More Ferris wheels, please

A senior BMC official must have been visiting the UK on a taxpayer-funded holiday, also known as a fact-finding mission, and returned thrilled with the idea of a project akin to the London Eye appearing on these shores. representation PIC/iStock

It has been almost 17 years since I first heard of the Bombay Eye popping up in our island city. Apparently, the idea first occurred to someone in 2008, when the BMC announced plans to construct a local version of London's Millennium Wheel. A senior employee of that august institution must have been visiting the UK on a taxpayer-funded holiday (also known as a fact-finding mission) and returned thrilled with the idea of a similar project appearing on these shores.

Like everyone in Bombay, I knew the project's viability depended less upon what value it could provide than on what a contractor could charge to have it built. History has taught us all that zeroes are important when it comes to infrastructure in this city: the bigger the number of zeroes, the more interested the BMC gets. What I was surprised by, however, was that no committee was announced to debate whether it shouldn't have another name. Why the Bombay Eye, I wondered, given how most things in Maharashtra are named after people who died 300 years ago, or politicians who died in our recent past. Still, in a burst of optimism, I assumed the BMC had decided to surprise us all by choosing common sense over sycophancy. My optimism didn't last.

The project languished, cropping up now and again in desultory speeches made by members of various ruling and Opposition parties as they switched sides from one to the other before every election. One of them confidently predicted that the structure would attract 70 lakh visitors per year, which sounded like a made-up figure even though we all know the BMC never makes up any figures. I wondered if those 70 lakh visitors would be the same domestic ones who routinely visit the Statue of Unity each year, or if they would be tourists from around the world drawn to the idea of going round and round in a wheel so they could see traffic crawl beneath them.

Interestingly, at the time this figure of 70 lakh was mentioned, the London Eye was attracting 35 lakh visitors per year. The implication, then, was that the BMC assumed there would always be more people interested in Byculla and Wadala than Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. I wouldn't call it delusional; it's not as if they were promising us pothole-free roads or anything.

To get back to the original proposal, the Bombay Eye was to have air-conditioned passenger units capable of holding 25 people at a time. It was to be constructed either at Bandstand or Reclamation for glorious views of the sea and city's coastline, back when these were still visible to the naked eye. This plan was abandoned after someone pointed out that clearances would be required, what with these sites falling into the Coastal Regulation Zone. More years passed until 2020, when a new government brought the project to life again to promote tourism. Then COVID-19 happened, forcing it to focus on distractions like oxygen tanks and hospital beds instead.

And now, once again, it's back. This time, Bandra Kurla Complex has been proposed as a possible site, but there is no clarity on who is to head the project, who will do the constructing, or where the money is to come from. Naturally, because none of these details are important, we may never get them until we wake up one morning and find that construction has begun. Personally, I believe the delay this time stems from the BMC's inability to find a road that hasn't been dug up yet. They are simply waiting for a stretch that has no holes in it, so they can start making a new one.

Will 2025 finally be the year in which this fabulous attraction is brought into being, taking its place alongside other wonders like the Juhu Beach Selfie Point and Nana Chowk Skywalk? History compels me to be pessimistic. Which makes me sad because I believe the BMC should build more than one Bombay Eye. I would go so far as to propose an Eye outside every station, so that the lakhs of tourists always desperate to visit Bombay can look at different facets of the city from each of them.

I can almost see them now, these excited Instagram influencers from America and Europe converging on the Borivli Eye, then making their way to the Malad Eye, and finishing at the Andheri Eye, all within one day. That is presumably how long the commute will take them, by then.

When he isn't ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira
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