Tag: Chembur

  • How Chembur’s Changed

    It has been a little over nine months since I returned from my old workplace in Bharuch, Gujarat. In this time, I’ve been lazy enough to not go out for my evening stroll through Chembur. Today, I finally made the time. I am totally amazed at the ongoing change in what was once a lazy eastern suburb of Mumbai.

    Walking out of Chheda Nagar, I see concrete and steel rise up into the air, the beginning of the Santacruz – Chembur Link Road. The project was scheduled to open in 2008 and recent reports suggest that it will not be open even in 2013. The World Bank funded project that is being built to enhance East to West connectivity has also marred some of the stunning views of sunsets and the visual observation of the planet Venus that I was offered on my evening walks. But, as the board says, Thank you for putting up with this inconvenience now to enjoy a better tomorrow.

    The Sky Walks are the next treat. The concept conceived by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) in 2007 as a way of de-congesting the area near the railway stations has been built over old shady roads that were my walking ground in days of college. It has also made me change my decade old walking path. To it’s credit, it’s not as shoddily designed and is built over a route that commuters are used to and helps them avoid going down and climbing up a flight of stairs each.

    The old BEST bus stand at Ambedkar Garden now has a commercial complex consisting of shops at the ground level and houses hospitals and coaching classes at the upper levels. It now becomes easier for kids stressed out at coaching classes to visit the doctor, I guess. The bus goes beyond this structure at the back of which the pass counters and conductors rest places have been built.

    The Central Avenue Road that stretches from the Chembur Railway Station to Diamond Garden on the Sion – Panvel Highway. This road, once a road sided with shade trees and independence era bungalows on both sides of the road, are now lined with high rises and buildings which houses several banks that have opened branches here.

    On the return road through Ahobila Mutt, Sandu Garden, Chembur Head Post Office down to the market, things almost remain the same. Here too, there are some changes. The hall where my first year birthday party was held stands torn down. The hall, my father jokes, would not have seen any event more important than my birthday party. Through the gap one can see the Monorail station coming up. Usually I was able to see the Fine Arts Society, where I gained training in carnatic vocal music as a kid. As I go to the base of the Chembur market bridge I see a skeleton of the Sky walk that would connect the monorail station to the railway station.

    As I walk to the corner store at Amar Mahal to grab a Coke, I am thankful for something remaining the same in the past decade. I do not believe that humans are built to witness this speed or scale of change around us. I think we need these things – parks, buildings and corner stores that are permanent so that we can sit, observe and contemplate on the fast changes that have been transforming Chembur. Whether for good or bad, now, only time will tell.

  • Closing Down of public libraries in Chembur

    As a teen growing up in the suburbs of Mumbai, I had access to some very fascinating public libraries in Chembur. I didn’t read anything until my teenage years after which I didn’t have time to do anything else but reading. Many of the libraries have shut shop. The recent one is the Ramchandra’s Circulating Library at Amar Mahal which has now paved the way for yet another cycle shop.

    My mom and her sisters read at the Shashi’s Three Star Library in Zerox Galli, near Chembur Railway Station. It was here I read most of my Hardy Boys collection (along with the 1 book/week I got in school). It is here I started reading Jeffrey Archer and Sidney Sheldon. He wouldn’t give me many of the other books I was interested in (like horror fiction) and this put me fairly in the pure fiction category in my reading tastes. It was also here that the librarian suggested Wodehouse to me to keep me away from Stephen King. Needless to say, I enjoyed Wodehouse. This library is now a stationary shop.

    There were many other libraries too but to which I did not apply for membership and which have now closed.

    There was a Five Star Circulating Library at the corner of Ambedkar Garden. This has now become part of clothes store. This had more of the books that women like and very few selections for what would today be called young adult audiences.

    There was also a library on the ground floor of the municipality M ward office. This has now been converted into a Citizen Facilitation Center. The library has been moved to a smaller space near the Sai Baba Temple with a smaller but a more Marathi-centric collection.

    After losing the Ramchandra’s Circulating Library at Amar Mahal, the only one in Chedda Nagar is run by a very old gentleman – he runs Ankur Circulating Library. He’s recently decreased the size of the library claiming difficulty in maintenance.

    Good libraries have also taken a beating as new bookstores like Crossword and Landmark and online spaces like Flipkart have made it easier for book lovers to purchase books rather than borrow books. The libraries that exist are not being able to get some of the latest books in circulation.

    I have a growing collection of books that I am waiting to share but am not yet entirely sure how. It’s something in my head. A need for a public circulating library with an updated stock of books.

  • Swimming Pool in Chembur

    I have been around in Chembur since 1992 or so. Since then, the town has changed a lot. The municipal swimming facility in Chembur, now called General Arun Kumar Vaidya Swimming Pool. This was part of the overall naming and renaming exercise undertaken by the right-wing Shiv Sena which swept into power in 1994 in the state of Maharashtra. I do not recollect what this pool was called before being named so.

    My experience in this swimming pool has not been great. When I tried to learn swimming here as a kid my skin got discolored and as a result I lost interest in swimming. From then on, I have passed in front of the pool several times without caring to learn its proper name (something I am interested in but not of importance since people just call it Swimming Pool). Hence for a very long time, this pool and its activities didn’t have my interest.

    Recently, there was a news report in the local newspaper, Mumbai Mirror reported that there was a danger that the pool may be handed over to private parties through improper channels. The pool has apparently not been used for the past two years and the municipal corporation is spending approximately Rs. 16 lakhs. The picture is murky and RTI activists are digging for information.

    This revived an interest in swimming and also revived an urge to spread the word about what was happening to this public space. The first thing to do was to find out what it is called. The above report swaps the names of the two pools at Chembur and Kandivali. The one at Chembur is called the General  Arunkumar Vaidya taran talav. An interest arose in learning more about the General and I reached the Bharat Rakshak website and found the information I was looking for.

    The General has served India during the Indo-Pakistan Wars of 1965 and 1971 and as Chief of Army Staff he planned Operation Bluestar. Like Indira Gandhi who ordered the Operation, the General was also assassinated for his role in the Operation in Pune in 1986. The General was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra and the Padma Vibhushan.

    Interestingly, in the early 2000s, a Sikh businessman operated his hotel out of the premises when the swimming pool was in the name of the General. I am not sure if he knew about the General or his role in the Operation. The hotel did not have good food and so even that didn’t provide me a reason to go there. It inevitably closed operations. Now, the fore ground of the swimming pool is being used for parking vehicles.