Changing Landscape in Mumbai

Desi Fun(da)

As I mentioned previously I am currently back home in Mumbai/Bombay for Christmas with my family. It is always great to be back here. The sense of belonging is never so strong for me as when I am back home in Bombay. Everything here is just as it ought to be and for people like myself who have lived the better part of their lives in this megapolis of metros there is no better place than Bombay.

But for better or for worse things are changing around here. The common 2 to 3 storey buildings are being replaced with 5 to 7 storey high rises all over the suburbs. Even the much famed and posh Juhu localities which were once the domain of the whos-who in India are slowly fading away and those lovely posh bungalows are being replaced by post multi-storeyed buildings. There is a boom of construction once again and this time it is catering the nouveau riche in Bombay. Unlike any other place in India these apartments are all above 1500 sqft costing at anything above 7k-10k/sqft and well it just keeps going higher. People out here are looking out for the penthouses and the larger apartments rather than how the middle class scurried towards the 2BHK standard apartments which seemed sufficient once upon a time.

The landscape in Mumbai and especially the places where I live and have grown up are changing drastically and well though it means that the economy is booming and things are on the up as a whole in the financial capital of India, I dont know how it works out in the long run. With previously designated playing grounds turning into morning and evening walking parks for the busy upper middle class and the building compounds catering to the growing demand for parking space there seems to be less and less space for the kids and for the flat owners to just sit down and have a talk within their own building premises.

Things are changing really rapidly out here. Or maybe I have just become too inept to follow up with change as it happens...swiftly.