As I said, now that I have left journalism full-time I can sit back and criticise it:) As if I was ever a reporter (I was a feature writer, part of the elevated clan that was hated soundly by reporters:) who mostly followed her own whims and fancies at work. So, it is even more inappropriate of me to run down the clan. Nevertheless, as a `concerned citizen' I can say that it is soo predictable for the media to suddenly wake up to relevant city stories only when the monsoon happens: you can hear rain-drenched TV anchors screaming about Khar Subway, Milan Subway and then keep showing flood images that frightens my family back home in Chennai. Then, to keep pace with such show-stealing, the print press will go on an overdrive, so you can watch, with a state of immense great deja vu, media ink and ire being spent on the `bad roads', even worse accident statistics, and some blame-game, name-flinging between different maintenance departments. Why wait till then, guys... Have An Accountability section, to pin these issues down....
Here is a lead, sent to me by a blog reader as sms: "Subject for your city blog: at Andheri and Santa Cruz highway is getting a fresh coat of pre-fab macadam sheets. But during the last monsoon the sad thing was scraped out since it was felt they caused accidents (not bad driving)!. Now they are being laid again, but will be scraped out in June!"
Am not technically qualified to tell the difference between one road material and another(feature writers then, and now, only wax eloquent about colour of roads:), but those who drive clearly do know. So, if you are driving past Santa Cruz and Andheri highways, and smell something, it is either macadam. Or a racket:)
Chalta hai, Mumbai!!
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