Bombay: Transport Infra in 2010

Here's a short rundown of all the transport infrastructure Bombay should expect to be completed this year:

• 5 Flyovers/Elevated Roads
• Hindmata Junction (already inaugurated)
• King's Circle
• Lalbaug
• Sahar Airport Elevated Road
• Suman Nagar
• 40-45 new 12-coach rakes (trains) for the suburban network (43 were delivered last year too)
• Rail bridge between Mahim and Bandra, with an additional pair of tracks from Santa Cruz to Mahim
• 1000 buses for BEST
• Terminal 1C at the Santa Cruz domestic airport
• Monorail between Jacob Circle (Lower Parel) and Wadala
• Second carriageway of the Bandra-Worli sea link

I might have missed a few flyovers, I suspect. The rate of infrastructure addition is much less than that of Delhi, of course, and possibly lags even those of Bangalore and Madras. But in the last two years, a visible momentum has built up, with the sea link and the domestic airport being the most conspicuous (albeit elitist) examples. I expect 2011 to be a banner year for progress with the commissioning of the 1st line of the 1st phase of the Bombay Metro and the extension of the Jacob Circle-Wadala monorail to Chembur. Then progress will become inexorable, like in Delhi after the completion of the early stages of its metro. After a rather dreadful 2000-2009 decade, 2010-2019 might just see Bombay's transport rejuvenation :)

The Reads of 2009 - Part 2

Here's the second half of the list:

1. Collapse, J Diamond (June 7): Yet another engaging and thought-provoking book by Diamond. Here, he explores human societies which collapsed to the point of annihilation or experienced significant degradation of material standards. I found the story of the Viking colony in Greenland especially touching. The underlying warning that the global human society might be hurtling towards the abyss is of course terrifying and sobering (most surveyed societies collapsed rather rapidly after attaining their peaks).
2. The First World War, J Keegan (June 7): Keegan's masterly account of The Great War is very readable. I was most impressed to discover how the lead up times required to mobilize conscripted armies and bring them to the borders, coupled with the fears of each army that the other might strike first, led to an inexorable momentum from the Habsburg Archduke's assassination on June 28, 1914 to the declaration of war by Britain on Germany on Aug 4, 1914.
3. The Second World War, J Keegan (July 12): Expectedly insatiated, my next read was Keegan's history of the Second World War :) Since the duration, dynamism and scope of this war is much more than that of the First, Keegan has used an interesting structure to contain the book's length. The account remains comprehensive however, and very illuminating. The big surprise (for me) here was learning how German communities in central and eastern Europe were ethnically cleansed out in the wake of the Wehrmacht's retreat and defeat, in grim payback for the Nazi regime's horrors in the Eastern theatre.     
4. Sophie's World, J Gaarder (July 17): A gift from a friend. I love receiving gifts that invite me out of my ordinary boundaries to explore new interests. In this novelised history of philosophy, the protagonist Sophie receives just such an invitation which leads to a curious adventure and a surrealistic ending. It's not a bad book, but think that I would have appreciated it more had I read it as a teenager.
5. Dialogues of Plato, Plato (Aug 22): Sophie's World kindled my interest in philosophy, a subject I have generally avoided (apart from Betrand Russell's "Unpopular Essays" and "Sceptical Essays"). This is a collection of five of Plato's dialogues: Apology, Crito, Phaedo (the triad giving an account of Socrates' trial and execution), Symposium (a discussion about love) and Republic (an exposition of the ideal state). While the text is brilliant at times, on the whole, I was not impressed. The arguments are often more sophistry than logical, I think, and the only thing that made me finish the book was the knowledge that the author has been read for over two millennia by people much smarter than me.
6. India's Partition, edited by M Hasan (Aug 22): This book took me back to the Indian freedom movement, a subject I hadn't touched for 4-5 years. It's a good collection of essays, chronicling the development of the two nation theory in the 1940s, though making for grim reading as Indians moved haphazardly towards the most grizzly massacres and ethnic cleansing in our history.   
7. Mughal Romance, C Verma (Aug 22): A compilation of some romantic, some lascivious and some tragic stories in late medieval India. The book is poorly edited and replete with typos, but couplets by the likes of Khusrau and Firdausi (and stories like the one about the octogenarian Sultan of Malwa, who had 16000 damsels in his harem!) make it worth a read.   
8. Remarkable Creatures, S Carroll (Aug 22): The author has presented short narratives about the exotic journeys made by explorers and scientists which led to significant biological discoveries like Darwin's (and Wallace's) discovery of evolution by natural selection. It's a good read, striking a good balance between readability and informativeness.
9. The War of the Worlds, HG Wells (Aug 22): I like this classic science fiction novel, even though it makes for slightly laboured reading at times. The author's understanding of the likely manner in which we might encounter intelligent alien life (in the form of a violent invasion) strikes me as essentially correct. 
10. Empires of the Indus, A Albinia (Nov 14): After "City of Djinns" last year, I bought another travelogue written by another young Brit in South Asia. And this narrative of the history (and prehistory) of events along the mighty Indus river does not disappoint. From its mouth near Karachi (and stories of post-Partition Pakistan) to its source in Tibet (prehistoric rock-painting cultures), with Afghan Taliban in between, the author's journey in space and time is a compelling read.    

So this was 2009. Pretty good, on the whole :)

The Reads of 2009 - Part 1

Continuing last year's start, I will again list down the books I read in 2009. Like last year, the list is in roughly chronological order, with the dates in parentheses being the dates of acquisition, though there were enough books that were promoted out of turn. Since I read 20 books last year, and my descriptions are not very succinct, I have divided the list into two parts. Here's part 1:

1. Eccentric Seattle, JK Pierce (Sep 1, 2006): I finally finished this book, gifted by a friend who lives in Seattle, last year. It is a light-hearted collection of stories about people and events in Seattle's century-and-a-half long history. Some of the essays make for enjoyable reading, but on the whole, the book is more suitable for those who live or have stayed in the city.
   
2. Being Indian, P Varma (Jan 13): I first saw this book three years ago in the hands of a friend. The book is an examination of modern Indian society, highlighting national characteristics at odds with our self-image (eg., Indians are extremely hungry for power and status). The thesis is not scientific or very analytical, but nevertheless intriguingly persuasive, and left me thinking for much of the year.  
3. The Picnic and Suchlike Pandemonium, G Durrell (Jan 13): Durrell is an author recommended by a friend. This compilation of short stories ranges from humorous to downright spine-chilling. Overall, a wonderful read.
   
4. Abraham Lincoln, GR Benson (Jan 15): This is an old biography of Abraham Lincoln, and I certainly did not expect to find a volume like this in Jodhpur. I am mesmerised by the resolve shown by Lincoln when facing the gravest peril to the US in its history. His determination to not let slavery spread any further, but of not letting the union dissolve, was surely a major factor in the forging of a stronger nation, giving it the necessary iron to lead the world in the 20th century. 
   
5. Victory in Bangladesh, Maj Gen L Singh (Jan 15): From America's darkest hour, to one of India's brightest (post-independence). This chronicle of the 1971 war is essentially military in scope, and much too densely written. Yet it remains informative and was a good start to a year in which I read much about warfare.
   
6. The Mughal World, A Eraly (Feb 7): This is the third book by Eraly that I have read. The Mughal World is a chronicle of life in the great empire: in the royal harem, in palaces of nobles, in towns and villages, during war marches. It is more downbeat than I expected it would be, but meticulously researched, no doubt.
   
7. Wonderful Life, S Gould (Mar 8): The late Stephen Jay Gould was a great essayist, with a knack for presenting lovely anecdotes and trivia even while expounding on a larger idea. This is probably his most famous book, surveying the fantastic Cambrian Era fossils found in the Burgess Shale in Canada. His thesis about the supposed "explosion" of life plans during this period is very controversial and I am inclined to disbelieve it. Regardless, I strongly recommend reading this book and this author. 
   
8. The Forgotten Man, A Shales (Mar 8): I suspect that this history is a fringe narrative of the Great Depression. Decidedly right-wing, the author rails against the repeated bungling by the government all through the way during 1929-1939, and espouses the gold standard. I am sure a more balanced (and more accurate) view is available elsewhere. But I enjoyed reading this anyway, especially the account of the trial of a small chicken wholesaler in New York harassed by the government's National Recovery Administration (a price and standards fixing commission).   
   
9. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, E Lefevre (Mar 8): This is a must-read for anyone engaged in trading in the financial markets. A witty and insightful account of the rise and fall (more than once!) of a trader in the US during 1900-1930. However, non-traders will probably not be able to fully appreciate the psychological sub-terrain, especially its repeated evocations of instinct guiding trading decisions; or identify with most traders' persistent inability to stick to their self-set rules.
   
10. The Fall, A Camus (Mar 23): I got introduced to this author when a friend gifted me "The Outsider". I really took a liking to that book. This novel is nowhere as good, but I think I will continue reading Camus and his melancholy outlook of the human condition.

Next post...part 2

Happy Republic Day!

Here's to our republic, the latest addition to our old, very old palimpsest of a nation, founded in the most trying circumstances, written off by many at different points in the last 60 years, but even with all its flaws and failings, still enduring and flourishing. I feel privileged to inherit the legacy of a commitment to freedom and equality of opportunity. I remain amazed and ever grateful to our founding fathers for placing immense faith in the humblest of Indians, by boldly granting adult franchise to an impoverished, exploited and uneducated electorate. While this blog will often remain sceptical about big government, I sincerely hope that 60 years hence, Indians will look back to us and say, "these guys managed their trusteeship of our republic and our nation as well as the founders did."