ENVIROMENT AS A PRACTICE OF CARE-NAALA

Intro to the course

It’s around 11.30 am on a Friday. This is the time I wind up from my regular spot where I've been selling fish for the past four decades. I collected all the unsold fish into the basket, cleaned my spot and headed towards the Mhada chawls in sector 6. I am resuming this routine after a long time as the pandemic has eased.

Walking on the streets of Charkop reminds me of the original marshy land and how Mhada had transformed its surroundings to provide low-cost housing to people over the past 40 years. I had witnessed this ever since I was married and had come to Bunder Pakadi village in Kandivali west from Madh Island village in Malad west. All the present roads were only sea water and travelling from one village to the other was only through boats. This so-called today’s nala was once a fishing spot for us, we would easily catch fishes like Boi, catfishes (Singala), Nivete and crabs. Earlier, one single crab weighed approximately one kg., but today the size and weight has reduced beyond imagination.

Later, this water also started to get a walled demarcation which defined its edge. These concrete walls were also one of the main reasons which stopped the crabs from climbing out of the water to lay eggs on the ground in addition to the drainage let out by the informal settlements thus forcing them to migrate back to the deep sea. Today this water is full of waste and other life forms instead of fish. All along the way here I was always accompanied by this water which was running parallel to me and constantly reminding me of the past.

Interdependencies, Negotiations, Associations, Flux

The reclamation of land brought inhabitants which became my regular customers. The sound of a familiar voice disconnects me from my thoughts when I realize I have reached the Mhada chawl. It is Patil vahini. Usually, I sit in front of her house to sell fish to the others in the chawl but today as there is renovation of concrete tiles going on in the common courtyard of the chawl she asked to go and sit in front of Mrs. Pawar’s house which is the last house of the chawl, so that I could keep my basket and sell comfortably. This is the first time that I went to this house even though I'm quite familiar with them.

I settle down and start calling… “Aga Pawar-rin Maase ghayala ye”. This is when I peep into their house for the first time. It is a very dingy place with windows on the opposite side of the door but these windows were facing a tall wall which obstructed all the light. A series of questions started crawling in my mind, I wondered why it was constructed. I see Pawar-rin coming out of her house with a large plate in her hand for purchasing fish.

Pawar-rin : Aga Philomena, “maase chagale aani bharpur de”. Tomorrow my grandson is turning a year old and we are going to celebrate his birthday with our relatives and friends.

Philomena : “Khup chaan” but there is renovation going on in the common courtyard and your house is dingy during the day time also, how will you manage all this?

Pawar-rin : I’ll keep the artificial lights on throughout the day and set up chairs here for our guests, some adjustments here and there.

Philomena : Did Mhada build such a tall wall right from the beginning?

Pawar-rin : No no, Mhada constructed only a small compound wall. It was the collective decision of the dwellers living on this edge to raise the wall to this height around 10 years back.

Philomena : Why was such a tall wall being built?

Pawar-rin : It’s because our kitchens need windows to exhaust the hot air, but the stench from this water gets inside our kitchen and stays there throughout. So, we all collectively decided to raise the height of the concrete wall so as to do away with the smell and this affects the daylight entering the house. We had applied to BMC’s ward office for covering the naala from the top but no one paid heed to our request and our problem went unnoticed. If it’s covered all the problems get solved including pests as well.

Philomena : So, you mean to say covering this naala from top will solve your problem. But I think instead this will give rise to much bigger problems for all of us.

Pawar-rin : How?

Philomena : Earlier this was the clear excess water from the Gorai creek for us to regularly come for fishing crabs and other salt water fishes which were easily available here. But over the period of time, the water quality has changed and the emergence of new species caused the fish to migrate back to the deep sea.

Mhada reclaimed this land and while doing so it was necessary to allow streams to flows throughout Charkop to take care of the flooding condition in this area during heavy rainfall but after the 2005 floods, the government took a decision to widen the water body as precautionary measure to take care of the flooding keeping in mind the rapidly increasing population of this area. It’s the truth we all know and can’t deny.

(Pawar-rin sighs and nods her head in agreement)

By then I finished cleaning the fish and also the conversation with Pawar-rin, and then sold some more fish to the others and started winding-up things to go ahead.

Exiting from the chawl I again start walking parallelly to the water and observe its concrete constructed edge and come across a playground where children were playing. I feel happy to see a small piece of open land around all these walled spaces. This concrete wall is short enough for me to see the other edge clearly and the vegetation there. Being an open space, the edge was broken here to create a temporary bridge with the huge electrical pipes becoming the base for people to walk over and reach the other edge.

Moving further, I come across a wedding hall and see similar raising of the wall done here with addition of wire mesh above it. I assume it acts as an exhaust while cooking. During the wedding season, the aroma of the food cooked rules the entire space, even passer-by’s walking on the street like me enjoy it.

I stand there for a minute, take a long look in and around the place and then continue walking towards the building ahead for more sales. Upon reaching the building I settle myself at my usual spot in the stilts. This is one of the first buildings in sector no. 6 Charkop and its residents were the first ones to witness us fishing in this water.

I start calling out for customers. I usually strike a small conversation with them every time we meet, be it the fish market being expensive, our mundane routines or sometimes we talk about our children and sometimes about the society around us. I see Vandana and Usha, two of the three regular customers approaching me. When they reached, we greeted each other and they started inquiring about the different varieties of fish that I have today for sale.

On enquiring about Sheela’s absence, Vandana quickly answers,

Vandana : The AC repairing technician has come to her house, the compressor has again rusted leading to gas leakage. This has become a big pain for all of us living here.

Philomena : Manhje kay zala aahe?

Vandana : The salty creek water influences the air quality and creates moisture. This moisture then comes in contact with the AC, Refrigerator and rusts the compressor thereby leading to gas leakage. This happens at least once in two years and costs a lot.

I nod my head trying to understand her but my gaze constantly shifts to the colorful flowers behind her and their fragrance seems mesmerizing….

Philomena : The fragrance of the flowers all along the periphery of your building simply lights up my day. The colorful flowers and these tiny butterflies and other insects playing around them. This fragrance would definitely reach your houses as well, right?

Usha : Yes, of course. This fragrance runs throughout the building and even in our houses thereby enhancing the experience of the space.

By then, pack the fish into the plastic bags and hand them over to both of them.

Vandana : It's getting late now, I still need to prepare lunch. Thanks, Philomena.

They both smile at me and leave. I still have few fish left with me. This is not a usual thing but when it tends to happen, I walk to the informal settlements to sell the remaining fish. Reaching there, I see a few women sitting in an open space outside their house and thus I walk towards them to sell the fish. After I settle there, they take a look at my basket and start enquiring about the fishes available.

Woman 1 : You come here very rarely, don’t you?

Philomena : Yes, but if you all require fish on a regular basis I can arrange it for you.

Woman 2 : Yes please, the fish looks fresh as well. You can find us here every day during the afternoons and evenings, since this space is open enough compared to the tight packing of our houses and there is a cool breeze flowing throughout the day. The water also helps in cooling the breeze.

Woman 1 : This is the only space for repose after completing our daily chores. It becomes a space to dry our papads and clothes when needed as there is not much space inside the house.

Philomena : Oh yes it’s quite breezy here. I’ll bring fish for you all on Wednesdays and Fridays. On Sundays, I sit in the market.

I thus sold all the fishes and was through for the day and started to walk back home.

The landscape of care brings together all the characters of the story right from Philomena's home in Bunder Pakadi, the chawls, to the informal settlements of growing along the edge of the Naala. of that played an important role into the making of the naala of the years and how the naala responded to these characters and their stories