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?..............................