed too much.
As things stand now, turning Mumbai into Shanghai will remain a Utopian dream until we see clear evidence that the Government and this city's people have seen the writing on the wall - and until Mumbai commits itself to implementing radical remedial measures.
But is turning Mumbai into Shanghai even a worthy or necessary aspiration? Not if you consider what it has already managed to deliver. Mumbai's offerings in terms of cosmopolitan living shine through despite its deficiencies. As a city in a developing country, it already stands out as iconic.
As a child, I used to envy kids who were born overseas. They possessed amazing accessories, visited lavish malls and drove around swanky cars. When I was getting married, I wished that my groom worked overseas so that I could shift abroad with him (which didn't really happen). Now, however, I am pleased that it didn't. At least I am in my own country - a changed one. In this country, I can now be the proud owner of a car of my choice. I can visit mega-sized malls and purchase anything I wish.
Nowhere is this truer than in Mumbai. This city offers us everything that the most progressive cities in the world do - albeit with less fanfare, and with less showcasing. It features national branches of the world's leading financial institutions, hotels that conform to every standard of global luxury, and - in a lighter vein - property rates that beggar those of Tokyo and New York. All this, while remaining uncompromisingly Indian to the core.
I do not think that Mumbai should aspire to be what it was never meant to be. I think it should strive to reach its fullest potential, clean up its infrastructure act as best as possible and be what it was always meant to be - not Shanghai, but The Megacity of the East.
The writer is Chief Financial Controller, Puri Crawford And Associates India Pvt. Ltd.
Our defining landmarks are still the Dharavi slums and infrastructural disasters such as the Milan and Khar subways. The new Bandra Worli Sea Link makes us proud, but such exceptions to the rule do not negate the rule. On these and other key fronts, Mumbai is a whole two decades behind cities such as Shanghai and Beijing.
I recall the findings of a delegation that the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry sent to China to study these two cities back in 2002. The delegation rightly observed that it takes enormous vision and complete dedication by a country's Government to make such marvels happen - attributes that are seriously lacking in India even seven years later.
On the surface, this city is India's hub of prosperity, but squalor and crumbling infrastructure define its living underbelly. Nevertheless I, for one, am willing to accept Mumbai for what it is - a strange mix of economic progress and steadily eroding support structure. We must accept the fact that Mumbai cannot, at least in the current context, address its infrastructure deficit holistically - only symptomatically, slapping on a Band Aid whenever a particular area begins to bleed too much.
As things stand now, turning Mumbai into Shanghai will remain a Utopian dream until we see clear evidence that the Government and this city's people have seen the writing on the wall - and until Mumbai commits itself to implementing radical remedial measures.
But is turning Mumbai into Shanghai even a worthy or necessary aspiration? Not if you consider what it has already managed to deliver. Mumbai's offerings in terms of cosmopolitan living shine through despite its deficiencies. As a city in a developing country, it already stands out as iconic.
As a child, I used to envy kids who were born overseas. They possessed amazing accessories, visited lavish malls and drove around swanky cars. When I was getting married, I wished that my groom worked overseas so that I could shift abroad with him (which didn't really happen). Now, however, I am pleased that it didn't. At least I am in my own country - a changed one. In this country, I can now be the proud owner of a car of my choice. I can visit mega-sized malls and purchase anything I wish.
Nowhere is this truer than in Mumbai. This city offers us everything that the most progressive cities in the world do - albeit with less fanfare, and with less showcasing. It features national branches of the world's leading financial institutions, hotels that conform to every standard of global luxury, and - in a lighter vein - property rates that beggar those of Tokyo and New York. All this, while remaining uncompromisingly Indian to the core.
I do not think that Mumbai should aspire to be what it was never meant to be. I think it should strive to reach its fullest potential, clean up its infrastructure act as best as possible and be what it was always meant to be - not Shanghai, but The Megacity of the East.
The writer is Chief Financial Controller, Puri Crawford And Associates India Pvt. Ltd.