Free India. Really? Today, almost 64 years after Independence from the British Raj, there looms a crucial question over the exhausted minds of the very same classes of masses whose former generations- great grandparents et al, were exploited at the hands of greedy , power hungry bureaucrats and leaders.
No, this is not another anti-government plea. Corruption & its woes are now just about beginning to decay in old bottles thrown at the backseat of our cars, that will probably open for discussion so that people can savor its near-death stench only two pegs down. As a matter of fact, I really don't know to whom this post must be addressed. If readers can guide me, kindly help.
My woe is simple. I am living in a land of gundas (See Goons, hooligans, trouble makers). I am scared. And desperate. Each day I get ready to take on these Gundas (goons) the moment I step out of the comforts of my home. Going to office has become walking over land mines. I am a 24 year old girl with a standard salary that would probably allow me the standard pav & perhaps no butter, had I not been living on pseudo pocket money basis with my generous & loving parents. I don't even want to imagine what it must be like for those who depend solely on their income to wade off these gundas. Anyway, I have a 9 to 5 job in an MNC & this is my problem-
Set of Gundas 1:
Hailing from Mumbai, I live in the affluent part of the western suburb of Andheri (west). My office is in Lower Parel. I commute by local train for most of the distance between my home & office, however, if you know Andheri, you'd know it is the largest suburb & the train station can be as far away from your home as the next suburb itself. Fairly so, I take my train from Vile Parle station each day for the past one year. The reason for doing so is not just the proximity, but this is where, in fact, started my problems with the 'Gundas'. From where I stay, there is one road that leads towards the main road to the station & three smaller lanes to cross over to it. The gundas have blocked two out of those three lanes in the name of metro rail work & mono rail pillar construction. The main road leading to those three lanes is also partially blocked by the gundas from time to time for reasons such as pipe laying, tarring, etc. Basically, that route to Andheri station which should take me about 15 mins, now takes me 45 minutes because of these gundas. So i simply take the straight road to Vile Parle station which takes me exactly 29 mins.
Set of Gundas 2 & 3:
I take a rickshaw till Vile Parle station. For the past one year it has been costing me anywhere between 54 to 59 bucks (one way) depending on traffic, etc. Quite frankly, traffic was my only logical explanation to this disparity in daily fares. At an average I'd say I spend Rs. 56 on my rickshaw trip (Approx Rs. 14,560 annually). Last week gundas in the city had a flash strike (without their union's consent or warning to the public & media). No apparent reason was given. The public was told that the RTO has been checking rickshaw meters since the public has been complaining about irregular, erratic and high fares. The public, already reeling under the hiked meter charges, were despondent at their regular fares becoming a burden on their pockets.
The RTO officers decided to take a look and realized the rickshaw meters that have fitted in them a standard disc with 67 ridges to complete a rotation (changing the fare by one unit on the meter), were being tampered with at illegal meter shops, on the behest of rickshaw gundas, to reduce the number of ridges in order to complete rotation faster than usual (bhaiyya aapka meter 'fast' hai). These gundas were tampering with their meters all long & the public had to pay the price. 97 gundas were arrested & their licences cancelled and the rest of the gundas decided to strike. The gundas took 4 days off the roads to rush to the nearest illegal meter shops to set their meters right. The Gunda unions ( two in Mumbai), had no control or warning of the same.
Set of Gundas 4:
The RTO- Road Transport Office, has been checking meters over the years. I used to see the rickshaws line up with RTO officers checking meters at 'back road', Lokhandwala. So how was this tampering possible despite regular checks? "Do-teen sau rupay lete hain har rickshaw wale se aur meter dekhte bhi nahi", says my rickshaw wala to me. "Sab karte hain, hum kyu na kare. Ab jitna meter hamesha girta hai utna hi de deejiye. hum meter se nahi jaayenge".
Gundaraj. Off you go. I hail another rickshaw on the fourth day of the 'strike'. No, I won't indulge them.
My fare from Andheri to Vile Parle station comes to Rupees 34. I am shocked. It has been almost two weeks since the strike & my average meter fare has been Rupees 38 (Approx Rs. 9,880 annually). It is appalling and yet there is much disparity in fares still. My rickshaw driver from this morning tells me his meter is rigged too, but not as much as the others.
The gundas were on strike this morning as well. They demand that the current minimum fare of Rupees 11 be changed to Rupees 14. They are looting me. Openly. Help.
Set of Gundas 5:
I reach the station and before I can get off a fat man pushes himself into the rickshaw. They are on a strike today so I can imagine this new gunda's desperation. But an equally desperate pregnant woman standing next to him has already been given the permission to board the rick by the primary gunda. The fat man pushes her off to, dismisses the rickshaw wala & tells him to take it to Juhu. I intervene & he slaps the rickshaw driver's back to speed up & leave.
I don't know how to help the lady. There was no cop around, in a terror sensitive place like a Hindu- Gujarati suburban rail station to begin with. She hath better bear the gundagardi too.
Set of Gundas 6:
Getting off at Lower Parel station & getting a cab to office has been a challenge ever since I remember. What campaign was it? Meter Down? Cabs can't decline a passenger? No, Sorry. Not happening. The Cabbie gundas will not go where you want to go. Not till you struggle, abuse & threaten to call the 'mama'. The way I deal with these gundas is simple. I sit in the cab & tell them where they must go. If they refuse I tell them to take me to the nearest cop station. So far, after the alternatives served, they have dropped me off to the former location requested.
Set of Gundas 7:
The road to my office compound. The gunda watchman guarding the compound next to my office who will not allow me to trespass his compound as a new rule because there is no road, only muck, in the lane to my office. He is St. Peter at the pearly gates of Heaven, and I must burn in purgatory. The BMC gundas refuse to put that road straight. Two monsoons since I have joined this office and we still have to waddle through muck & brown water. If its not the rains, a water tanker's open tap will fill up the puddles in the lane.
So, These are all the gundas I deal with each working day (one way). And that's a minimum. They don't have one representative. And even if they do, they are rallying against their own representatives over some more important internal issues of their own. We must stand back & watch, cuz we the people, have no say, no representation & no crucial cause of complain. I don't know what my fundamental rights guarantee me in these situations. I don't know where to go & file a complaint. I don't know if the police is on my side & which precinct this comes under. I certainly don't know if the authorities are willing to help. I live in a free nation. My former rulers were white royalties who gave my country the rail systems, the only most efficient, gunda-free (so far) part of my day. I don't know emerging world economies, or growing GDPs. What I do know & understand very well is that each time the price of daily commodities goes high, fuel prices increase, rickshaw & cab fares rise, my salary does not get an increment. I have been fooled and looted by this country and its inefficient systems. I can see the other countries my former rulers stayed back in or left later on, do much better for their own public. They have cleaner roads, more efficient transport systems and minimum standards for every faculty of transport, wages, commodities, etc. This independence is a duped shift from the white man's logic of governance. 64 years later, even after hearing stories of nationalism from my own dear grandfather, being looted and bullied at the hands of my own people, and still not have progressed to achieve even simple hygiene and educations standards as they do in Simon's gene-dropped nations today, I have a wish- Simon, come back. :(
