CITY ADRIFT

By Naresh Fernandes

Members: Basundhra Paul, Swarnadweep Mandal,

Review
Part One
The book starts with a glimpse on the development and redevelopment of the city, where there seems
to be no concern about it among the citizens. The writer highlights how the city’s opinion and lifestyle is shaped
by capitalist ideas, a city where one works hard for the things they want. A city whose only business is business,
a city which “does not discriminate”. Parallelly, he tries to highlight that the city does discriminate. Like the over
inflated rates of Bombay housing, and how it is not affordable to most “hard working” citizens. Even though the
city expanded to the north, south was still the city centre.

It is interesting to see how profit and constraints of space dominates and surpasses everything else
like race, religion and even nature. In Bombay, the enormous assets of land allowed the merchants to stand as
relative social equals to Europeans, as a consequence of which Bombay was less racially segregated than
Calcutta or Madras. The land reclamation from the sea was primarily driven by the desire to increase land
revenue sources, and the city was designed to ease land sale and not to ease communication of the citizens.
Many religions like the Muslims, Jews, Christians, Armenians shared common burial grounds at times needed.
 The book could do with delving a little deeper into topics and historical context, at times the story seems
to lack context. It states facts and not opinions, and forces the reader to think for themselves. Like the dilemma or
predicament, we should preserve and find our history to uproot the current inhabitants of the land. This part also
sheds some light on the role and impact of famous people like Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, Premchand Raychand,
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Dr. B R Ambedkar. And how the sir JJ had a significant role in changing the face of
Bombay, where he made public fountains and other public infrastructure. But the contemporary rich lack this
concern for their co-inhabitants of the city.

Part Two
Even though its capitalistic ideology seems to be immune to any communal riots, it gave way to the
communal riots of 1992, Babari Masjid demolition. Reading the book City Adrift has convinced me that everyone
should read at least one book about the city they have grown up in. It is only then that you realize that all your love
for your city was so superficial, and the way you look at it and adore it now has evolved. I have always loved
Bombay because it was my city. I love how it makes me feel, I love the people, and I love the soul. But City Adrift
has shown me the depths of Bombay that I would have never cared to explore. The feeling is akin to crushing on
someone because they look pretty and make you feel good, but realizing the emptiness of that feeling once you
actually fall in love with them upon learning about their life, experiences, and what made them. . Naresh Fernandes
has beautifully shown the juxtapositions of the “Bombay Dream'', and the “Bombay Reality” by pontificating on the
way realtors try to position and sell their projects in the stacks of hoardings alongside the roads, promising
everyone a space in this ‘amazing’ city, followed by promising them a place away from this city.
 Bombay is a dense honeycomb, and the origin stories of how various kinds of bees flew into this city, and
why they congregated in a particular location is extremely engrossing. That an entire industry thrived on this land
back in the paleolithic ages, that Nalasopara was a port in the ancient times that traded with Mesopotamia and
Egypt, that quite a few of the varied castes and religions that exist in this metropolis were actually immigrants who
were lured into the city through lucrative incentives by the East India Company, are just few of the many
fascinating Bombay trivia spread across this book.
The Congress government said that 80 per cent of the planned 550-acre district would be used for
housing, and only 20 per cent for commercial buildings. The new neighbourhood, known as Nariman Point after
the belligerent Congressman who halted the last attempt to reclaim the bay, would be dominated by a sixty-seven-
acre central park. By 1975, only seventy-nine acres of land had been reclaimed and the project was proving just as
contentious as its predecessor. Nariman Point would become Bombay’s first high-rise office district, drawing in
more than 220,000 workers each day. Bombay’s debilitating north-south axis had only been reinforced. It wasn’t
just the eruption of Nariman Point that prevented New Bombay from acquiring a life of its own. The state
government threw a spanner in the works by failing to relocate. In 1981, it cemented its decision to stay put in the
old city by inaugurating a new legislative assembly building in the heart of Nariman Point. The failure of New
Bombay is a reminder that, no matter how sophisticated the plans, it’s almost impossible to change it to a vibrant
city in a year or two. Midway through the book, you realise this isn’t just Bombay’s story, it is the story of every city
in India, and every town aspiring to be a city.
 As more and more people jostle their way into urban spaces to make something of their lives, this truth
tale of a biography sounds a warning we must notice. They opened the way for buildings to be constructed
without considering the context of the neighbourhood in which they were set. As a result, towers have shot up in
narrow lanes across the city, blocking air and light, causing traffic jams and water shortages around them.

There was the Bombay loophole. Mills wouldn’t have to surrender any land for housing and parks if
they sold less than 15 percent of their plots and used the proceeds to modernize their machinery. The rule
relating to mill land sales was modified to absolve mill owners of any responsibility towards the city’s future
which would free up only about fifty acres and shatter any prospect of implementing a holistic plan for the
neighbourhood. The popular 2008 film `Slumdog Millionaire` was a portrait from the slum land in Bombay`s
shantytowns.

In Bandra-Worli Sea Link, vehicles must drive the wrong way for about 150 meters before taking a U-
turn at a traffic circle that sends them back in the direction they actually need to be heading. The sea link is a
more literal a symbol for Bombay.
 The metamorphosis of Bombay’s economy from one based on manufacturing to one in which the service
sector is dominant has resulted in the large-scale casualization of employment. Over the past few years, seminars
and exhibitions about Bombay’s future have seemed to open at the rate of one a week. Some of these events are
organized by citizens’ groups and local research organizations attempting to stir the authorities into action. But
many are international initiatives that bring to Bombay members of a new species known as urbanists.

The plan was about ‘The effort has been to avoid the spectacular, to provide minimally for the affluent
few and to promote the convenience of the greatest number’. Ofcourse, very few of the city’s affluent set have
actually walked through Dharavi. Naresh Fernandes also talked about Politicians and bureaucrats, in their
eagerness to benefit builders, had disregarded all notions of sustainable development. Towers had been
sanctioned without considering whether the water, sewage and they were so eager to demand their rights, they’d
completely forgotten about their fundamental duties. Lastly, Naresh states that the re-islanding of Mumbai does
not bode well for its future.

Though Bombay has been in a perpetual state of crisis, it has never stopped believing that its
predicament could not be overcome by a good chinwag.