What are Morarjee Cola & Golden Shower?

What are Morarjee Cola & Golden Shower?

These are liquid & solid human excreta dropped from trains in Ahemdabad on people passing through rail under passes.

Ravinder Singh
November22, 2008

We Amdavadis have taken shit for too long
Fight For Freedom From ‘Golden Showers’

Team TOI November22, 2008 P-1

Ahmedabad: There is a certain credit card salesman we know who made a sales call at an Ashram Road office a couple of years ago.

He was nattily dressed with a necktie, white shirt and black polished shoes. But he stank so much that he could not sell even one card as nobody let him near them for long. Even he was wondering why he had come to such a stinking office.

Being new to Ahmedabad, as he had moved here from Jaipur only recently, little did he realise that he was the source of the obnoxious smell because he had driven from the Mithakhali underbridge on way to keeping this appointment. He saw a train just passing over-head as he was at the bottom of the slope.

What this salesman did not see is that all motorcyclists behind him had braked hard because the train was leaving behind a horizontal wet trail along the road underneath Mithakhali. While he was fortunately wearing a helmet, some of the shit stuck to his shirt as he tucked it away in his side in true John Abraham style.

That day, this salesman went home, had the longest bath of his life, walked into a second-hand car shop and drove out in an hour with a Maruti 800 costing Rs one lakh. But there is a reason why Nano will sell in Ahmedabad. But sorry if you don’t like the smell of this story and are having trouble gulping down your morning brew or juice or milk. But wake up to the realisation that as Amdavadis, you have taken this shit for too long.

If it is not your heads or helmets, it is the top of your car which is taking the droppings. Besides, braking as you go down the slope, especially when the motorcyclist ahead has virtually stood on his brakes looking at the passing passenger train overhead, can lead to a skid.

We could fix this responsibility on someone today — AMC or the Western Railway. Maybe both, or their superiors in the Gujarat government and the Railway ministry, respectively. Instead, can these agencies put their heads together to ensure that no more piss and shit falls on Amdavadis at Mithakhali, Shahibaug, Ellisbridge or any other railway under-passes in this mega-city crying for a clean-up?

If you are turning a metre-gauge into broad-gauge, or building a fly-over or concrete under-pass, do it fast. Amdavadis have had enough of these ‘golden showers’. ‘Morarjee Cola’ may be popular in Gujarat. But dammit! Not if it is someone else’s.

Mixed signals: Danger ahead

A’bad may be heading towards becoming a mega city, but it has bad traffic signboards and barely any signages

Ahmedabad: If you are driving from IIM-A towards Physical Research Laboratory at night, your car may suddenly take a leap and before you recover, it may leap again!

Those were speed bumps you were not warned about. And if you are new to the city, avoid driving till you learn what an autorickshaw driver wants to say when he sticks out his right leg while driving.
If visitors are able to find their way to their destinations, they have paanwalas, cyclists, and other pavement squatters to thank, because civic authorities have failed to provide people-friendly signages on city roads.

So if you get into a one-way street, either a vehicle from the opposite side, or a cop rushing from behind will tell you, but not a signboard.. And you could keep going around Mithakhali roundabout if you didn’t remember the colour, shape or size of the building at the beginning of the lane you wanted to go.

Ahmedabad may be heading towards becoming a mega city, but it has bad traffic signboards and barely any signages. The few that have come up are in new west zone on roads like Bodakdev, ISRO and Judges Bungalow.

Ahmedabad, which has more than 2000 km of road and over 21 lakh vehicles does not care to tell its drivers where they are, how far is a hospital, a school, or bus stop for the sake of a pedestrian. When TOI asked Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation( AMC), regional transport office (RTO) and Ahmedabad traffic branch, they passed the buck.

Municipal transport committee chairman, Pravin Patel said, “AMC installs traffic signs and signages on roads, but does its maintenance and repair only at the behest of traffic department.”

Regional transport officer, AB Gor maintains that RTO regularly intimates authorities about poor traffic signages on city roads.

Pratik Bhatt, a student says, “My scooter got towed away and I had to pay fine for that because the no parking sign was not visible because of a poster sticking on it. Authorities should be put to task for poor maintenance of signals.”
A traffic policeman says, “What can we do? We are just here to make sure traffic passes on smoothly. Authorities concerned should ensure proper signages on roads.” Joint commissioner of police (traffic) Atul Karwal was not available for comment.