Zainab Bawa’s Blog

One Sunday in One City

6th March 2005

Today is a Sunday. And there is a public meeting today. The public meeting is about the Supreme Court Judgment on the hawkers, the hearing of which is likely to take place in April. CitiSpace has organized the meeting and the ‘public’ has been invited to attend.

At the meeting, we are being thanked for sacrificing our Sunday and for coming to the meeting. The ‘public’ consists of people holding residences in the Western Suburbs and who are completely fed up with the hawkers. We are each being educated about our rights as ‘citizens’. And while there is a lot of talk about rights and awareness, I think about the rights of hawkers and whether they are citizens at all. How did citizenship first emerge? Who are considered citizens and who are not citizens? Why are citizens call citizens and not nationzens of statezens?

Ms. Punj, one of the convenors of CitiSpace addresses the issue of hawkers. “They threaten us. They encroach on our compound walls and a wall is private property. They are a nuisance.” The term nuisance is a prominent term in urban talk. Everybody complains of the nuisance that hakwers are, squatters are, beggars are, street children are – N for Nuisance! We are told of how public space is being encroached by hawkers and how we must protect our public spaces.

While the meeting is proceeding and Frequently Asked Questions about rights, hawkers and property are being addressed for the benefit of all, I start to look around and analyze the virtuous public that has sacrificed its Sunday and come to this meeting. Around me are some familiar faces and some unknown. While the organizers are spreading awareness and talking about rights, men and women in the crowds are socializing with each other. This appears to be an upper middle class crowd. As I watch people mingle and exchange “Oh hello’s” and “Hey, hi’s”, I think that Page 3 is not a phenomenon of just the rich, famous and glamorous. It pervades practically all of the middle class. Page 3, to me, is ’socializing’, ‘networking’, and ‘making contacts’, with economic and political connotations. Being an ‘active citizen’ is a part of the package of Page 3 – the aware citizen and the citizen who participates in the politics of the locality and cleans it up.

The meeting ends after a while. We have been asked to photograph hawkers near our homes. Photographs are strong proofs which shall be presented in the courts in favour of eviction of hawkers.

As I walk out of the meeting, I think about ‘democracy’, the problematic notions of ‘public space’ and ‘representation’. CitiSpace is soon becoming a ‘representative’ of the publics, a protector of ‘public spaces’. What are the criteria to be representative of publics? Can a representative represent all of the diverse publics?

This evening, just like yesterday, I am writing down the people who I see at Nariman Point.

There are seven-eight pages of records of people I saw at the promenade today. But an interesting thing that happened while I was making these notes was that a young boy and young girl were walking around the promenade. The boy had a camera in hand and he would approach people, say something to them, ask to stand against the sun and then the girl would ask some questions. I thought they were video-shooting for something, maybe a student film or some such thing. They approached me and asked if I would talk with them. I asked, “Who are you? What are you doing?” “We are researching here,” the boy said to me, adding, “We are doing a survey for the State Bank of India and asking people about their views on the bank.” I asked again, “Why here?” He responded, “Because you get all kinds of people here – a cross section.” He then went on to interview and ask me about the bank.

As he finished, I started to ask myself does a public space have a single homogenous use? Does public who must use the space be defined? What kind of a public space is Nariman Point?

As I walked ahead, the Sunday crowd was all over. They come from all parts of the city and also all parts of the country. I walked backwards, from where I had started. The duo were still doing their filming. They sat down after a while I spoke with them and told them how I was researching Nariman Point. The boy said to me, “This place gives me serenity. I feel calm here. Come here once in a month or so.” What does the promenade mean to him?

The day was long and went on and on. Ultimately, along with some friends, I sat down at the Chowpatty beach. A hawker was selling paan. He talked a lot and we asked him where he came from and how he feels at the beach. “I am from Madhya Pradesh,” he replied, adding, ” hafta kills. Everybody must be paid hafta .” And then he went on to say his limmerick which is:

i.e. Business of hawking,

Like a noose in the neck

Look around everywhere,

Its all about bribery!

zainab xanga