New Year cheers for cab aggregators
The fire tragedy did not affect New Year celebrations in the city. There were traffic snarls on highways leading to tourist destinations around Mumbai. But the city ushered in 2018 in its own ways. The police had tightened vigil to curb drunken driving. Several thousand vehicles were inspected throughout the night and actions were taken against hundreds.
Taxi aggregators remained the best option and there was a huge rise in their ridership on the day. According a report published by Uber, Mumbai was the second most active city with the highest number of trips taken on a single night and on an average, a person took 13 rides through the night.
‘Final Rites Kit’ for last journey
Among the several identities that Mumbai has, a very old and distinct identity is that of a city that welcomes new ideas, initiatives and innovations. A distinct new product that has come to the city this week is ‘Final Rites Kit’. A foldable bamboo bier that can take a load of up to 150 kg and can easily carry a six-foot-tall person is the main component of the kit.
It comes with 38 other items such as cow dung cakes, white cloth, shawl, abir, gulal, turmeric, kumkum, rice, Ganga water etc., all packaged in a 2 x 2 box. The promoters, who have experience in marketing in US and Singapore, said the kits were available at 19 crematoriums in Mumbai and were getting a good response.
New initiatives launched at innovation kumbh
The annual ‘TechFest’ at IIT-B recently saw the presence of luminaries like Manohar Parrikar, P Chidambaram and N R Narayana Murthy on the first day. A major attraction at the fest was the first robot to get citizenship. The competitions related to innovative ideas and start-ups. Robotics, as always, remained a major draw. The tech kumbh revolving around digitisation, sustainability and biotechnology also started new initiatives like ‘SHE’ and ‘Nirbhaya’ that invited innovative actions to resolve pressing societal issues like menstrual health and women’s empowerment.
Mumbai’s nightlife in good old days
The Kamala Mills Tragedy has put a question mark on the promotion of nightlife in Mumbai by Yuva Shiv Sena chief Aditya Thackeray. In the good old days, the city had a vibrant nightlife, although of a different variety. One can see a glimpse of that old culture in parts of Mumbai such as Nagpada, where famous Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto once lived.
Jews populated this part of the city back then and a synagogue here still freshens up old memories. Nearby is Manto’s favourite Sarvi restaurant, which still serves the Paya soup. During a night stroll on the road well after midnight, when a friend asked a sweet mart owner whether any customers came to the shop at night, the sincere reply was: the genies go on a shopping spree late in the night.
Abhijit Mulye
Our correspondent in Maharashtra
abhijit.mulye@gmail.com