Yash Birla donates Rs 2 lakh to refurbish water facility at Malabar Hil

Shaina NC, Yash Birla, Prasad Lad and Sanjay Shirke at the inauguration

A newly furbished drinking water facility, tucked away inside a verdant nook of Siri Road (Malabar Hill) was inaugurated with appropriate fanfare, when we say appropriate fanfare: read speeches, applause, ribbon cutting, applause. Kodak moment: applause, on Tuesday afternoon. The drinking water pyau, is managed by the Gagangiri Maharaj Seva Trust and Sanjay Shirke Pratishthan, and is built in the memory of the late Ashok Birla.

About Yash
"Industrialist Yash Birla, a Napean Sea Road resident, donated close to Rs 2 lakh and these funds were used to give new life to the amenity," said Sanjay Shirke at the function on Tuesday. "First, we had two decaying taps. Now, we have several taps, a new wall and tiling at the facility."

Shirke added, "Yash Birla often clambers up the Siri Road stairs on his walks, he uses the relative tranquility of the venue for meditation. So, some locals approached him, pointing to the decrepit water facility and Birla said he would donate for refurbishing this. The re-tiling and work all took one month. The uplift was needed; these old taps were inaugurated by mayor Hareshwar Patil." Patil was mayor from 1999 to 2002.

Even as Shirke spoke, Birla arrived clad in all black cocktail attire, colourful tie and highlighted blonde streaks in flaxen hair. It was too early for cocktails, but the locals said cheers anyway, as Birla waited for Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) spokesperson, Shaina NC to arrive. Prasad Lad, BJP MLA, was whisked away for darshan to a nearby temple, as other guests walked in.

Cardio ho
Siri Road is canopied with green; the trees provided some respite from the heat, as Birla and Shaina NC ribbed each other good naturedly. Birla was overheard asking Shaina NC, "Marathith bolu ka?" [should I speak in Marathi?] while Shaina smiled. Birla laughed when asked whether he used the Siri Road space for meditation.

"I do not know about meditation, but it is certainly peaceful to go home this way. I use it to save time," he said. "My car has to go up the Walkeshwar slope to reach my Napean Sea Road home, so I just hop off at the base of the Siri Road steps and climb up to Malabar Hill. It saves time; in fact I reach at the same time as my car." While that inadvertently may also give Birla his cardio dose, it is evident that he is the quintessential weightlifting man.

"Yes" he laughed when asked, "but I do try to get in a cardiovascular workout once a week: cycle on the road or do some walking," he said. Shaina then took the mike telling those gathered that, "this does not feel like being in Mumbai." She claimed it was important that we work for the community and actually bring promises to fruition. "It is no use being a 'bol bachchan' [big mouth who does not deliver on promises]," she said, as the function concluded.

The history
Four years ago, a battle royal had erupted over a proposed conversion of SoBo's Chiranji Loyalka Marg/Siri Road walkway into a one-way motorable road. At that time, BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha was spearheading a movement to convert Siri Road into a motorable road while several locals were against the move. It was a controversy that had seen much interest given the profile of individuals involved in the back 'n' forth and Mumbai's priciest real estate. The proposal was shot down in the BMC a few months later, and activists and locals who opposed the motorway saying it will rob Siri Road of beautiful, old trees and overall green cover were overjoyed.

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