30 things that cause unease in Mumbai's gated communities
A non-exhaustive list
TW: suicide mention. Picture below taken from Johnny Miller’s ‘Unequal Scenes’ project.
Stray dogs with a mean glint in their eye
Stray cats who are listless
Strays (general)
Maintenance fees
Off-duty chauffeurs who are lounging about a little too freely
Intercoms that ring for half a minute
Lack of professional ambition or desire to climb socially
Balconies with dying plants
Balconies with thriving plants
Walkers and joggers who don’t stick to the walking and jogging lanes, respectively
Vegetable waalas who don’t have patience for bargaining
Dhobi waalas who try to make conversation
Insufficiently deferential lift men
Anti-nationalism
Residents who unexpectedly lose a lot of weight
Unsanctioned flowers growing in the hedges
When the guard at the gate fails to clock you as a long-time resident by your face, clothes, accent, and entitlement, and politely asks for your flat number
Mosquito control fumigation
Mosquitoes
When the domestic worker with two children and two in-laws and a 1-hour window in which to return home and collect water before the water gets switched off says “No, thanks” to one more job at one more flat
Parents who don’t hold a grudge against the child that has hurt their child
Being in the lift at the same time as a small dog
Delivery men who get the flat number wrong
The loud annoying noise of an excavator machine, early in the morning, tearing down the neighbouring slum
Suicides from high floors that land neatly onto the flower beds
Windows whose curtains are drawn closed at all times
Unused parking spaces
Divorce and separation
Intercoms that ring on and on, endlessly, their toneless shrieks echoing off the walls of the fire escape, filling the listener with a sense of doom
Low turnout at the Holi celebration