meeting

it was the day of the big dharavi meeting at the aiilsg. cept attempted to fit in the outlandish densities in a low rise atrocity- as they would have to be. i still don’t really get the morality that is attached to low rise housing as being better for community. as if poor people don’t need a view. maybe i am just biased. then there was our presentation with paul, ninad and ninad presenting the need for a holistic plan and siddharth presenting some of the student proposals for different areas.

the audience was the opinion makers and bureaucrats of the city- from the urban development secretary tiwari, to kshatriya and ubale, of course ak jain, shirish patel, pk das, neera, sheila and the others from sparc- and mukesh mehta- whose plan we were all there to defy. mr mehta insisted that in the preparation of his plan ‘proper procedure‘ was followed- insisted that all the data had been collected- but still had none of it to show. we’d like to think that the furor over the meeting at least put the dharavi erasure programme on the back foot, especially when at the end we challenged mehta to produce the data that he says exists; and when the guidelines for the production of a developmental plan was insisted upon to be followed. lets hope that the meeting leads to something fruitful.

there are of course vultures everywhere waiting to swoop down on the project and make it their own. as long as it might lead up to something positive maybe we can entertain them too.

after the meeting prabhu took us to the mla hostel in nariman point where we had oily snacks in groups of 4- because he gets a discount on them in that number. the gossip he is full of on mlas and mps and their perks are the most entertaining you can hear.