An elite heaven on the ruins of hell

I went to Lodha World One in Parel the other day and looked down from its highest floor at the clouds blanketing Mumbai The residents of this apartment were gods wealthy enough for this to be their ldquoother apartmentrdquoThe website describes Lodha World Towers as ldquoa world of unimaginable luxury spanning 17 acresrdquo comprising some of ldquoMumbairsquos finest residencesrdquo and ldquoembodying global standards in luxuryrdquo Most of the enclaversquos occupants would not have been born 75 years ago and would have no idea about the hundreds of thousands who had lived worked and died on this land before them struggling for a place to sleepIf they knew it might shake them to their rootsLodharsquos 17 acres once belonged to Shrinivas Mills one of the 58 mills scattered over 600 acres of Girangaon the lsquovillage of millsrsquo The first mill a structure quite unlike anything in Mumbai appeared in Tardeo one day in 1854 it had a slender smokestack sticking out like a finger in Godrsquos eyeBombayrsquos other trading families mdash Tatas Petits Wadias Thakerseys Sassoons Khataus Morarjis Cotton and Greaves mdash smelt money and opportunity and rushed to set up their own mills By 1900 there were about 200 millsLetrsquos talk about Bombai Click the QR code above to join my WhatsApp group to share your Bombai stories for my bookmdashand perhaps answer some of my Bombai questionsThey were long low blocky structures blowing noxious clouds from their skyhigh chimneys By 1982 when a yearlong strike would effectively shut down the entire industry there were nearly 300000 workersExactly where Lodha World Towers stands thousands of workers toiled 12 hours a day seven days a week inhaling lungfuls of dust and cotton fibres with each breath Others endured the sweltering 38degC heat of the starching and bleaching sections all dayUnlike those who live in Lodharsquos posh enclaves housing was a nightmare for mill workers The poorest of them such as cartpullers inhabited zavli sheds fragile shacks assembled from the dry fronds of date or coconut trees empty kerosene tins and corrugated metal Air and light did not dare enter the first monsoon rain would wash it awayThe most harrowing were the chawls Sometimes as many as 25 squeezed into a space meant for six like so many sardines in a can sleeping in shiftsThe chawls had no latrines and children and men defecated in the lanes between the buildings women waited for darkness There were no sinks or bathrooms so verandahs the size of phone booths were enclosed with matting and repurposed as bathing areas The water flowed out collecting in pools outside the chawls and mosquitoes laid their eggs there Eventually everything in sight was submerged in the foul sludge blocking the drains and filling the air with fetid vapoursBy 1987 the value of the mill lands far exceeded the value of the mills that stood on them Everyone knew that there was obscene wealth to be made if only the laws could be tweaked But the Development Plan of 1967 barred the owners from selling or repurposing their millsDramatic change came in 1991 The government released Development Control Rules 58 allowing the sale and redevelopment of mill lands but with a precondition a third must go to the municipality and another third to the Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority to make lowcost housing for mill workers and others The mill owners could do as they pleased with the remaining onethird That wasnrsquot good enough They wanted more land They wanted all of itSubverting DCR58 required ninja moves In its first baby step in 2000 the government quietly amended Section 37 of the Town Planning Act to empower itself to make changes to the development plan without consulting the BMCThe next year using this unilateral power the government made a ldquominor modificationrdquo to the Development Control Rules to permit owners to surrender only the existing vacant land not the land that would become vacant if the mills were demolished With a stroke of the pen the mill buildings and other builtup areas became untouchable The onethird rule would only apply to open spaces in GirangaonIn 2005 Lodha builders bought Shrinivas Mills Their plan was to build an upperclass heaven on the ruins of a proletariat hellI am told an influencer lives high up in one of the Lodha towers I donrsquot know his name but they say he keeps the apartment only for the parties he throws the few times he is in India Each room is a different flagrant dayglo colour lurid red or fantasy purple or brazen yellow During parties laser beams and electric strobe lights pulse everywhereIn 1882 when the British introduced a sinister invention called electricity to Girangaon it was not discos that lit up With illumination now available after dark there was no longer any reason to let the workers go home at sunset Mills extended their working hours to 8 pm extracting 15 hours of backbreaking work at the same crippling wagesGenoo Babaji a 38yearold head mule jobber and a mill worker since age 10 told the Factory Commission of 1875 ldquoI am altogether broken to pieces I shall soon dierdquoElite buildings like Lodha World Towers now stand where workers like Genoo fought for their livesYou can reach C Y Gopinath at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper