travel under a Metro

Had an occasion to travel by auto rickshaw from Andheri west to Goregaon west via the JVPD, Link Road. Horrible travel is just an understatement, it was atrocious to say the least, exacerbated by the metro line construction going on from D.N. Road onwards. Two ambulances were stuck, pealing away, but no respite in sight from the unending chaos on the road. There are multiple bottlenecks on this stretch no less due to metro construction but even otherwise also. The barricades put up due to metro work is a huge hindrance as the roads have been narrowed down considerably leaving very little space for traffic to move. To cap it, the roads are in terrible condition with potholes at many places. The paver blocks have done the most damage on the roads in Mumbai. But absolutely the worst stretch is the link road from Goregaon/ oshiwara bus depot to shashtri nagar, the traffic was utterly crawling, it was maddening to say the least. Don't know how much of this traffic is going to get mitigated when the metro line is finally done, maybe for six months, but I guess then the traffic will be back to the same old snarls like before. Life of a Mumbaikar travelling under a Metro is an experience never to be forgotten.

14 Hours - An Insider's Account of the Taj Attack

Just finished reading this book by Ankur Chawla - I had expected a gripping saga of the greatest attack on Indian soil since independence but not totally disappointed. He has tried his best to give a nice narrative account of his experience inside the Taj Mahal Hotel in Colaba, Mumbai and succeeded also to some extent. It is obviously his first attempt at writing a book and being a young hotelier I will give full credit to his composure during the worst travail of his life. There are some genuine attempts at humour and it works very well. Goodreads 3/5

JVLR woes!!

When the Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR) was being constructed, MMRDA told us that after the JVLR is built, travel from Eastern Express Highway (EEH) to Western Express Highway (WEH) will be in 20 minutes, that's right 20 minutes flat with no stoppages whatsoever!! Bullshit!! Today it takes anything from 1 hour to 2 hours to just traverse this link road connecting the eastern suburbs of Mumbai to the western suburbs. Still the Powai section of this road is bearable. It is when you cross the SEEPZ flyover that you run into humongous traffic jam, all the way to the WEH. It just simply stops, crawls, stops, sputters, stops. There are so many traffic signals, so many criss crosses that one simply gets bored at this stretch. Nowadays it seem the Aarey road has been blocked ostensibly for a fallen bridge during the August 29 downpour, but who knows what is the real reason ? It doesn't take that much time for repair of a bridge. 

Rahul Gandhi's remarks

Rahul Gandhi made a foot in the mouth statement when he stated that Biharis are needed to save Mumbai. What does Rahul know of Mumbai. Has he stayed here for more than a few hours. We don't need Biharis to save Mumbai. We can do it ourselves. Shiv Sena is as much needed in Mumbai as the carpenters from Bihar but not the thieves from Bihar. We need Shiv Sena to protect Mumbaikars.