October 17, 2015.

On rain trees in LIC Colony, there are no bats in the morning; they make their quick entries and exits and have their reasons which me does not know; blue morning glories upped the mood; and two sparrow size birds, beaking strips of grass, for their nests. On the way back slipped into a dressed up Silver Scissors of Alam. Bright and white; for two months Alam, still around, unlynched, despite sipping teas at Murari Dairy Farm, took time out to clean Silver Scissors; for two months allowed free flow to me beard and head; they didnt abuse their freedom; Alam had little to do; he applied his mind to my bare head and beard; offered tea, me took; but then as Rama says me has lost me gods. Alam has timed the facials well; Yogi Nagar Road is to have a bright red branch of Kotak Mahindra Bank and their staff can walk into a fresh Silver Scissors; Yogi Nagar Road, a two-way 15 minute walkable stretch, has become the bank street of Borivili. Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Corporation Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ATMs of HDFC and ICICI; SBI at the Yogi-Link Road corner; plus the oldest of them all, Dena Bank, an apparatus only god, woman and RBI could have thought of and put up. Vegetable vendors Niranjan, Ajit, coconut seller Raju have their accounts in Dena; have never taken loans; "bhagwan bachaye," they say. Dena was there before one settled in Borivili in April 1993; before flower seller Shyama of Saphale, squatted on Link Road, the first of a business start up without bank loans and venture capital. Today it has an ATM which none uses. Most of them shy from bank loans; all, like the ladies of Saphale, prefer rokda (cash); me doubts whether any banker at these banks have said a hullo to a Shyama or a Niranjan; Yogi Nagar is a cash economy; today there is little space for more banks; Yogi Nagar has shops changing nameplates every 12 months with the last shocker being the shutting down of an Amul ice cream joint for a camera clicking venture; with mobiles and ipads, that may also wind down. Young do not care for government banks; they prefer ICICI and Axis with monies on a click; me wish good morning, the young and trim staff smile and wish back; Axis is the best; helpful and efficient; me is scared of bankers, babus and police; me shivers stepping into Corporation Bank and SBI; a grimness, no grace; only grouchy men and women relishing the sight of old men and women standing in lines. "Kitna garmi hai," they say sitting in air-conditioned arm chairs. And one day in a far future, a fear: there will not be government banks; there will not be RBI; there will be private banks and Shyama on the street.