Zainab Bawa’s Blog

24 March 2005

 

This morning, I entered the police station to meet my acquaintance Mr. Takalkar. I wanted to inquire the rules and regulations governing public spaces in Mumbai. When I tell him what I want, he smiles and says, “Hmmm, we are again going back to our seven fundamental rights which includes the right to property. I remember our teacher of the human rights programme in the university saying ‘if you are not standing in your private place, you are in public space!’ Everybody should have access to public space.”

 

Right now thoughts in my mind :

ü       What is private place?

ü       What does the notion of private citizen?

ü       In the emerging urban, public space is increasingly being made private e.g. residents of A, B, C and D roads at Churchgate claiming that the roads and streets are their private property!

 

In the evening, at Nariman Point …

 

I am walking past the Nariman Point / Marine Drive promenade. The tetrapods are in the sea now. Work is ‘progressing’ as you find the crane moving further and further. People appear to enjoy their time here irrespective of the condition of the promenade.

 

Right now thought in my mind :

ü       Why?

 

I walk past slowly and start noting.

 

·         Blank space

·         Three girls sitting

·         Blank space

·         One couple with some blank space between them

·         Little blank space

·         A woman sitting contemplatively

·         Lots of blank space

·         A man sitting facing the sea

·         Blank space

·         Two men sitting and chatting eagerly

·         Blank space

·         Four boys sitting and chatting

·         Little blank space

·         A man and woman sitting close to each other

·         Blank space

·         Blank space

·         Blank space

 

I settle down in a place which is slightly diagonally opposite the Sony World showroom. There is a space where pigeons abound and a man makes his living by selling pigeon feed. People buy the feed for him for various reasons. Some for religious reasons, some for spiritual reasons (both aimed at feeding the pigeons for self-contentment) or buying the feed for their children or grandchildren to throw at the birds. Children love pigeons. And it’s a great sight watch children play with the pigeons. A different kind of space is created when you watch the kids play with the pigeons or when children run all over the promenade.

 

Just as I have settled down, my classmate, architect Farrukh Hyderbadwala appears and smiles at me. I cannot believe this. Everytime, everyday, I am meeting at least two people I know in the city. I wonder about my own visibility in the area which is now my ‘field’.

 

I start to make notes about who is sitting to my left and right and who is walking before me (since I facing with my back to the sea).

 

·         Before Me – one man walking by merrily and in a jolly manner, looking at me briefly and going along

·         To My Left – blank space – a man in coloured checked shirt, facing the other way

·         To My Right – blank space – a couple

·         Before me – reduced blank space – two TOPS security guards walking by easily

( Question in my mind – what does this promenade as a public space mean to these security guards? Aren’t they also enjoying themselves?)

 

·         In Front of Me – blank space – a hefty man in Pathani suit walking pensively, looking to the ground

·         In Front of Me – a group of men walking by and wondering what I am writing

·         Diagonally Opposite on My Left – Two old men, one child and lots of pigeons

·         To My Left – increased blank space – a girl in burkha with a man and two children

·         Before Me – reduced blank space – two girls jogging, one of them is fat and the other is okay-okay. Both are walking fast-fast with their walkman sets and ear phones plugged in their ears and they are chatting with each other

·         Before Me – lots of blank space – Special Number 8 bus goes by

·         Diagonally Opposite to My Right Side – an elderly woman dressed in the Maharashtrian kashta nine-yard saree walking slowly and parallel to her, closely, is a middle-aged housewife in a saree and sports shoes walking very fast. I imagine what relationship they could have and immediately to my mind is the relationship of a mistress and maidservant. Middle-aged housewife soon overtakes elderly Maharashtrian woman

·         Before Me – lesser space – a middle-aged man with a newspaper in hand walking slowly

·         Slightly Diagonally Opposite Me: an old man, an old woman and a girl who looks like their granddaughter and she has a camera in her hand – lots of blank space

·         Slightly Diagonally Opposite on My Right – reducing blank space – a mother and daughter walking slowly

·         To My Right – increased blank space – a youngish man, restless

·         Before Me – lots of blank space – a girl dressed in lemon green clothes with an embroidered bag, walking on the edges of the promenade, as if lost in another world

·         Before Me – very reduced blank space – a burkha clad woman with a man and three girls dressed in bright colourful clothes, carrying similar silver wallet bags

·         To My Right – slightly, very slightly reduced blank space – three girls have come and sat by, facing the sea. They have taken off their shoes and are completely relaxed.

·         A young man comes walking by my right side, loosely stretching out his hands and separating his fingers

·         A dog, let off his leash and its owner dressed in sexy tight shorts, walking with another girl. This woman is now familiar to me. I see her everytime I am at the promenade

·         Reduced Space – two girls walking and talking

·         A hawker passes by – thought and question in my mind – “hawkers walk very close to the promenade wall, very closely by the people sitting on them. Do people feel that their space/privacy is violated/encroached with the hawkers passing by them so closely?”

·         To My Left – same amount of blank space – two male friends sitting facing the sea, one explaining the city to the other.

·         Question in My Mind – “Is Nariman Point / Marine Drive then a reference point to the rest of the city?”

·         To My Left – reduced blank space – two old men, dressed in white kurta-pyjamas, tired, relaxing, thinking deeply

·         One Sardar couple walking closely to each other – little to none blank space between them

·         A hawker selling tea-coffee, passing by slowly, makes crackling noise with the plastic cup to draw my attention to the wares he is selling

·         One funky chic, dressed in tight red three-quarter pants, walking in a cool, forward and hip-swinging manner

·         Thought in My Mind – perhaps it is the friends/neighnours from the same building who jog/walk with each other. Building identity is very strong in the Churchgate/Cuffe Parade area. People of the same ‘class’ walk/jog with each other. What kind of a neighbourhood is Churchgate/Marine Drive/Colaba then? Closed, in-group?

·         Crossing My Path – One slightly balding man, two young girls, and one school-going age boy

·         Diagonally Opposite to My Left – reduced number of pigeons, lots of grain spread around

·         Thought in My Mind – people cross each other’s paths, sometimes very, very closely, but no one’s sense of space is violated!!! Does this happen in an open public space? Is this what is ‘supposed’ to happen?

·         Question in My Mind – Was the promenade consciously created as a public space?

·         Question in My Mind – Are public spaces consciously created?

·         Question in My Mind – Are public spaces unconsciously created?

·         Question in My Mind – Who created public spaces? Planners? Architects? Government? State? Citizens? Residents? Outsiders?

·         Question in My Mind – Is the sea a natural public space in a city?

·         The Sun has Set – returning joggers / walkers; emerging hawkers …

·         One returning jogger meets an elderly couple and chats with them for a while

·         Question in My Mind – is it that only known people meet each other in a vast public space?

·         Question in My Mind – do unknown people meet each other in a vast public space? How? What is / are the anchor/s?

·         Space is gradually getting crowded

·         A young man passes very closely to me and eyes into what I am writing. My sense of privacy is violated for those few moments and I feel angry

·         Question in My Mind – am I violating people’s anonymity and privacy when I note them in my field notes?

·         One old woman and one young girl greet each other as both cross paths while walking in opposite directions

·         To My Right – reduced blank space, in quantity, but relatively still the same – an old man with thick eyebrows, black track suit, and a fancy child’s ball in his hands, comes and sits down to relax and catch some breath

·         To My Right – Old man is soon joined with his wife and granddaughter – space is not reduced. Granddaughter is arguing lovingly with her grandfather that this space is not Nariman Point and that Nariman Point starts ahead with the onset of the Air India Building

·         Four boys to men – coming from somewhere to be at the promenade and maybe will go somewhere from here

·         Question in My Mind – are there public spaces in world which are not consciously used as spaces for leisure and relaxation, but as spaces which people access in order to get from somewhere to somewhere?

·         Thought in My Mind – Nariman Point / Marine Drive / Churchgate is a mixed use area with commercial, residential and educational institutions and hence is frequented more when compared with Worli Sea Face / Bandstand / Carter Road promenades which are strictly residential.

·         Question in My Mind – the exteriority and centrality of Nariman Point / Marine Drive / Churchgate make it a frequently accessed and lively promenade

 

I get up and start walking towards ‘Nariman Point’. I have plugged ear phones in my ears and am listening to radio.

 

I notice that I walk on the left when I am walking towards the Point and to my right when I am returning back. That appears to be the pattern among a section of the population.

 

There are lots of couples kissing each other facing the sea. Why would they want to express such private emotions in a public space? What is their sense of space? What are their notions of publicity and privacy?

 

I am walking back towards Churchgate now. The music is rolling in my ears. Suddenly, I hear a familiar voice. It is my classmate Adi and his friend Daraius. My god! I meet apnawalas in a public space – again!!!

zainab xanga