After a few problems with the flat hunt in Bandra, I moved from Juhu to Powai a few weeks back.When i first visited Powai, I told Indiadam that it reminded me a bit of Las Vegas... Just a little bit. A tiny little bit... Maybe type "Powai Mumbai" into Google and you might know what I mean.
The one thing Powai is known for though arent slot machines or club nights. Quite the opposite, it's a very residential area and many people who live in Bandra would call it a bit boring. But the one thing Powai has and it is famous for is Powai lake.
It's quite big lake, according to Wikipedia it covers an area of 2.1 square kilometers and is up to 12m deep. A key point though is that is is man made. By the British actually around 1800... It's very green with lots of trees and bushes and from if I go outside the apartment, I can see the most beautiful sunrise over the lake every morning (slightly dependent on the smog level :)). So bottom line, it is very pretty and every day you can see lots of fishermen in the lake fishing. They all move around the lake in big rubber rings, the kind you sometimes get to go down slides in waterparks. So far so good.
Before I moved to Powai, I was told there were crocodiles in the lake which I put down as a rumour tourists get told when they arrive in the city. After all Mumbai is a big city, and doesnt strike you as a good place for wildlife to thrive. I started having my doubts when more and more people told me there were crocodiles but since at least as many people kept telling me that there are definitely no crocs in the lake, I kept to the more realistic version of no hungry hippos or crocodiles to be found on he lake. Why would these fishermen go into a lake with animals that could eat them?!
I then got sent a picture that supposedly was evidence of an actual crocodile in the lake - to me it looked more like a piece of wood... so everything suggested the mystery of the crocodiles in Powai lake would be unresolved.
Until I moved to Powai and saw them with my own eyes! There are real crocodiles in the lake and these fishermen just go about their daily routine only a few meters away from the animals. Fair enough, the do look rather relaxed but you never know when they will get hungry. And what else would they eat if not the fishermen? Do crocs eat fish? I guess I have seen a water buffalo around at some point but they seem like an ambitious goal...
And here comes the evidence - the pics arent that great either as I only had my mobile phone on me but trust me, it is not a piece of wood...
After I had seen them with my own eyes, I did some more research and actually found an article (from what looks like a proper newspaper) that a fisherman got killed in 2010 by a crocodile. It even mentions the rubber rings I was talking about...
http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai/crocodile-kills-man-at-powai-lake/story-K4JfgW0sIdsPJdC9QTJDuO.html
This leaves the question: How did the crocodiles get into the lake? I haven't really managed to find out despite asking a few people and googling. I will keep trying though so watch this space...
For now, my theory is that the crocodile hunter brought one on a holiday to Mumbai. And sometimes I am not sure these fishermen aren't secretly training to become the next crocodile hunter....
The one thing Powai is known for though arent slot machines or club nights. Quite the opposite, it's a very residential area and many people who live in Bandra would call it a bit boring. But the one thing Powai has and it is famous for is Powai lake.
It's quite big lake, according to Wikipedia it covers an area of 2.1 square kilometers and is up to 12m deep. A key point though is that is is man made. By the British actually around 1800... It's very green with lots of trees and bushes and from if I go outside the apartment, I can see the most beautiful sunrise over the lake every morning (slightly dependent on the smog level :)). So bottom line, it is very pretty and every day you can see lots of fishermen in the lake fishing. They all move around the lake in big rubber rings, the kind you sometimes get to go down slides in waterparks. So far so good.
Before I moved to Powai, I was told there were crocodiles in the lake which I put down as a rumour tourists get told when they arrive in the city. After all Mumbai is a big city, and doesnt strike you as a good place for wildlife to thrive. I started having my doubts when more and more people told me there were crocodiles but since at least as many people kept telling me that there are definitely no crocs in the lake, I kept to the more realistic version of no hungry hippos or crocodiles to be found on he lake. Why would these fishermen go into a lake with animals that could eat them?!
I then got sent a picture that supposedly was evidence of an actual crocodile in the lake - to me it looked more like a piece of wood... so everything suggested the mystery of the crocodiles in Powai lake would be unresolved.
Until I moved to Powai and saw them with my own eyes! There are real crocodiles in the lake and these fishermen just go about their daily routine only a few meters away from the animals. Fair enough, the do look rather relaxed but you never know when they will get hungry. And what else would they eat if not the fishermen? Do crocs eat fish? I guess I have seen a water buffalo around at some point but they seem like an ambitious goal...
And here comes the evidence - the pics arent that great either as I only had my mobile phone on me but trust me, it is not a piece of wood...
After I had seen them with my own eyes, I did some more research and actually found an article (from what looks like a proper newspaper) that a fisherman got killed in 2010 by a crocodile. It even mentions the rubber rings I was talking about...
http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai/crocodile-kills-man-at-powai-lake/story-K4JfgW0sIdsPJdC9QTJDuO.html
This leaves the question: How did the crocodiles get into the lake? I haven't really managed to find out despite asking a few people and googling. I will keep trying though so watch this space...
For now, my theory is that the crocodile hunter brought one on a holiday to Mumbai. And sometimes I am not sure these fishermen aren't secretly training to become the next crocodile hunter....
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