Anti-capitalists on way, led by Chomsky, Bove

Mumbai’s biggest party of the new year is exactly a week away. If you are coming, join the 75,000 others from 130 countries, including ...

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Mumbai’s biggest party of the new year is exactly a week away. If you are coming, join the 75,000 others from 130 countries, including a Leo from St Kitts & Nevis and Rajan Mathew — the lone participant from Swaziland.

The setting of the world’s biggest anti-capitalism meeting is curious: India’s most conspicuous consumer, Mumbai, which has just celebrated its Sensex 6000 and is a place where even dosas have brand-names.

On January 16, expect the World Social Forum to start with a bang and the mother of all traffic jams as all roads lead to the western suburb of Goregaon.

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And don’t let that jaw drop in case you find Nelson Mandela in the car next to you. There are a couple of thousand people who have crossed their fingers that he will come. Linguist Noam Chomsky has confirmed.

Others from the Page One set include Nobel laureates Shirin Ebadi and Joseph Stiglitz. There’s former Algerian president Ahmed Ben Bella, campaigners Naomi Klein and Jose Bove, former prime minister V.P. Singh and the UN is sending our very own Shashi Tharoor.

The World Social Forum is the global progressive movement’s equivalent of the World Cup and preparations have been underway for months. But just seven days from D-day some teething problems remain.

At the Forum’s operations centre at Leningrad Chowk, Prabhadevi, 12 computers need to be installed but IT expert Warren is missing. Soon he is found, stuck in the lift between floors.

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It’s an event with all the ingredients of a logisitical nightmare. At the Nesco Grounds venue, three dusty industrial buildings are still in the process of being transformed into conference venues, each holding up to 20,000 people.

Toilets, food stall areas, electrical, water and sanitation links for a lakh people have been set up at the site along with 200 new telephone lines. At nearby Bangur Nagar, a campsite of 240 50-person tents is being erected — capable of holding 12,000 participants.

Leni of the Forum’s Venue and Logistics Group has hired 30 55-seater buses to take those staying at the campsite to Nesco Grounds.

With thousands expected to arrive over the next few days, finding a reasonably-priced hotel room is becoming impossible. ‘‘My rooms have been since booked in October. I just wish they had held the meeting during March or April, our low season,’’ says Jagdish Gaddi, general manager of Airlink Hotel.