Disoriented compass, dolphin with duck’s nose… these are some of the BMC’s ideas of beautification

Morparia called the anomaly “an inadvertent joke indicating that we don’t know where we are going”. “We don’t know North from South,” he said wryly. “It succinctly sums up the current state of affairs. It’s also an admission without wanting to be one

Mumbai: Hemant Morparia, famed for his tongue-in-cheek humour, trains his cartoonist’s eye on the droll and the ridiculous whenever he steps out for his daily walks in Walkeshwar. On Sunday, he took to Twitter and highlighted one such detail – a compass motif with incorrect directions on a recently done-up pavement on Ridge Road.

Hemant Morparia noticed this compass motif with incorrect directions on a recently done-up pavement on Ridge Road. He said, “Somebody made the decision to have that compass motif but nobody bothered to check whether the orientation was correct. This is a comment they’re making on themselves actually and one can interpret it in many ways: ignorance, complacency or just carelessness.’ (Twitter)

“Was surprised to see an unfamiliar compass motif on a footpath at posh ridge rd. but was less surprised to note that the directions were exactly opposite to the real ones. typical carelessness and zero thought or attention to anything that goes beyond, above the ‘pedestrian’,” (sic) he tweeted.

Morparia called the anomaly “an inadvertent joke indicating that we don’t know where we are going”. “We don’t know North from South,” he said wryly. “It succinctly sums up the current state of affairs. It’s also an admission without wanting to be one.”

Elaborating on the subject, the cartoonist said, “Somebody made the decision to have that compass motif but nobody bothered to check whether the orientation was correct. This is a comment they’re making on themselves actually and one can interpret it in many ways: ignorance, complacency or just carelessness.”

“Or maybe it’s just a lack of moral compass,” he quipped tongue-in-cheek. But essentially it’s just plain indifference coupled with ignorance – the classic ‘chalta hai’ or ‘kya farq padta hai’ attitude which persists even as we aspire to, nay, even believe that we have achieved First World status.”

According to Morparia, one can assess the state of a civilisation from the quality of its public sculptures. “I have these small metrics to assess where we are,” he said. “The little things are essentially a comment on the larger things. Mistakes like this certainly don’t behove a metropolis which has the kind of background and history that Mumbai does. I have no idea who decides and approves these things, but it is all uninspiring to say the least. This is probably the aesthetic of the contractor who has concrete in his brain.”

When Hindustan Times asked a civic official from D Ward who was responsible for the work, he said it was done by the roads department of the BMC. “It is the contractor’s work, and it has nothing to do with the ward,” he said. “It must have been done at night when there was no supervision. We will convey this to the roads department and get it rectified.”

Many of Mumbai’s street art and artefacts are of a piece with the disoriented compass. Godfrey Pimenta pointed out a drawing on the wall of St John the Evangelist Church at Marol — a dolphin which looks like a hybrid with a duck nose. “We see these hilarious-looking art works because there is no supervision from senior civic officials,” he said.

Sion resident Nimesh Malde had another example of the BMC’s strange beautification projects: the FoB connecting Jogeshwari station with the road going towards Mahakali Caves, which had pillars with grooves for decorative planters. “The plants have all died, as nobody waters them,” he said. “The pots have also gone. In their place sundry materials once used by hawkers are hanging. The BMC doesn’t bother with maintenance once the work is completed. In the name of beautification, it’s wasting public money.”

The BMC, in its budget announced on February 4, had allotted over ₹1,700 crore for its ambitious city beautification project. The 16 key features that have been identified include resurfacing of roads, planting saplings along dividers, repairing footpaths, illuminating and cleaning skywalks, and sprucing up old historic forts.