Bombayman's Diary

I am on the tenth floor of Global Hospital's building which has been reserved only for Covid-19 patients. Adjacent to my bed is a big window from where I get a top angle view of areas in central Mumbai like Parel, Lalbaug, Sewri, Byculla etc. Just outside the window stands red tall building of ITC Grand Central Hotel. Beside it is a cluster of residential skyscrapers. A retired IPS friend known for breaking the backbone of Mumbai underworld resides in one of these buildings. The premises has a big lawn and an open theatre in it where people can be seen walking or walking their dogs. At a distance, remenants of old mills are visible which reminds that the area was once part of mill district of Mumbai. Looking towards left one finds numerous under-construction towers which are as high as 40 floors. Beyond them one gets a glimpse of Mumbai harbour located on the eastern seafront of the city. There is good amount of greenery also seen. The area has good number of trees and some of them...

Today is Balasaheb's death anniversary. As a journalist I have met & interacted with him on several occasions and have covered many events related to him and his party like Shiv Sena's defeat in 1999 Vidhansabha polls, Narayan Rane and Raj Thackeray quitting his party, introduction of Aditya Thackeray in politics by him in a rally at Shivaji Park and ultimately his demise in 2012. Everybody in my family revered Indira Gandhi but after her assassination in 1984, my family noticed that her qualities were reflected in Balasaheb. Although, unlike Mrs.Gandhi, Thackeray was a regional leader but displayed same aggression and made impact on crowds through his oratory and style. Thackeray's Shiv Sena was formed to champion Marathi cause but by 1987, he gave it a colour of hardcore Hindutva organisation. This led to a connect of Shiv Sena even with non-Marathi speaking families like mine. Infact, one of my relatives became an office bearer of Shiv Sena's local unit in Sout...

  Ajay Shrivastava has travelled from Delhi to Mumbai over 40 times in past 19 years to attend the court but still has not been able to get possession of property that he won in an auction arranged by Income Tax department. The property consisted of two shops in Nagpada of Mumbai & was deemed as belonging to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. It is under possession of Dawood's late sister Haseena Parker's family.   For the first time in year 2000 IT dept had organised an auction of Dawood's 11 seized properties. The officials waited throughout the day at Colaba's Diplomat Hotel where the event was arranged but nobody turned up to bid. I reported in Aaj Tak next day (which was a 20 minutes news capsule on Doordarshan those days & not a channel) - "Dawood stays in Karachi but his fear still exists in Mumbai. Nobody dares to bid on his property".   Ajay Shrivastava, a lawyer who saw my story sensed an opportunity in the news. It was an opportunity to di...