Dear Gabriel,
With reference to your "curry bath" in Mazagon, it probably came from Ray
Chambers on Dockyard Road. This building tenanted by mostly Goans, was
notoriously known in the Byculla-Mazagon neighborhood for people throwing
such things on passersby walking on the road below. In fact you are lucky
that with their limited washroom facilities, you did not receive some other
type of bath. Many people did.
While your opinions and that of Jug Suraiya in the Times Blog you have
referenced, may have been once true, it is no longer the case.
Indians living in urban dwellings have long since realized that their
municipalities are not capable of cleaning lanes and streets and it is they
who are ultimately responsible for public hygiene. Having realized that,
things are getting better in at least Bombay and some other cities.
About the filth in slums, what you say is true. There again the cause is
limited facilities rather than the perosnal hygiene of people themselves. If
there is a water shortage, you will bathe once a month. If there are no
proper latrines, you will use whatever spare land is available nearby. If
there are no road bins to dispose of your food scraps, you will throw it on
an already acculumlated heap.
The fault really is not even that of the municipalities who do not have
adequate funding for such jobs. It is that of the politicians, in this case
the councillors who use the money to stuff their own pockets. In the case of
Bombay, the municipal corporation has a budget that exceeds that of many
countries. Perhaps less than half is used for municipal services. It is also
the fault of the Indian courts that stop zealous and courageous officers
from demolishing slums as they rise. Indian politicians will of course
encourage them for vote banks. Only the courts could have stopped them but
they didn't.
In the case of JoeGoaUk's most recent photograph of a filthy Panjim street,
filled with biodegradeable and therefore stinking garbage, was it not the
responsibility of the local authority to dispose of it rather than to expect
the Panjim public not to generate it? Is it not the duty of the PMC to
create a system and process to avoid such a scene? This is only the
beginning. Soon you can count on Goa cties and towns to stink to high heaven
given the fact that Swiss bank accounts are being opened in record numbers.
Let the poeple pick the garbage and throw it in front of every politico's
house I say. Then you might see some change.
Regards,
Roland.
On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 11:27 PM, Gabriel de Figueiredo <
gdefigueir...@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>
> Considering that I nearly had a "curry" bath whilst walking the lanes of
> Mazagon in 1979-80, as well as seeing people bathing in water that was
> nearly black in colour whilst going through some slums in Mahim/Bandra, I
> did not really think that Indians as a whole have a very hygienic
> life-style.
>
>
