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:
