Sunday, October 17, 2010

Tale of two cities!

With a name like that for a blog post, one could at once get an attack of a 'blast from the past'. Fond memories from school of your favorite English teacher mouthing lines from the timeless classic.

But no!...this is not about Charles Dickens and his evergreen literary work and nor about the cities of London and Paris like in the famous 'Tale of Two Cities'.
Its about my favorite city Mumbai where I live and the other, a city I just visited recently - Philly (for the uninitiated - Philadelphia). Though I hate to show my favorite city in a bad light I cannot resist a comparison between the two. Even though they both have rich historical leanings to boast of, the similarities quite simply end there. They are proverbially speaking, as different as chalk and cheese.

Let me start with what I saw, heard and which conquered my heart in and about Philly during my brief stay of two weeks.
To begin with, I would like to introduce you to Philly as 'City of Murals'. Why? Because the guide, a young chap with tongue in cheek humour on the hop on-hop off bus of Philly tour said so. And I completely bought it. It seems Philly has around 3000 murals spread across the city, that too more than any other city in USA and that is why it gets the name. You can see murals in all sizes, colours, themes, objects, types of people, scenery and painted across all kinds of buildings, facades, backs and sides..they really make a pretty picture and add a lot of character to the city, I must say. But do you know how these murals came about.
Its an interesting story. The murals were initiated as part of a six week youth program meant for anti-graffiti activity. Which means a lot of youth from socially backward areas in Philly used to indulge in defacing the city walls out of sheer frustration, disregard for the system and callousness of civic sense. A young muralist in 1984 saw an opportunity to use Murals as a soft (brush) weapon for steering these youth towards a more meaningful art rather than ugly graffiti. As is the rule with any graffiti artist, they respect each others art so when they had murals to be painted on city walls it was not difficult to have works of murals being left untouched without any defacing attempts by fellow painters. Also, the murals helped them to bring out the best creativity, earn some pocket money and also helped to change the look of the city and create an enduring legacy through each of these unique murals. As is written about in a book, the process was as much an art of diplomacy and consensus building, as paint and perspective. It also helped to remove stigma around addiction and homelessness, the victims of which were largely and actively involved in the mural program.

Such a program eventually turned Philly into 'City of Murals' on the tourist map. All in all a fantastic program which a city successfully used for betterment of its less privileged citizens, create a vibrant city, provide it a unique character different from other cities and eventually making it a tourist attraction that leads to filling up the kitty of the city municipality. A brilliant idea, well executed!

And now coming to Mumbai where I stay, work and very much (try to) breathe. If the beautiful and vibrant Mural culture is characteristic of Philly then I am sorry to say...the ugly and gross hoarding (billboard) culture is characteristic of Mumbai cityscape. And more despairing is the fact that all these illegal hoardings are largely put out by political parties who are meant to ensure the city's civic sense intact and keep surroundings clean.
But hello...what is civic sense? they ask.

No one has heard about it here, so there they go plastering any available inch of city wall with horrendous hoardings with even more ugly looking faces of themselves looking sneeringly at the poor souls like you and me. Either these hoardings are meant to announce the arrival of some senior politician in town or a wannabe wishing his/her Guru on birthday or simply wishing the citizens (who don't care a rat's ass) a ''Happy Diwali, Christmas, Dassera or Eid''.
Well...what we really care for is the city and its surroundings. Even if there has been a law that has been passed to not allow political parties to push their ugly menacing faces into ours they still do that. And worse...get away with it! How I wish that if looks could really kill, then I would stare hard with my 'killer' looks at all these illegal hoardings and they would drop down from these hoardings like nine pins and perish into thin air (poof!). Alas! the hoardings don't perish nor the faces that adorn them. That's the sad but true story of Mumbai so far.

Coming back to Philly...I had heard about this unique and must see touristy place called the 'Liberty Bell' and the history around it. With Philadelphia being the first national capital between 1790 to 1800 when Washington DC was being built, it adds more history to its existence than any other city in USA (mostly). Also Philly considered as the birthplace of American revolution and independence, the Liberty Bell became even more must see sightseeing attraction to me on paper...but alas was disappointed to see a Bell that size and nothing really much to crow about. I have seen much better bells than this one (keeping aside its history). 18th century is not really old considering Mumbai has much older history to it. But I was truly amazed by the hoopla and the marketing surrounding the same. The Americans surely know how to package their products and market them well. Lessons learnt, right.

Now compare this with our Elephanta Caves which are considered as old as 5th to 8th century AD. They have such fantastic and intricate rock cut Hindu and Buddhist sculptures, unfortunately not so well maintained as they are supposed to be. Also, the access to the island caves is much to ask for. 
The ferries are as rickety and noisy as my 95 year old granny's creaking cupboard....and only operational during non-monsoon period. The pier that is the landing strip is again strewn with plastic junk of all kinds which is not really a welcome sight. Only recently some efforts are being made for any restoration and maintenance of Elephanta caves. However, we surely lag far behind in appreciating the rich heritage that we have among us and we just cannot value the beauty and history which resides so close. Worse still, we cannot maintain it. Only if we can take a hard look at each of the unique historical structures remaining in Mumbai or any other city in India, maintain it, bring it to life and also package and market it well (like the Americans do). The amount of pride each citizen will have for his/her city will be immense. Not to mention that it will serve as revenue generation avenue (from tourists).
We can write reams and reams on what our authorities can do and must do to save our city. How about starting in our own backyard? 
Gandhiji's famous quote, 'Be the change you want to see in the world' makes so much sense even in this context.

- Let's stop littering our city with the remnants of our consumption   (choclate/wafers/other junk food) and instead dump it in your hand bag.
- Let's stop chucking out stuff from the backseat of your (fancy) car and instead carry it  home and dump it in your garbage can.
- Stop spitting...yes, I have seen the deepest red coloured spittoon swooping from the    back seat (not driver's seat)of the most latest Merc. 
- When on holidays in mountains/beaches (wherever) lets stop littering it with mineral  water bottles, plastic wrappers and instead take it back to hotel in case you don't see the  dust bin anywhere.

If each one of us shows patience and stops complaining about the unavailable resources we can surely start making a difference although small.

If we the 'supposed to be educated' souls first understand the importance of civic sense then only it can spread like a movement. Lets begin it soon before its too late. Or else....I see Bombay (which means 'Good bay' in Portuguese) soon becoming Slum bay.
Did I hear a ...'We are already one!' from someone. Ok, that was my inner voice.
Oh God! Really hope not!