Mumbai Blasts.
God… this has become a regular feature. More bombs went off in Mumbai. I don’t even know what to say. Life is so full of incongruity. Was on my way home thinking about all the various ironical situations that happen everyday… when the news of the bomb blast came across. Couldn’t continue thinking in the lighter vein after that.
Born, brought up and educated in Mumbai, I love this place. I love its people, I am proud of the people who rushed to help… but the amount of coverage that the blasts are getting is making me sick. It was a crowded train, first class compartments, no leg space… actually no space for anything at all, people from various backgrounds were jostling to get in or out (involuntarily). Objective achieved once again. Some people dead, a sprinkling of panic, a liberal dose of damaged property and human life. I saw a huge puddle of blood and a trail that led from the blast site to a distance away. And I can’t stop thinking about the amoral wastage of precious human life. I don’t want to see anguished faces or hear people piecing the story block by cruel block. I do not want to smell fear and I most certainly don’t want to see suspicion on friendly faces.
I am a useless citizen who has no idea what to do except to vent everything here in a meaningless spew of verbal diarrhoea. What should we do to help?
I could beg… for peace.
I could beg for fellow citizens to maintain their temperament.
I could pray that humanity would rule over everything else.
I could hope tomorrow brings a brighter safer day.
I could wish health for those injured.
I could dream of a nonviolent boundary less world.
I could … get on with life.
The pride we Mumbaiyiites take in getting over everything is all very fine… but how long and how often could we do it?
Having said that, 'The spirit of Mumbai' isn't just a pretty phrase — it's a reality that comes to the fore every time the city is struck by disaster. And it was out in full force on 11/7. Good Samaritans came in every shape and size on Tuesday evening — the much-reviled slum dwellers living near the railway tracks, fellow commuters, local residents' groups and passersby, who without a second thought rushed to the help of victims. SALAAM MUMBAI, ONCE AGAIN.
posted by Unknown at 10:46 PM
10 Comments:
wow..thats one photo that shows the mumbaikar spirit!!!
lovely sentiments and great pics.
**I am a useless citizen who has no idea what to do except to vent everything here in a meaningless spew of verbal diarrhoea
I feel the same way Niki! So darn helpless. My hands r tied and I dun think I'll see peace b4 I die. Cos times have become so violent when human life means nothing at all.
Keshi.
Mathew
Welcome to ma blog.
Keshi
Its really sad to the see the mayhem around. People are scarred and scared. But Mumbai is back in action, because they have no choice. The heroism of Mumbai does not come from the fact that they bounced back in action in less than 24 hrs since the blast, but it comes from the fact that each person did all that it takes to help those in trouble. That's the true spirit. :-)
I don't really think I am proud of the spirit of Mumbai, if this is what is called spirit. It's just a bloated expression, it doesn't really exist, it's just a myth to shelter ourselves, some mystical darkness to cover our eyes, a cloak we all wear to believe nothing much has changed. We have become so emotionally inert, and that truly is Mumbai's spirit? There was public furor in many petty issues, including issue of desecration of a statue, none though demanding justice for the 1993 blasts, Vile Parle blasts, Mumbai central blasts, Ghatkopar blasts, Mulund blasts...Are we aware that in most of these cases there wasn't justice rendered so far? Our memory has been erased? This too will pass coz we just don't care after the initial uproar over Mumbai spirit. Literally spirit (alcohol) makes one numb and unconscious. May be even this spirit which we so proudly display leads to the same!
helplessness!
Thats exactly what I felt when I saw the news!
Am a die hard bombayite and it pains to see the city that u have grown up in getting torn to pieces like this!
But guess what makes or breaks the city are the people..and bombaiytes have survived the worst days because of their spirit and this time too am sure they'll emerge as winners!
I am reading a lot of tripe in the newspapers about the “resilient Mumbai spirit”.
Of course Mumbai will recover. So did NYC. So did London. So did Jerusalem. So did Madrid. So will any city.
In fact the cockroach is one of nature’s most resilient creatures and can survive even a nuclear blast. (Though I have never heard a cockroach going around saying, “Mera Gutter Mahaan.”)
Are we cockroaches?
As my dear friend and doctor extraordinaire Aashish puts it:
“I think we are so good at 'handling' anything thrown at us, just because we're much better prepared than others. Years of travelling in the local train ( Kumar Ketkar of Loksatta, correctly called them mobile concentration camps) will condition a person to adapt under any circumstances.”
Our PM and CM appealed for calm; we are calm.
Even though 200 innocent Mumbaikars lost their lives and 700 lie injured in hospitals.
Now we would like to know what are they doing?
Last week our city went down under after heavy showers and after the initial outrage at the lack of proper drainage systems, everything was back to normal.
If you saw the movie, Munich, Golda Meir immediately responds to the assassination of the Israeli athletes with Operation Wrath of God.
Operation Wrath of God, also called Operation Bayonet, was a covert operation directed by Israel and the Mossad to assassinate the terrorists who directly or indirectly perpetrated the 1972 Munich Massacre. Authorized to begin by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in the fall of 1972, it may have continued for more than 20 years.
We would like to know when will the government initiate our Operation Wrath of God?
Our self respect, honour, and most importantly, lives are at stake.
Your thoughts are most welcome and thank you for your time
Vamshi
I am angered at those silly paeans we sing to undying spirit of Mumbai. We heard them during the 1993 blasts and we heard them in 2003 too. The kind of people who die in such carnages are usually little known, little remembered. It's easier to forget them when we go on our usual spree, with everyone talking the usual, convenient nonsense about how brave we all are, how Mumbaikars never get cowed down by violence or disaster. Rubbish.
Every city has it's qualities, true and Mumbai may be secial. In many ways. But it's silly to boast abtout 98% attendance at work they day after a series of bomb blasts.
Ekta
I agree with you. Mumbai has always bounced back. It has even today. But just bravado and tall talk cannot save a city from cunning , ruthless, efficient criminals who know that our systems are vulnerable and compromised, our response mechanisms suck. They know that our political leadership, divided and incompetent, is so busy delivering bogus sermons about the spirit of Mumbai that they have no time to scan intelligence reports, no time to set up crisis response cells that work.
Those who forget a tragedy so easily become immune to it. The conditions in which most Mumbaikars work, it is not possible for them to take a day from work. It's about livelihood. It's not about bravery. Mumbai is too tough a city, too cruel.
Sunil
The people who live in Mumbai are reconciled to the fact that its eva gng to get better. Or safer. The truth is that peace has been compromised. Terrorism is gettign away each time. Mumbai is intimidated.
I feel its time we stop allowing ourselves to be taken for granted. It's time we stop them to play with our emotions by talking about how brave we are, how noble we are.
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