Friday, November 18, 2005
Prescription for Mumbai
I've got a prescription for Mumbai and it's attendant woes.
Any Mumbaikar will tell you about the obscene real estate prices here. In economics we talk of demand-supply governing price equations. We also talk of "rational agents" who make decisions. Now, it beats me why there is so much demand anyway??
What does Mumbai offer at these atrocious prices??
Does it give me a better commuting experience??? Certainly not when I'm hanging half out of the train...
Lesser pollution?? We can certainly lay claim to record water and air pollution levels. Check out Andheri station for example. And the beaches here are more like gutters. You're more likely to catch a skin infection here, what will all the sewage flowing in to the waters here anyway. The Mithi river has become famous overnight post the July 26 2005 floods. "Mithi sewage canal" is more like it, in my opinion.
A big home?? Even if you shell out Rs. 50 lakh you relatively get a pittance compared to what you get in any other place like Pune, Hyderabad for example.
Then, people come up with lines like "The life in Mumbai is very exciting, you've got malls, multiplexes, discos, etc." I don't see anything different developing here, as compared to the vapid hyper-consumerism (I lay claim to this term, having coined it right here) present in the USA. Are you gonna go to the malls, multiplexes and discos everyday to get your dose of excitement. Given a regular job and the commute back, you hardly have the energy/guts to venture out again.
So much for rational agents.. here goes my prescription for setting things right.
1. 15-20 floods of the type that hit Mumbai on July 26, every monsoon. It will be boom time for all the news channels that have sprung up nowadays and also for the rafting operators who can now set up base here.
2. Random train delays for hours everyday
3. Longer traffic jams
4. Pollution levels high enough to choke
5. New disease outbreaks of the kind modern science can't treat (I'm sure some mutated microbes already have that in mind)
Then maybe some sense will dawn upon the Mumbaikar and we will see a reasonable scenario emerging out of all this. Something's gotta give in this arbit raj...
The eternal optimist!
Any Mumbaikar will tell you about the obscene real estate prices here. In economics we talk of demand-supply governing price equations. We also talk of "rational agents" who make decisions. Now, it beats me why there is so much demand anyway??
What does Mumbai offer at these atrocious prices??
Does it give me a better commuting experience??? Certainly not when I'm hanging half out of the train...
Lesser pollution?? We can certainly lay claim to record water and air pollution levels. Check out Andheri station for example. And the beaches here are more like gutters. You're more likely to catch a skin infection here, what will all the sewage flowing in to the waters here anyway. The Mithi river has become famous overnight post the July 26 2005 floods. "Mithi sewage canal" is more like it, in my opinion.
A big home?? Even if you shell out Rs. 50 lakh you relatively get a pittance compared to what you get in any other place like Pune, Hyderabad for example.
Then, people come up with lines like "The life in Mumbai is very exciting, you've got malls, multiplexes, discos, etc." I don't see anything different developing here, as compared to the vapid hyper-consumerism (I lay claim to this term, having coined it right here) present in the USA. Are you gonna go to the malls, multiplexes and discos everyday to get your dose of excitement. Given a regular job and the commute back, you hardly have the energy/guts to venture out again.
So much for rational agents.. here goes my prescription for setting things right.
1. 15-20 floods of the type that hit Mumbai on July 26, every monsoon. It will be boom time for all the news channels that have sprung up nowadays and also for the rafting operators who can now set up base here.
2. Random train delays for hours everyday
3. Longer traffic jams
4. Pollution levels high enough to choke
5. New disease outbreaks of the kind modern science can't treat (I'm sure some mutated microbes already have that in mind)
Then maybe some sense will dawn upon the Mumbaikar and we will see a reasonable scenario emerging out of all this. Something's gotta give in this arbit raj...
The eternal optimist!
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Its a f*&%ing insland, the prices have to shoot upwards only. and in the fin world, all roads lead to b'bay. MNC banks pamper the real estate goons by paying their international housing budgets for flats here and thereby further hike the prices. last but not least, the bulder lobby....ppl live here for money, nothing else.
There is some irony in that statement.. It's like a self-cleansing that Bombay needs for it's own good.. I would like Bombay to get better. But the gist of what I wrote is that, people need a rude awakening here.. Only then, will sense dawn upon Mumbaikar's..
the funny thing about bombay is everbody loves to crib but no one seems to be leaving the city...
I wonder why??
cheers
I wonder why??
cheers
Had a dream in which ---
"Except for the first wish, everything else is already scheduled for Bombay."
- God
Right?
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"Except for the first wish, everything else is already scheduled for Bombay."
- God
Right?
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