malvani

On the edge of the mangroves- actually sandwiched on land that no one wanted – and still does not want to acknowledge as part of the city; but used by the same state to make land that was once nature; where the displaced have been sent from around the city- given a plot of land and sometimes a toilet and asked to survive. and they have. By building out of the metal sheets and tarpaulin, by forming committees under the smiling flex posters of the blessings of politicians and godmen, to claim a presence in the city. to claim that they exist. the street is mud, water is carried from the more official areas by men on their bicycles, navigating the potholes and people. Other sources of water include underground water tanks covered with wooden planks- that has partly salty water. Some of these still exist but most have been filled in by dumped garbage. This is babrekar nagar and ambujwadi. The other edge is kaccha rasta where a public garden has been opened which is the local hangout of young men in the evenings where they hang out when they are not in the gaming zones and madrassas that line the street. From this edge the skyline of mindspace rises in the distance across a chasm of garbage and mangroves. On the main road you don't see this landscape. Instead the raggedy landscape of garden restaurants and shopfronts and apartment buildings line the road that leads all the way to marwe.