Mumbai Diary: Mega city of Tendulkar and Dawood, but no power!

Mega city tag and power cuts

While the Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chauhan has been dreaming of getting the Mega City tag for Mumbai, the ground reality has ironically struck him when he least expected it. Chauhan gave a presentation to the PM requesting for a central grant of Rs 50,000 crore to complete the stalled infrastructure projects in Mumbai.

By tagging Mumbai as a mega city, the central government would provide the much-needed funds to the State for its incomplete projects. However, soon after giving a presentation to the Prime Minister, Chauhan had to deal with power cuts across the state. Students, educational institutes, and industries across the state are reeling under 3 to 11-hour load-shedding cuts.

Forget about roads, bridges and sea link, this city needs its electricity first.

Next stop, Tendulkars

Ever since the master blaster purchased a plot of land to build his dream house in Bandra, it has been one of the most sought after tourist attractions in the city. Curious fans and tourists have been flocking to the batsman's house hoping to catch a glimpse of Sachin Tendulkar. In fact, looking at the huge response, tour operators are now contemplating adding the Tendulkar residence to their Mumbai darshan tours.

Three major tour operators have already applied for permission from the traffic department to halt at the Tendulkar residence. Currently, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan's bungalow Mannat, Amitabh Bachchan's Jalsa, Rekha's bungalow and Dilip Kumar's bungalow are part of the tour.

No crackers this Diwali

Have you ever imagined celebrating Diwali without the noisy firecrackers? Well, if the State Environment Ministry has its way, no cracker above the noise level of 55dB will be retailed in the state. That primarily means that the big bang Laxmi bombs, the 10,000 cracker, the glittering rockets and the chakris will all be a thing of the past.

In fact, the cracker retailers association has written letters to cracker manufacturers in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, to print the decibel levels of the crackers on all the boxes that are sent to Maharashtra. And officials have also announced that they will be conducting surprise raids on retailers to ensure that the new noise decibel norms are not flouted.

So, it means that this Diwali Mumbaikars will have to be content with just lighting diyas and lamps.

Dawood's kin turns to MNS for help

Gangster Dawood Ibrahim is India's most wanted terrorist and feared by one and all in the country. But one relative of the Dawood family does not believe in the gangster's clout. Instead the lady has turned to a local MLA to help her settle a dispute in her locality. Zaitoon Parkar, who is the mother-in-law of Haseena, Dawood's younger sister, was being harassed by a bunch of local ruffians over a property dispute. But instead of turning to her powerful daughter-in-law, Zaitoon went to her area corporator Ram Kadam and lodged a complaint against the ruffians.

Now, that's called staying on the right side of the law.

Read more Mumbai Diaries:

Mumbai Diary: Nine nights of pleasure and spoilsport autos

Mumbai Diary: Belly dancing amid armed lawyers and fake cops

Mumbai Diary: Ganeshotsav amid rains, horror and I cards

Mumbai Diary: Vada pav wars and a temple for Sachin

Mumbai Diary: Sex workers double up as underworld couriers