In the late 90s there was this controversial restaurant at Churchgate in Mumbai which had an on-going pitched battle with the residents of the same building over the illegality of its expansion plans. The restaurant had gradually encroached on the pavement, and despite the residents’ clamour the municipality did nothing to bring the erring restaurant owners to book. The story died a natural death in the media after the first few weeks of intense reporting. A few days ago, when Aditya Dube, all of seven years, went flinging down six floors and crashed to death because the restaurant had put some make-shift asbestos on the floor on which the kid stood, history was repeated.
Many of the restaurants in Mumbai have scores of illegal activities, and just as real estate business or Bollywood movies where accounting standards are followed by few and far between, only because there is so much leeway to fudge numbers. One restaurant owner from Mumbai’s suburb Mulund told this reporter that the food that is “made and sold in any restaurant can never be quantified in terms of plates or glasses”. So there is this natural proclivity to cook up the books and evade taxes.
Evasion of taxes comes with its set of spin-off effects, and that is mostly to do with sharing the booty. Restaurants in Mumbai which have special rooms for police and other authorities, are common in Mumbai. And so is the sight of police jeeps on their evening patrol taking away crates of beer bottles from bars and restaurants.
Some years ago a Bollywood movie by the name Chandni Bar created so much of a moral turpitude that taxi drivers in Mumbai would refuse young college-goers a ride to the nearest bar in the evening. Though the movie, as Mahesh Manjrekar is wont to, has a strong moral message, some of the scenes were revolting. The protagonist – an upright police officer, is shown slapping customers having beer at the ladies bar, because according him, it is immoral to drink in such a joint!
What Bollywood missed is the real story in such restaurants. The sleaze is in the money that is earned, deployed and exchanged. Customer taste, as in any city’s night life, is not the real issue. Just as the illegality of It’s Mirchi, the sixth floor restaurant from which the seven year-old Aditya fell to his death, its sister joint in the basement Ramee Guestline also has a lot of worms crawling out.
The police are currently investigating the group’s owners and the board of directors, and “the owners would by default be held responsible for any negligence on the part of the hotel staff”. But knowing the history of such cases, one should not be surprised if it is business as usual after the dust settles.