EID MUBARAK :TIME FOR FEASTING

TIME FOR FEASTING

All political iftaar parties will now end and so would appeasement too. We rode around bukad to take in the ambience of Ramzan, since only yesterday we were at

Mohammed Ali Road

in Mumbai.

In spite of the economic prosperity the scene here is more modest and functional. The atmosphere appears primarily intended for the locals to break their fast.

At Ambarnath we visited a few stalls at the Medina Masjid. There was not much buzz around as anticipated a few gourmands like us strolled around.

There were quite a few stalls of Chicken, the regular tandoori, kebabs, rolls, lollipop, biryani …etc. There was beef biryani too.

 The quality and price of everything left much to be desired. They were grossly overpriced. Perhaps that is the reason for the normal citizens to keep away from this fare.

We hope more people visit here and better quality stalls like Mumbai come here with all the sweets and dishes and affordable prices.

       

Stalls outside the Medina Masjid

HELL on EARTH

Bukadkars will not have to go to hell; we’re already living in it.

Cloud bursts created hell in BUKAD, no trains bad roads and bad transport facilities. Everything that has anything to do with the government remains adequately exposed. What a shame!

Pictures of Messy Dom bivili

East

 West

Dombivli

  

Dombivli apparently is not a very old or Historical city. Named after the "Dombs" or the ones who actually perform after death cremation of Hindus. Since Kalyan was "the place" in the history Dombivli was supposed to be the outskirt of erstwhile Kalyan. The locals were mainly the Agri and Koli community. Agris owned the paddy and vegetable fields, while the Kolis, the creek and the seas.
Dombivli is more of a middle class society. It is the first fully literate town of Maharashtra and the second in India. Dombivli is predominantly a Marathi speaking are better known in the field of Arts and Culture and has produced some very fine literature, poetry, classical music, plays and actors. Today people from all states of India have settled here thus giving the place a cosmopolitan look.
The 'Navavarsha Swagat Shobha yatra' that started in the city in late 1990s, displays the culture of this city. The Yatra is organised on the first day of the Hindu New Year. People from and near Dombivli take part with their own 'Chitrarathas' to welcome the New Year. The Ganesh temple in the East is most visited place for worship by the locals and is invariably crowded on festival days.
The Industries are located out of the city; there are quite a few popular chemical, pharmaceuticals and metal industries. These industries attract a lot of cheap labour mainly migrants from the state as well as other states. These cheap workmen require cheap accommodation leading to the growth of illegal chawl and slums.
Three railway stations come under the jurisdiction of Dombivli namely Thakurli, Kopar and the Upper Kopar Railway station (Used by Diva-Vasai, Panvel-Dahanu Trains). It is well connected to Mumbai by the local trains.
The roads as is everywhere else in BUKAD is nothing to boast about. It is connected by pathetic roads to Kalyan, Panvel, Thane and Navi Mumbai.
The transport within the city is provided by the Municipal Corporation. The KDMT also provides transport . Promises were made to have concrete roads but that appears to be a distant dream. It is a nightmare to ride or dive on the roads during monsoons. You’d be rewarded if you locate a pothole free road.
Education and Medical facilities are average though not among the best. A large hospital like the KEM, JJ, Nair, Sion hospital is required in BUKAD. Unfortunately our elected representatives do not think likewise.
Wake up all you wonderful people of wonderful BUKAD and pull up your socks; we have to take a call on what is our basic requirement. It is not just corruption, it is the don’t care attitude of the vast middle class that have left us to the mercy of the corrupt civic authorities.
We will see more action as our blog moves into the second week, meanwhile we strongly recommend all our viewers to post in your comments so that we could take them to the logical conclusion.

Ambarnath

The name Ambarnath literally means Lord of the sky. Once a beautiful and peaceful town.
On the east lies the site of a very old temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, dating back, to 10th century. The entire east once a beautifully laid out, with well planned residential societies and roads. Today unplanned development is taking its toll with bad road and drainage management. There is scarcely any open space or gardens left in the east. The citizens mostly middle class couldn’t care much.
The west used to have some of the best industries, the Indian Ordnance Factory and Machine Tool Prototype Factory are still there but their once beautiful residential area is on the verge of collapse and decay. There are barely any residents, most of them shifting out of the colony. The officer’s quarters are the only place where one can spot some activity. The old Wimco colony doesn’t exist any more and the once famous Wimco sports ground is used as an open bar in the nights. All the great companies of the past have shut down their operations, sold their assets and packed off, leaving local conservationist aghast. A lot of new industries now run in the various MIDC zones and cheap labour is supplied from the town thus adding pressure for low cost houses or rather illegal hutments and chawls.
\Ambarnath does not have any transport system and they are at the mercy of the autorikshaw drivers who charge according to their whims and fancy. None of the autos run on meters and the sharing autos are allowed to carry 5 passengers each. Internal bus service was inaugurated with a lot of fanfare and bus stops erected but the corrupt will not allow these are filled.
Drinking water is supplied from the local dams by the Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran. Some areas in the East get their water from the MIDC Barvi dam supplied by the Municipal council, and the residents are paying the highest price for water in India.
The roads are pathetic to say the least and come rain or sunshine they always remain that way, the local politicians couldn’t care much.

KALYAN

Is a major railway station lying at the junction of the north-east and south-east lines of the suburban Mumbai division of the Central Railway.

Kalyan was once a port city of Shivaji Maharaj in fact it was a port for more than two millennia until the rise of Mumbai eclipsed it and its sister ports, Nallasopara, Thane, Vasai, etc. The port was ruled by various empires prior to it. Eighty years later, the Maratha Empire was forced to cede it to the British and became a part of the Bombay Presidency that became Bombay state after independence.

Today Kalyan is the most important town in bukad. Alas the railway station area is a classic example of haphazard urban development. There is a major railway junction, ST bus stand, railway court, railway police station, Tehsildar office, police station, civil court, KDMC bus stop, major market, rickshaw stands, two-storied parking lot, open parking space, sky walk, restaurants and illegal street hawkers in the same area. This has resulted in severe traffic jams & the chaos during peak hours.
So far the major modes of transportation in Kalyan are reasonably good:
The Tanga (Horse Carriage) is still in use at Kalyan.
The KDMT runs a city – bus service which is the most comfortable and economical way to travel in the city. The service not only ply within the city but is provided to all nearby towns and villages including BUKAD as well as Navi Mumbai. Apart from this there are a few NMMT as well as UMC buses plying to and forth.
The Auto Rickshaws and Taxis are available too, but the attitude of some is debatable.
The roads both the main and arterial are in a very shabby condition. Perpetual digging and subsequent ordinary patch work leaves the road in a miserable state.
The drinking water is a major and serious issue today. Incidents of contaminated water supply have been reported too often.
The Public places like gardens, parks and playgrounds are the lowest in this huge city.
Today construction and real estate development is the major activity in Kalyan. They are all over the city and out of the city limits too.
The MMRDA has drawn up some interesting plans for this city.
The Thane – Bhiwandi – Kalyan monorail link, multi modal Bus Rapid Transport System, Mass rapid system are a few. A four way expressway from Virar to Alibaug will pass through Kalyan

ULHASNAGAR

Ulhasnagar was initially built as a transit military camp during the II world war by the British.
 After the independence of India, came the partition wherein, the Sind state was transferred to Pakistan. The Sindhi community reluctantly left their homes, property and money and traveled to Mumbai, with a mistaken hope of eventually returning to their homes for good.
The Indian Government decided to allot these camps to these refugees; they were provided food grains, milk and cooking fuel.
Eventually the community realized that they could not return to their native land and began reinventing themselves. The skilled Sindhis got immediate employment in neighbouring ambarnath and the remaining educated ones were employed in the business offices of Mumbai.
The Sindhis essentially are a hardworking and creative community. During the early days of licensing and socialism people yearned for imported goods and the imitation of imported goods became a large industry and made Ulhasnagar notorious.
Manufacturers learnt the intricacy of manufacturing and today they are OEM’s to many garments, electronic and electrical brands worldwide. Today it is believed that you can find anything in Ulhasnagar
Nobody had inherited any property here. The military barracks were divided into 5 zones which later came to be known as Camp no. 1,2,3..etc. Most of the constructions were illegal. Even today majority do not register their property instead it is only a deal executed on a stamp paper.
Trade ad Commerce attracted a lot of migrants into Ulhasnagar today the population is around 8 lacs and among these 60% are Sindhis.
Ulhasnagar is a fascinating place to visit for shopping; the area is crowded during every festival. The street food is the best, I guess the Vada Pav was invented here, the Sindhi pappads are the ultimate.
Today it seems like the town is only occupied by gangsters. There is murder, kidnapping, and suicides all for the sake of lust or power. The national newspapers only carry such news about this wonderful town.
It is now upon you to tell us why you love or hate Ulhasnagar?

Anna Hazare

All the petty minded politicians have been totally ridiculed. All the while these people played regional politics dividing people and regions and here we have one Marathi hero who has united the entire country and are willing to lay down their lives for his cause.

If only our politicians could do a bit of soul searching, we’d be the best in the world. Show us a dream, not how to abuse and discriminate against our fellow Indians. A dream where every Indian will be equal in India and poverty eradicated forever.

First View

At the outset we have taken the initiative of writing to the elected members of the parliament and legislative assembly. It is their prerogative whether to get involved with us.

There are different methods of tackling our daily problems, the RTI being the most effective.

Whilst we wait for the feedback from our elected representatives we could delve on the beautiful History of our past.

Let’s begin with Badlapur by far the cleanest town amongst ours, a place where the great Maratha Warriors and traders from Surat changed their horses for the difficult trek towards Konkan.

As a kid I always cherished a visit to the Badlapur river banks or rather the Ulhas river banks in Badlapur during our summer vacation with our family and relatives. The banks were full of shade with scores of fruit trees like the Mango, Jamul, Chikoo, Guava, Jackfruit and Ber. We would camp below them.

The river had perpetual water flowing and was not very deep thus allowing us kids to enjoy a cool dip. Today this spot does not exist. I still make a trip during monsoons to experience the water falls close by.

I still yearn for those days.

Badlapur has now grown; I have yet to see a large slum or shanties that the rest of us in Kalyan, Dombivili, Ulhasnagar and Ambarnath experience daily. What is the difference, why slums here and not there?..............................

INTRODUCTION

                                                          

BUKAD literally means Badlapur, Ulhasnagar, Kalyan, Ambernath and Dombivili. Our historical towns were once prosperous and cosmopolitan. We were part of the Maurya and Gupta empires, the Yadavas, the Marathas, the Moghuls and the Portuguese.

We had direct trade through sea with Persia and Mesopotamia i.e. Iran and Iraq even Bombay port was established. We’ve had Christian missionaries dropping in on their way to China, The Parsi’s too had settled here.

The famous temples like the Shiv Mandir, Kodeshwar temple, Vithal temple are still intact because of the efforts of the common man.

Today BUKAD is considered a part of the Greater Mumbai metropolitan agglomeration, along with Navi Mumbai, Thane and Bhiwandi.

Unfortunately today we are at the mercy of bukkads, the corrupt have ruined us, and we simply accept this as a part of our normal lives.

Today with Anna Hazare showing the way, our Politicians cannot carry on like an Ostrich with its head buried in the sand. I guess we have a great M.P. and MLA’s unfortunately it is the ones below them that are responsible for the mess we are living in.

We would take this blog with all your comments to our elected guardians and revert to you. Please do not use abusive language but definitely this is a blog to vent your ire on the misfortunes bestowed upon us by the corrupt.

Now look forward to your posts.