Open Letter to BKC CEOs, Directors, and Founders.

Dear CEOs, Directors, Founders, etc. based in the offices of Bandra Kurla Complex,

I completely understand your desire to experience that ‘success’ moment — which is basically dressing up like a Wall Street investment banker, commuting from your humble Pedder Road 10BHK triplex apartment to your workplace in your chauffeur-driven 6000cc car. Then standing in your corner office cabin with a mug of coffee in your hand, gazing at a landscape dominated by concrete and glass buildings, all while a stock music of success genre is being played in your head. You know, like you’re in a Rajnigandha pan masala’s ad. It’s all fun and beautiful and makes you look really badass on LinkedIn/your alumni circle, but unfortunately, the associates you hired for 3.6LPA go through the horrors of commuting every single day.

I get that sometimes your product, personality and professionalism are just not enough to get clients so you compensate for that trust deficit by leasing a swanky office space to show off that you’re a serious business.

But maybe ask your office staff someday. They will confirm that Bandra Kurla Complex is a vortex for the middle and labor class because it is normal to enter it but hard to get out of. Every single day, a sudden wave of sadness erupts at 4 PM in BKC because people know the hardest thing about their job has just started, which is “How will I reach home today?”. Not only that, there are other fundamental issues with BKC that make the whole ‘working in BKC’ experience quite sad.

This man-made peninsula does not even feel like Mumbai because it hardly has any qualities that make Mumbai what it is. The autos do not run on meters thanks to the RTO & Traffic Police’s blessings/incompetency & charge 2x-3x for a ride because they assume everyone working in BKC makes as much as you do. There are no hawkers or non-gentrified food trucks/carts that can provide a cheap, decent meal to associates, support staff, security guards, interns, and so on. Forgot to bring lunch today? Pay 150 for a substandard cucumber sandwich in the coworking office’s canteen or order from nearby fine-dine restaurants that charge at least ₹500 for a decent meal.

This place alsopunishes the middle class that does not have a vehicle (preferably 4-wheeler). Even the 3rd major bridge which was constructed on the Chunabhatti side does not allow 2 wheelers, or autos because Mumbai Traffic Police is just assessing the bridge for the last 4 years. Every morning the spirit of Mumbai dies at Bandra/Kurla station and in the evening its funeral is held by every person struggling to find an auto rickshaw, Uber, or frequent shuttle buses.

BKC is a bubble that was constructed by policymakers who really hated middle-class folks and the idea of socialist architecute. Its core job was to appear like a wannabe 1st world nation’s business park that’s full of glass buildings that makes an average white guy do a thumbs up and say “Waaaw Indiyeah is developing!”. It is a permanent film production set that was custom-designed to cater to your aspirations while completely neglecting the basic needs and comforts of the people who help in making you who you are.

So what I’m saying is, perhaps it’s time for you guys to not just think about how you want to make money out of your employees but also think of how your employees save whatever little they make in your organization. BKC was designed to extort money out of everyone; You don’t realize this because a couple of thousands off your pockets every day for a commute, food, and leisure won’t hurt you that much, but a couple of hundreds spent by folks hardly making ₹500-₹2,000 in your organization can hamper their monthly budget.

The solution, you ask? A more radical approach could be to shift your office to a space near the railway station but as of now providing your employees with comfortable transportation, affordable/free meals, non peak hour work timings, and a hybrid work model should do the work. Maybe talk to your freshers on lunch tomorrow? Hear them out?

Yours Truly,

A Mumbaikar.