Skywalk
Foot over bridges appear above railway platforms, which not only facilitate the passengers to move from one platform to another but also allow passengers to move out of the railway station into the city around. They either land the passenger onto the ground where there is ease of quickly getting into a public transport or let people onto a skywalk which is essentially above ground. Skywalks are made with a primary intention to decongest the streets that run along the railway station where after smaller intervals of time, large numbers of people get down from a train and move outside on the streets. Skywalks, which are a linear, pedestrian transit infrastructure, that acts as an insert within a transect between the railway station and the city sometimes lets the exhausted body to breathe after a tiring journey and also provides an opportunity to forget the crowd. Higher vantage points create a space to hide from the public, which occupies the ground below.
A choice has to be made between the two options whether to walk on the ground that has higher transactional capacity or to walk on a skywalk, which allows for a space of respite to happen. To continue the walk on a skywalk, one has to climb the staircase from the sidewalk.
Often the façade of productivity is layered onto ones reason for doing unproductive things. Similarly workingmen while they return home during afternoons and also during evenings look forward to pause at a small vendor who claims a space on the skywalk for making people play poker or a game of speculation.
Rajesh, started this business around two years ago when his uncle called him to the city, as soon as he completed his high school in Uttarakhand. His uncle is a vegetable vendor located right outside Borivali station in Mumbai. He occupies the sidewalk and the boundary wall behind to set up his shop. When Rajesh came to Mumbai, he kept his belongings with his uncle and loitered around the city. As he was sharp and skilled in handling cards, he quickly started a business on the skywalk which required bare minimum assets such as a bamboo mat on which he could lay the playing cards and a small steel box to collect money from which he could earn income rather than relying on his uncle for his daily expenditure. This business plan that he had was not legally allowed according to the government of India. As his uncle was familiar with all the people around and with the municipality officials, it helped Rajesh to run his business. Spending hours on the bench of the skywalk using his phone or sometimes with his friend. Using abusive language and behavior became means to engage with his friends. But as soon as the morning rush hours end at around 10:30am, he would connect a rope to the railing of the skywalk which he would use to tie all his belongings and drop it down towards the divider where his friend would collect it and disappear on a bike. Rush hours become important for him because that is the time when it becomes very easy for him to quickly wind up and disappear from being caught. Young men who take this route to the station often look forward to stop around this space and play their hand. After a point of time it became such that only those who wanted to play chose to climb the staircase and walked from the skywalk during rush hours.
Such activities takes place on the skywalk because of the height that it is located at, also older men cannot climb the staircase, those who are in a hurry do not want to waste their time climbing the staircase and walking longer distances compared to the ground. Women as well as men who return from work find ease in walking from the ground where they could buy their household necessities from the ground.
This purely becomes an infrastructure to while away time if one has free time to spend. One cannot find space to walk slowly on the ground as people walking by and the vehicles are always in a hurry. Some people stand by themselves alone or with their friends move at a very slow pace on the skywalk. The flow of wind and the roof makes this space comparatively cooler. Young boys and girls find space to stand along the railing of the skywalk looking down at the activities, phones become the means of engaging and walking, sitting on the bench for a while. Families or individuals that migrate from other parts of the country for work find this space as shelter where kids play, underneath the skywalk, and where they sell their products. Couples find this space in-between the city infrastructure where they cannot be seen by the city that takes place on the ground.
A condition on the junctions where the skywalk meets all its ends coming from three sides is where maximum number of people are found resting their arms on the railing. They pause for a while as they look at everything that moves below them. The skywalk becomes accessible for all the able users at gradual intervals near bus stops.
The length of the skywalk is around 2.5 kilometers in Borivali, which acts as a park for slow walkers with all sort of non-programmed activities. A meandering walkway where one has to dodge between the laboring bodies that rest throughout the day on the floors of the skywalk.
