MUMBAI PAUSED: April 2011

Bhuigaon Village. West of Nalasopara/Vasai

The Madikar Cross of Bhuigaon Village.

Behind this stainless Steel cross in the western quarter of Bhuigaon Village lie most of the 40 Bhowkals or large irrigation wells maintained by the women of the community. These wells surrounded by trees with roots that bind the soil from falling into the well, irrigate the vegetable, hybrid banana groves, flower plots and regulate the standing water for growing paddy during the heavy Monsoon.

The cross is the local equivalent of the Gaondevi. The protector and the territorial marker for a large extended family who belong to the Kupari community and go by the surname of Marti.

The history of the Martis is the history of this ancient part of Mumbai. Actually, this is one of the oldest parts of the Mumbai region. Sopara was a prosperous port and religious centre, centuries before Mumbai surfaced on any map out of the sea. Close by, in the neighbouring village of Nirmal, you will find remains of the urban settlement buried under the fields.

The link this Kupari community of Martis have to these ruins is the community tag they maintain - they call themselves Samvedi Christians, derived from the Sam Veda. Probably the only community that has names derived from two religious symbols - Veda and the Bible.

The Samvedis trace their roots to Orissa on the Eastern Coast. They were originally entertainers and not bhumiputra agriculturists. They probably provided entertainment in the local court and temples. However, the history of the region and the Marti clan changed with the coming of the Portuguese.

This region was under the control of Portuguese from 1534 to 1739. It was their second largest colony after Brazil. It was during this time that a section of the Samvedi community settled in the region converted to Christianity. The Martis are among them. It's believed that it was the church that gave this community this land that they developed for agriculture by building a network of wells that controlled the flooding during monsoons and stored water for the long rainless period that mark the rest of the year in this part of the West Coast. These fields now provides Mumbai's fresh vegetables and fruits needs.

Their language is also a link to this regions history. They speak a language called Samvedi and have their own dialect, called Kadodi or Kupari. It's a mixture of their original tongue, Marathi, Konkani and a sprinkling of Portuguese words. It's supposed to be different from the dialect spoken by the Vadval community in neighbouring Vasai, according to a local.

Correspondence and the local community magazine are in Marathi.

This is an example of a typical front door of a Samvedi Christian home in Bhuigaon. The cross symbol here is used just like how people use the Gaondevi or other Hindu symbols in this part of Maharashtra.

I would like to come back and see this cross in about 10 years time. If the urban sprawl of Mumbai has made even a small progress, it should have devoured the wells and the fields behind this cross. But the cross should remain. Like the many Gaondevi temples and the crosses in Mumbai proper, it would be an urban shrine with a different set of worshipers. It will make a nice landmark and next to it will be an auto stand with a paanwallah squatting next to it.

Read more about the wells of Bhuigaon here.

Nalasopara

Nalasopara East

Nalasopara West

Coming soon: An interesting story about the people who worship this cross at Bhuigaon village.

Nalasopara

Nalasopara East

Nalasopara West

East Vs West.

Take ST buses from Nalasopara station and travel for a few minutes in opposite directions, this is what you see. Not that it's the Garden of Eden on the Western side towards the Sea. The truth is that Mumbai's growth is not pausing and it's just a matter of time before the West of Nalasopara, the site of Sopara, a trading city that's many centuries older than Mumbai is, is consumed by the city.

You would have seen, heard about the protests of villagers from Vasai Virar protesting the inclusion of their villages in the Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation last week. This is where they came from. The greener side.

The images seen above are from one such village - Bhuigaon. The farmers there do not want to be part of the city. They fear for their livelihood.

The interesting thing about this village is that they irrigate their fields using water from the pond (well) or Bhowkal as it is locally known, It's a traditional water storage and irrigation system maintained exclusively by the women. You would have tasted the fruits of their work. These irrigated farms supply bananas and vegetables to Mumbai.

To know more about these wells, here's a post I wrote for India Water Portal last week:

Between the city and the salty sea.

Mahapalika Marg

I paused when I saw what was printed on these two books that was lying in an box filled with old books. The books were lying outside a Hindi movie set at the Elphistone Technical College. These were the books bought from a second hand book seller to fill an imaginary college or office in movies.

But what is the chance of finding Union Carbide Safety Log Book in Mumbai? Was it part of some old movie set? Inside the book were a few account entries made in 2007 by some else.

I looked around for more and found this file too. The books and file looked like they were made in pre-computerised days. But the sticker in the picture does not look that old. I don't remember markers like that being used on 1983 that didn't fade.

But this is Mumbai, one can never say what is real and what is Mayanagari.

What Union Carbide? What Safety? Read about the Bhopal Gas Tragedy here.

And finally, this is how we view safety in India:

Vashi Railway Station

Work Space Mumbai Series.

Pause to see this young girl who waits neat to sell jasmine flowers she and her family probably got up early in the morning and strung. They will be picked up women on their way to work and fish sellers. Unlike Mumbai's local stations, Navi Mumbai platforms do not have food and other stalls. That's because they were designed much later and are located at the entrance.

However, some hawkers like the girl above do sell their wares to commuters. A hawker who sells Bhel Puri is expected to pay Rs 1500 a day, (if he manages to sell his full quota) to the stall owner who has hired him to work on the platform. He keeps anything more than that. One way to make money is reduce the quantity in each serving. So it's not surprising that the serving size tends to reduce as time goes by. And yes, there's an amount that has to given to the kotwals.

However, I didn't pause to ask the girl how much she makes.

Note: Shot using Lumix LX3 pin-hole camera mode

Raja Badhe Chowk, Dadar

Naturist Naturalist. A young bird watcher near Shivaji Park.

World Trade Centre. Cuffe Parade

Her first tattoo. A visitor discovers truth in the advertising on the wall behind her.

Pleasure in pain at India Ink. India's first Tattoo Convention.

From the permanent bindi of Maharashtrian women to tiny cross on the right hand popular along the West Coast. Hanumans on the forearms to rangoli patterns made using crude heated needles, India has the largest number of tattoo wearing people in the world. They are the dark blue black kind but they are fast being replaced by colourful and hygienically created tattoos top down. And the best tattoo artists from across India and Nepal came together at Mumbai's World Trade Centre.

A tattoo artist advertises his painting skills at a stall at India Ink.

Painful grooming. It was not just tattoos that were on offer. The more painful it is, the better.

The equipment. For sale and use.

The venue was jam packed and most of the people were people who were getting tattoos for the second or nth time. Because, this was were Mumbaikars could choose the best from all over India at one place. And for the first timers, it was like fire walking. It's easier to do it in a crowd. You don't walk on fire in a lonely place.

Also read: Getting under India's skin by Aastha in this week's Tehelka.

Nalasopara

Children of Mumbai Series: Things our children eat 2.

GTB Nagar

Churchgate Station

More Gaon, Nalasopara

Local Brands of Mumbai: Madam Tasty Supari.

Azad Maidan

No nanny to take care of her kids when she goes protesting. On the side is one of the newspaper that thrives at protest meets.

Caged protesters of Azad Maidan.

The India Against Corruption protest with Anna Hazare as the figurehead is just one of the millions of protests that happens at any given time in India. Every city in India has its own designated protest area. Mumbai has Azad Maidan. An enclosed section of the 'Azad' Maidan where people can protest.

Across India, people are on hunger strikes all year round but no one cares for them. In Manipur, they have gone to severe extremes for some one to take note of peaceful protests including stripping and burning down the assembly. Protests and fasts are as common as Indian men pissing on Indian roads or people dying of starvation.

Anna Hazare's campaign was no different. His supporters were mostly RTI activists targeted by builders and politicians, yoga performing followers of Baba Ramdev, SSS Ravi Shankar, Archibishop Vincent Concessao, etc. and the local regional newspapers. The mass media in English and Hindi waited, it was just another protest after all. But no one expected it to catch the imagination of the people across India and almost immediately, the mass media caught up and converted it into the protest of the year.

On April 5th, the first day of the now famous fast, the IAC pandal in Azad Maidan was the largest but there were more people at the other protests. Eg: The ones seeking more funding for Marathi Medium Primary Schools and a fast demanding rights for Adivasis.

Even on April 7th, when Anna Hazare was top news in India, it was the Shetkari (farmer) protest led by the communists that was keeping the Mumbai police force busy not IAC .

But throughout, IAC had one thing going for it - the television cameras of major English and Hindi news channels. You could see the jealously in the eyes of the other protesters.

Here are a few pics from the other protests.

Protest style: Warli Art. Note: In the background is a banner that states the number of days they have been fasting.

Meet the people who actually fight for Marathi. Marathi in the place where it is most likely to strike deep roots - the primary schools of Maharashtra. You won't find the leaders of MNS, NCP or Shiv Sena here, their netas send their kids to English medium schools and teach them to burn or ban books.