Some pictures of the ship MV Wisdom currently stranded on the Juhu beach in Mumbai. The ship, more like an empty hull as it was on its way to being dismantled in Alang from Sri Lanka, drifted towards the beach after cables being used to tow it snapped.
Click on the thumbnails to view larger-sized images
Was curious to see it first-hand for myself. The manner in which the monstrosity is positioned, it would not seem out of place in an apocalyptic disaster movie made in Hollywood. To see it sitting there on the beach with people, looking tiny & miniscule in comparison, milling round made for a surreal & bizarre sight.
Save for the near never-ending commute to reach places over there, thankfully something that need not necessarily be endured by many here, the city itself feels not significantly different from my place. Nearly every major commercial operation - malls, brand biggies or corporate establishment, operating there are mirroring their presence here with more clamoring to open shop. What is most striking about the place, however, thanks to the relaxed FSI the city has enjoyed for long, are the innumerable skyscrapers that dot & define the skylines of Mumbai [or "Bombay" as the Anglophones here still prefer calling it]. The ones currently under construction are all aiming to reach even higher, competing to look as different from the one adjacent as possible, bearing virtually no resemblance in form or shape to the ones already standing.
A manifestation of a lifestyle quite unique to the city, I found, is that of people engaging in quasi-graphic public display of affection [PDA] as can be witnessed on its beaches & parapet walls bordering the beaches. My place being a fairly accommodating & chilled out city in most parts, its not uncommon at all to see couples here holding hands, cuddling or pecking in public places whose environs evoke such amorous urges; eyebrows here don't rise up as high as it would elsewhere with the display of intimacy of this kind.
The kind of PDA people were indulging out there, however, seems to take the concept of PDA to an all new level, nearly blurring the distinction between the P & I*, & very often transgressing it. Such behavior could possibly be explained by the exorbitant cost of living Mumbai is known for, that often does not permit an average individual to acquire a living accommodation large enough to afford the kind of privacy needed to engage in acts of intimacy he/she desires, with the presence of other family members around in the house at the time. Thus for couples in search of their private moment, anonymity seems to make up for the privacy, or lack of it. A stranger sitting adjacent, not likely to cross paths ever again in a city as populated as Mumbai, is a non-existent entity as far as the couples are concerned, thereby giving them the space & freedom that is unavailable to them otherwise in an actual indoor location.
Okay. Done claiming to possess knowledge of human psychology & behavior & attempting to sound intelligent, or at least that is what had been the intention while typing in the last two paragraphs. Trying hurts too much and there is a limit to it. Whatever!
Also recited a small prayer, in binary, while passing by Lamington Road - not enough people on-board who shared the interest to make a stop there :(.
Godspeed
* - indoor