Articles by Gopal M S

Once a year, I inadvertently overhear someone wondering aloud about the sea level while crossing the Mahim or Thane Creek bridges without realising that the sea has tides. Similar conversations are heard at the beaches too. The Bandra Worli Sea Link, which now features in almost every movie about Mumbai, as seen from Mahim. Pic: MS Gopal Not being aware of tides often leads to lovers being stranded on the rocks along the coast, or even people getting washed away by waves during the monsoons. People regularly throng the sea-fronts of Mumbai - sometimes the beaches, sometimes the promenades, but…

No matter how tall its skyscrapers or pungent the sea's odour surrounding it, Mumbai, or any city, can be narrowly viewed as just an island that operates on its stomach. It has many mouths to feed and produces very little of it. It serves as a destination, port, and junction for things that pass through to other places with mouths to feed. The city is of the stomach, by the stomach, for the stomach. Everything we do, we do it for food. Here is a window into a few prayers, search, fuel and labour that goes into the food the…

Newspaper reading has been a habit quite lost in the recent years. However, in a city where thousands of people spend many hours commuting, newspapers are a way to kill time. Here's a how people used to read newspapers in the 'old normal' or before the pandemic struck and lockdown was imposed. Kurla 2019. (Pic: M. Gopal) Bandra 2018. (Pic: M. Gopal) Chembur 2017. (Pic: M. Gopal) Chembur 2017. (Pic: M. Gopal) Chembur 2016. (Pic: M. Gopal) Andheri 2018.(Pic: M. Gopal) Lalbag 2020. (Pic: M. Gopal) Kurla 2019. (Pic: M. Gopal) Harbour Line 2019. (Pic: M. Gopal) GTN Nagar 2020.…

It's that time of the year in Mumbai now. If you visit the mangroves of Mumbai these days, you will see clouds of dragonflies (Pantala flavescens) dancing above them. Dragonflies helicoptering above the mangroves at Thane Creek (Photo: Gopal) Dragonflies undertake one of the longest migrations known among insects. They fly all the way from the Deccan to South Africa riding the North-East monsoon winds. In Kerala, the dragonflies appear just around or after the festival of Onam in September, when the South West Monsoon loses steam and are called Ona-thumbi or the dragonflies of Onam. In Mumbai, we do not have a…

As Indian cities expand at breakneck speed, they gobble up surrounding villages at a blistering pace. Mumbai is no different.  However, if you look for it, you will still find traces of several villages, older than the city itself, that have survived the onslaught of urbanisation. Some maintain their way of life, because they are fishing villages and depend on the sea for survival. Others are not so lucky and have become sites for low-income housing in a city where real estate is one of the most expensive in the country. These images bring us snatches of life from a…

Mumbai, a city that grew along the railway tracks is now a city that has surrendered to the lure of cars. With this habit came the need for more roads and flyovers to make space for the city’s cars and parking space for them. One of the many consequences of this trend has been the surrender of open spaces, footpaths and places where children used to play. But adults in the city haven’t managed to destroy childhood. Not yet. It’s unsafe, but children will play in available space and we can ignore them at our own peril. These photos tell…

A Colonial era law makes millions of sexual minorities in India, second class citizens. This law leads to harassment, denial of justice, inheritance issues, healthcare denial and more. This year, individuals and organisations, under the banner of Campaign for Sex-workers and Sexual Minorities Rights (CSMR), organised a week-long festival beginning with a cricket match on 21st June and culminating with the Bengaluru Pride March on 28th June. The march began at National College, Basavanagudi and ended at Puttanachetty Town Hall. Bangalore’s sexual minorities demanded their rights in this colourful annual protest parade, most of them with their faces covered in…

The sprawling Indian Institute of Science right at the centre, a dozen-odd industries, swanky malls, residential layouts, commercial establishments, a bustling vegetable market, high rise hotels, all this and more make Yeshwanthpur a town by itself, interspersing an old world charm with the new. Situated in the northern outskirts of Bangalore, Yeshwanthpur has a number of educational institutions, theatres, hospitals and other amenities. This once half sleepy village has now transformed into a well-planned township as a result of the rapid development of public sector units.Slide show (all photographs by M S Gopal)Wall Art outside Yeshwantpur Junction. Yeshwantpur to Bangalore’s…

Soon, Avenue Road won’t be the favourite destination for books and jewelry. Amidst protests, it’s all set to be widened into a main road that connects KR Market and Gandhinagar. Citizen Matters takes a look at what happens to an old Bangalore street when it confronts a rapidly growing city. For generations, students from LKG to PG have thronged Avenue Road for cheap books. Here, books have been elevated to a religion. But this religion isn’t for all. This child bookseller will only learn to read book titles. Avenue Road is an old locality, and home to thousands of small…

On the market floor, things are fresher than ever.Before we had malls, we had shopping complexes. And the one at Jayanagar 4th Block was the most popular among them. And it continues to be a great place to shop, especially if you are looking for bargains in Bengaluru.Set in the heart of the sprawling suburb of Jayanagar, the complex is the hub around which places for shopping and eating continue to evolve.Meanwhile, the complex thrives without much change. It maintains a careless concrete look which is in sharp contrast to the sterile marble and glass experience of a mall. The…