Monday, April 26, 2010

SAKI N aka HELL

They say a picture paints a thousand words. Purists they are and hence I beg to differ. I am honestly not that bad with the canvas and a sword laid wrapped around my creative whip but I would rather write about this than paint a picture.The stage is Saki Naka located in Andheri(East), a suburb in Mumbai,India. The place that I frequently visited in the distant era of the past, never thought I would strive here for my bread and butter(and other luxuries). The ironical part here is the commute. Now my painting begins.

Laden with dust, small granules and micro macro stones that take flight and try to penetrate into your lungs, the journey is painful on foot or even worse if enclosed in an autoclave like clay oven - a car without an a/c, a rickshaw or a bike. Mine was well in the second one, the humble auto. The sun was blazing down the hot earth, as you can see the earth throwing up fumes, temperatures around 45 degree c. Sweating profusely,worse if you are dressed like me nowadays(formal clothing and a tie). The dusty tornado blows across, the traffic aligned like stars in a constellation stationary. The 10 min distance takes you about 30 min. There is no respite at this stage. The roads are the worst,considering the pressure it is put on due to the heavy traffic. And yeah, the wonderful brainchild of the road development authorities, the inter locking bricks which become disjoint when a single BEST bus passes on it. Just when it seems that the painting is about a standard stock Mumbai roadway, it takes a twist. See all roads in Mumbai are built subject to potholes,open man holes and extensive greying despite being only 2 days old. This road ie the Andheri Kurla road, has the metro yes the elevated rail! cradled right in the centre. The traffic multiplies million fold, the people are walking on the roads,right next to the traffic and the road takes the brunt of heavy drilling by advanced machinery. Damn it I wish I could draw. The people oh sorry! The amount of commercial offices are maximum on this stretch. The buses plying are immense, and since the airport is a stones throw away there are trucks and yes more cars,cops, people, animals and more people. The fateful day, when I decided to blog about this subject a pipeline burst and a sewage system malfunctioned leaving behind a pool for dangerous microbes lying on the road. The filthy water being splashed around, while the cops masked like astronauts try to police the traffic.
The culmination of the Andheri Kurla road is the Saki Naka junction a major link to the suburb,central zone and the city.

Thats where I and a million people travel to every day and curse about the same every second of every day.

SUMMARY IN BRIEF -

Just imagine with all the flames, and the above mentioned landscape, satan's residence. The corporate offices housed here is no symbol for humanity or grace. People are slaves to their masters at their respective work abodes. Only a select are destined to come to Saki Naka every week, the chosen ones are welcomed by the mass array of similarities which are observed in the mythical land known as 'HELL' .

SAKI N AKA HELL

1 comment:

Priyanka Prabhu said...

yess !! it truly is hell i agree ! well described !
but dont worry u shall soon be outta it.. in your palatial work den .. whr YOU will be the BOSS !!! :)
keep up the gudwork !