Sizes of cities often turn out to be their enemies because everything costs a bomb to build and operate, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Amid all these changes which included replacement of the steam engines with diesel and electric locomotives, one thing has been constant: untidy stations and malodourous trains and stations.
Mahesh Vijapurkar was a student when the Telangana agitation began, with Osmania University as its epicentre. With the new state finally set to become a reality, he looks back on the lost years
Politicians have used the tragedy to score political brownie points and the media has been a willing participant, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Instead on reforming them, our jails are turning inmates into hardened criminals, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Civic bodies which are supposed to regulate the dimensions of a city's growth, including what land ought to be used how, also have the responsibility of detecting and curbing flouting of norms, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
The real estate business thrives on creating excess spaces beyond the permitted building codes, short-changing the buyer, and even opting for poorer quality of material. This finds an enthusiastic resonance among the officialdom. Flouting rules is part of the business model, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
There were certainly two kinds of violence at India Gate: one avoidable, another reprehensible, notes Mahesh Vijapurkar.
A legislator can invoke privileges only if prevented/obstructed from performing his duty as an elected representative. Breaking speed limits on a sea link or brandishing a weapon is not one among such obligations, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Mahesh Vijapurkar was a student when the Telangana agitation began, with Osmania University as its epicentre. With the new state finally set to become a reality, he looks back on the lost years
Politics as practiced is bad enough, the Choutalas, the Owaisis and their ilk have made it worse, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Who are the politicians who either build illegal housing or protect them, or worse, secure compliance from the civic officials who wink at the contraventions? More importantly, where is the blacklist of builders who have indulged in rule-breaking as a business practice so that the buyers can avoid their projects, asks Mahesh Vijapurkar.
A swift move by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Ajit Pawar's resignation could have thrown the too-clever NCP into utter confusion and secured a belaboured Congress an opportunity to come out smelling of roses, says Mahesh Vijapurkar
Mahesh Vijapurkar laments the decay and decline of India's premier city.
The move by Mumbai airport to have the drop-off point for autos at a distance from the terminals reeks of class distinctions, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Despite all views about afterlife and such, it matters little to the dead how he or she is disposed of, says Mahesh Vijapurkar
Recent events underscore the belief that wealth and politics go together. You have wealth and get into politics. Or, you are in politics, so naturally accumulate wealth, writes Mahesh Vijapurkar.
We are making the politician an integral part of our lives. We have conceded too much to their breed. They are no so ensconced that they will not vacate the space themselves. We will have to spare ourselves of them, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Why do Mumbai's civic authorities only ensure pothole-free roads only during the Ganapati season and not the year around, asks Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Why are so many regions in the state facing water scarcity despite normal to excess rainfall? Mahesh Vijapurkar blames the government.
No doubt in the Shiv Sena's history, the party has close links to the Shivaji Park but does that make it Sena's own? asks Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Tying up Parliament's either houses without doing any business but behaving as if it is already a street ill-behoves the nation which calls itself the largest democracy. Here, the maturity is measured, unfortunately, by the number of voters and the size of the Parliament than by the wisdom, reason, reasonableness, persuasion being its backbone, say Maheah Vijapurkar.
The spectacle of lakhs of followers of Bal Thackeray silently congregating for his funeral and leaving without any violence was hitherto unseen. Just when people were beginning to wonder if the Shiv Sena was changing came the attack on a hospital in Palghar following a Facebook post by a young girl. Mahesh Vijapurkar on what to expect of the Sena after Bal Thackeray.
To make anything manageable, both the intent and the will to manage is important, not empty words. This is missing from all those involved in operating a city where budgets as they exist ought to provide good results only if politics and politicians' objective of pelf do not lead to poor execution and large-scale drain of resources. That is why even small is not beautiful, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
The concern is low-budget coverage, not in-depth. Hype replaces substance, breathlessness providing it the requisite gravamen, writes Mahesh Vijapurkar
There are some interesting, and even educative, takeaways from the US elections, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Once one of the best bus services in the country, the Bombay Electric Supply & Transport company has regressed into a loss-making, lumbering giant that clearly is not interested in serving the Mumbai long-suffering commuter, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
While hawkers are a necessity to the bribe-takers, it has to be understood that the vendors fulfil the needs of the citizens. Once they are pushed off the streets, everyone, the official fattened on bribes and the citizen deprived of a walk-through service are affected, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Mahesh Vijapurkar on phoney ideology excuses and the spurning of brand ambassadors.
To assume that Narendra Modi chose Hindi only to reach out to a national audience because he had prime ministerial ambitions was more than a stretch, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Mahesh Vijapurkar is not surprised that 41 villages in Sangli district want to be merged with Karnataka because of the perennial drinking water shortage in their villages.
I am disgusted enough not to celebrate the Independence Day. Call this a rant, but that is all a citizen is left with. My promised tryst with my destiny has been elusive. It does not even seem to be round the far corner, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
With Bal Thackeray's demise the Shiv Sena does not cease to be but it does weaken substantially. And it will take the two heirs to his legacy to overcome the setback together, says Mahesh Vijapurkar
I wonder if I can find anyone I could trust as a citizen, asks Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Mahesh Vijapurkar's advice on Arvind Kejriwal entry into politics: No need to squirm at the idea of baby steps. After all, the voter too has to be educated, his apathy eliminated. Had he been, we would have had a better political arrangement that worked for the people.
The city can wait, indefinitely. Of course, its citizens don't count. Those who thought they did and went to vote for a change have fooled themselves, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Mumbai city, overcrowded, run down, filthy, gasping, is far too precious a city to continue to remain in the clutches of the professional politicians who owe nothing to themselves and have made local self-government a caricature of what was the ideal -- people governing themselves and their spaces, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
These days when things are slipping a lot more than ever in the country, most citizens are in despair, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Children as a collective seem to be no one's concern anywhere. Nothing is made child-friendly including the toys which being cheap and poorly made, putting them at risk, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
If the city runs, it is thanks to the people who brave every odd. The city has to thank the people, not its governors for its survival, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances