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This is the view I get from my bedroom window and I don't think I will be able to appreciate how lucky I have been to live in a place like Bombay where most houses (at least the ones occupied by middle class like me) look into a pile of rubbish and jhuggies, and still have a view like this.

In the monsoon, the amusement park outside my home was closed for “renovation”. Everyone was speculation about what would be happening to it and I was hearing the names of various builders who had bought land there. “Evershine has bought it” my property agent told me and when I asked what he plans to do there, the response was a little discouraging “He'll make a building, what else.”

The Fantasy Land still tried to keep the pretence that it is closed for renovation and while I got back from Delhi, that had gone as well. They had taken off the board, the rides and The sign at the gate saying "Closed for renovation. Will open after monsoon”.

One morning I met Mr. Naik from my society and he told me that the builder is Oberio who has bought this place. “But wasn't this supposed to be a green belt.” I asked him and he agreed “Yes, it was supposed to be a green belt but during the builder has managed to get the status changed during the time of Sushil Kumar Shinde.”

Who was I kidding, even if it is still supposed to be a green-belt, they can make buildings here. When the BMC or any other concerned authority will notice it, it will be too late and they will have no other option but to regularize it after accepting “chai-pani” from them. If the encroached jhuggis can be regularized, a building built by a wealthy and powerful builder has to be regularized.

Very soon the view from my home will change. I will no longer be able to see the Aarey Milk colony and the hills but the buildings. The view from those buildings may be better as far as we are concerned, the view will be “regularized”.

The funny thing is how the land has been allotted for urban development. The land of Mills in Parel has been given to builders and I guess they are planning to sell the Mahalaxmi racecourse as well. The Aarey colony also features in the list of some minister who suggested that Bombay should sell it's open spaces to repay the debt. The government is not willing to play its part in the development of the city beyond selling land and collecting the money.

If the government had spent some time and money in planning of the city, we won't have to drive on narrow lanes, live in cramped houses and smell the garbage (instead of coffee) every morning. Didn't it ever occurred to the government the numbers of floors in a building doesn't have to stop at 7 or 16 but can go all the way to 50-70 but I guess that is not what they are interested in, they are more interested in finding people who can pay them money to ask questions in the parliament.