a day at the disappearing mill lands (bharat mata/lalbaug)

spent a sunday morning at two soon-to- disappear landmarks of the city's industrial history.




on its last legs is the bharat mata cinema where even today good marathi familes come to watch the whacky tacky comedies and the sentimental tearjerkers that make up the new marathi cinema. the projectionist custodian of this landmark of the marathi manoos (raj thackerey please note) is a u-p bhaiiya.















at lalbaug cricket matches are being played as the terribly built older buildings come down and are replaced with terribly built newer ones. old men still sit at corners discussing politics and the shops still sell the paraphernalia of a good marathi middle class life.