Why I don’t want to be on the News about that pothole video I made..

Over the past few days, a lot has happened. Mallishka made a song about Mumbai’s potholes and instead of ( at the very least ) promising to fix our problems, there were threats of a legal notice, mosquitoes were found to be breeding in her house ( on the 7th floor ) , and the house was also checked for illegal construction.
That’s why I made this video. Because the LEAST we should be able to do is complain about our problems.
Mumbai’s potholes are nothing new and neither are they some kind of mysterious secret. Everyone is aware of them. We’ve just gotten used to living with them. Like us, the News too will move on from this, to the next big story.
I’ve been receiving a ton of calls and messages about the video. I appreciate the News reaching out to me to discuss this, but I’m not the story. Neither is my video. Really what else is there to say ? Instead of interviewing me, ask why this has been going on for over a decade. Ask why our people are still scavenging manually. Why do we use these damn paver blocks if they keep coming apart ? Ask for, and get us some accountability please. Main roads, in roads, highways, the expressway, the situation is pretty much the same everywhere, not just Mumbai.
This is not to say that everything is all bad. Mumbai is an incredibly tough city to deal with.This is an understatement.
We littler and we break signals ( among other things ) incessantly. It is literally hell for our authorities, our cops working 24/7 without many basic resources. Still, the people doing the work manage to accomplish amazing feats even with the bare minimum, like this https://twitter.com/HoeZaay/status/888563222319554561
Here are some things we can do as Mumbaikars :
- Start small. Form / join any of the many citizens groups that are working towards cleaning up their own areas. Start a whatsapp group, share info and discuss what can be done and push for changes. I constantly see people like Aashish Shelar, Aasif Zakaria and Poonam Mahajan following up with citizens and issues. There are countless other individuals, across political parties, addressing and working to fix issues across Mumbai. While we expect the basics to be covered, there is no harm in helping our representatives as they definitely have their hands full.
( This is the group I’m part of, primarily for Bandra, which includes Pooja Bhatt and folks from the Mumbai North Central Discussion Forum.)
( Will post a link to this goup soon so anyone interested can join.)
2. Stop sending me pictures of potholes with brown water in it asking if I want to join you for chai. I’m a Mumbaikar, I’ve already had 3 cups of chai today.
3. You can stop calling me VJ, I haven’t been on television in years.
Whatever you do even if you do nothing, don’t sit quietly.
Potholes Morghulis,
Hoezaay.
