Last week, I read a small news article, tucked away in one corner of Maharashtra Times. It said that the BMC is planning to ban Gulli Cricket on Mumbai roads.
BMC has done little so far to ease our lives in the city. The roads are in pathetic conditions, the traffic is incessant, the drains are blocked, the air is polluted, the trains are never on time, the buses are crowded, there are no green spaces, there is nothing in Mumbai that BMC can make a Mumbaikar feel proud about.
What keeps Mumbai going is its culture. A culture that is born out of the openess the city shares with its fellow travellers, neighbours, and even strangers. Why does an outsider fall in love with Mumbai? Its the culture - and not the infrastructure.
As a kid I played roadside cricket. And more than playing I have watched numerous hard fought 'underarm cricket' matches. The atmosphere was electric. While the kids played, mothers cooked 'mutton' and 'chicken' in the kitchen and fathers stood in the balcony cheering the players. There was no mention of caste, religion, rich, poor - it was just passion, and play.
Sunil Gavaskar has extolled the virtues of roadside cricket in his autobiography saying that its this cricket that instilled the discipline of batting straight. Gavaskar played his cricket in narrow lanes next to his building in Chikhalwadi, Mumbai. Since the ground floor windows had glass panes and any mishits would smash them, kids like Gavaskar were forced to bat 'straight' or what we call as the famous - 'V'. The eclectic cover drives, tearing the stadium grass, were born out of such childhood limitations of Gulli Cricket. Gavaskar also spoke about how each team had many players and once you got out, it was impossible to get another chance to bat for a long time. As a result, Gavaskar learnt to bat cautiously and not throw his wicket away at any cost. Several Mumbai players have attributed their 'Khunnas Style' of playing to Gulli Cricket.
Here is a beautiful song by Cat Stevens about how sprawl, congestion, and mindless development is impacting America's children -
"Well I think it's fine, building jumbo planes.
Or taking a ride on a cosmic train.
Switch on summer from a slot machine.
Yes, get what you want to if you want, 'cause you can get anything.
I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?
Well you roll on roads over fresh green grass.
For your lorry loads pumping petrol gas.
And you make them long, and you make them tough.
But they just go on and on, and it seems that you can't get off.
Oh, I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?
Well you've cracked the sky, scrapers fill the air.
But will you keep on building higher
'til there's no more room up there?
Will you make us laugh, will you make us cry?
Will you tell us when to live, will you tell us when to die?
I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?"
If the BMC cannot build open spaces and playgrounds, it has no right to stop children from playing on the roads.
Pic courtesy: http://bobtoor.com/images/gulli_cricket.jpg
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