Sure, you always use your own car (of course with the driver) to move around in Bandra  but riding a rickshaw is something no mode of transportation can ever be compare to. It is an interesting (can also be  life threatening) experience without which living in Bandra and Mumbai’s suburbs cannot be complete. You have experienced  nothing till you’ve driven in the lanes and by lanes of  Bandra, Khar Danda, around Linking road or 21^st  road ……potholes galore and street construction hurdles everywhere.

Now let see the way it operates :  just because there are traffic signals, lane demarcations painted on the roads it doesn’t mean its to be followed. The are just meant to be there. There is absolutely no reason to signal and tell anyone which way you want to turn. Just go! You can drive in at  the junction of Pali naka or CCD on Carter Road and get your way between everything when there isn’t even room for a stray dog to squeeze through. Yes, its a fact that everyone is in a great hurry in Bandra. School children  are always late for their tution or cricket ground, women are always late for their kitty party or shopping or office and college goers late for their date.

Hey, but I don’t want to put you off from using Rickshaw ok !  Don’t worry! It’s all a beautiful and well organized chaos because everyone knows exactly where they’re going. And no question of getting bored because almost every rickshaw is like the Rickshaw owners personal disco with fancy lights and loud music. Well how do we forget the Autorickshaw is the lifeline of our children reaching from one tution to the other all the time, our maids going and getting all the grocery/ vegetables, drivers coming to serve us at odd hours? And of course, for us when we want to go around shopping on Hill road or Linking road or  a movie and don’t want the parking stress - rickshaw comes so handy.

Sadly – the rising petrol prices gets me to thinking about how the auto wallah make money ? Given the much touted Tata Nano, & the subsequent decrease in the used car prices, wonder how the auto wallahs will cope……..     

       Leena

It is impossible to find parking in Bandra. Most building residents are forced to park their cars on the road as buildings don’t have enough parking spots for all their residents. And if your heart leaps with delight if you perchance see an empty spot, be sure there will be a blue lollipop sign with a cross on it declaring NO PARKING…

I look with dismay whenever I see aluminum sheets surrounding a plot of land. Another new building!!! More residents moving in!!! More cars to be parked!!!  And so many families these days have more than one car..

New malls and swanky shops are coming up every day on Linking Road and Hill Road and all around this Queen of suburbs. For a casual shopper or a person dashing to the ATM of her bank, the chances are very high that you will be forced to double park and run the risk of your car being towed away by the ever vigilant traffic cops.

We already pay crores for a flat in Bandra. Why can builders not provide for basement parking? BMC should make it mandatory for the builders to provide at least one parking per flat in the building. Maybe BMC can also sell parking spots on the roads which do not have much vehicular traffic.

How can 4 malls come up on 33^rd road like Crystal Mall and Link Mall and have no basement parking? Can we have a public parking lot near Linking Road and Hill Road and Pali Naka?

Sangeeta Almieda