Since a few days I have noticed a few families of garland makers around the footpath of Cadell road in mumbai near the Siddhivinayak mandir. When I first noticed them I thought that this must be due to the upcoming Ganesh festival. As the days passed the number of families increased and to top that they started making makeshift huts on the footpath and practically living there.
That is my everyday route, and I walk towards Shivaji Park from Siddhivinayak along that road and if anyone who has been there will know just how crowded that road can get. Now the problem is that due to these people I was unable to walk on the footpath which sort of forced me to walk on the road facing the oncoming traffic.that footpath is pretty wide but these people have all but taken over the whole thing so there’s hardly any place left to walk past.
So as I faced this challenge of walking on the crowded street with people honking at me and sometimes even yelling at me to walk on the footpath, I kept convincing myself that its just a matter of a few days once the Ganesh festival is over they’ll just go back. But now its passed the visarjan and I still see these people there I am thinking if this is just a way of starting a new settlement and multiplying!!
I just hope someone does something soon or this is going to be yet another of the many footpaths that are used for all other purposes but walking!