Loaded Minds

Nothing depicts Mumbai better, than a photograph of ongoing construction, posted by Blogger friend Magiceye, as part of his Mumbai Daily : Monochrome Mania series posts.

The irony is, that in the big hurry to build homes , we continue to create more homeless, comprising those, who are brought in from the far away villages, to labour at these construction sites....and thereby hangs a bag of worries, hopes, and fears,  on these ambitious spikes, that continue to aim higher, and higher, and higher ....


(photo by Deepak Amembal Magiceye)

Some legends
in a race,
minds spiked with
desperate ambition
to get
a
bigger,
higher,
taller,
richer
abode,
to look down
in blind victory
on others
scrounging below.

And the homeless,
construction laborer,
with a roof
in the village back home,
slogs in the city,
carrying his
fears,
ambitions,
hunger,
and worries,
stuffed in a bag ,
hung open to the elements
on the 25th floor
where he works,
hoping
Someone Up There
in the sky
looks out for him....

Ballad of the FSI.........

A posting by blogger friend Magiceye, as part of the  Mumbai daily: Skywatch Friday series.

A typical silhouette against the Mumbai sky, that of buildings being constructed higher and higher, and construction of higher floors waiting, for new investors  to fund it.  With limited space in Mumbai, Floor Space Index (or FSI)  granted to you by the authorities, , for the given piece of land, decides how high you can go.

It is not unknown for unscrupulous builders (are there any other type),  to exceed FSI's , in their greed to make profits. The spikes on the building in the photograph, in contrast with the adjoining trees and the free flying soaring bird,  made the following happen ...

They grow best
when FSI
is given
at birth....

Trees,
rising high,
blooming,
with
thriving greens
and flora,
shade for the tired,
and
condominiums
for the birds,
need no permission
to enjoy the sun
Up There...

Birds,
once cracking
through an egg,
walking as if on egg shells,
now soaring
high up,
dipping wings occasionally
in a Salute
to the FSI giver...

And we,
the so called smart ones,
cheat,
misrepresent,
kill trees,
dilute cement,
miscalculate ,
scrimp on truth,
and abuse
the given FSI
to build higher and higher.

He looks down,
and
those
ambitious
pointy spikes
hurt ......

Building up......his nest ?

In response to a wonderful post about early morning activities at constructon sites in upmarket Mumbai, where the construction staff is almost always from mofussil rural India, outside the state.....trying to earn a living in the face of unrewarding agriculture.....

(Picture (c) Franklin McMohan)





Listening to the bark
of the helmeted one,
His eyes
misting
over the scaffolding
He sees
a field in the wind,
a stationery plough,
a quiet dawn,
presided over by
a giant banyan tree,


And a wisp of a woman,
saree tucked in
holding
a cloth wrapped lunch
saying,
"Take this,
your lunch,
I know you'll be late
You have a meeting
with the Rain God..."

And he shudders,
as a firm hand
descends
on his never-give-up
shoulders,
saying,
***"Chalo chalo,hurry up,
Aaj slab puri karni hai....."


***"Come on, hurry up, the slab work must get done today"(translation from hindi)