Jul 31, 2006 10:00 PM
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It was while we were happily attending to our daily chores at the office, when we were suddenly jolted to the harsh reality of the terror that struck mumbai that fateful day, a black day for many who travelled on 11th, or who were just mute witnesses, to the crime against humanity.
It was a colleague of mine, who normally took the same train as the one that exploded at Khar - the same compartment. But since he felt lazy about having to cross the bridge at this destination, he gave it a miss.what luck, we still have him with us.
Within 6-10 mins, it was chaos everywhere. The tel network having caved in, there was no way for people to get in touch with near and dear ones. The excuse offered earlier on was that they wanted to clog the bombers network. Hogwash, after their deed was done, what need was for them to connect. The last thing they would do then is talk. So it was that the citizens of mumbai were left high and dry.
The roads were a mess, considering that everyone hit the roads. Traffic on the western express highway came to a grinding halt. Those who had left office early, say between 6.30 - 7, were held up at various places, due to traffic jams all over.
It took most of them between 4-5 hours to reach home.True, in any unimitable style, a lot of mumbai citizens hit the road with water, food, help for the stranded. At the explosion sites, many a hand was lent to help carry the injured and the dead to the nearby hospitals. True, vehicles were stopped, to help ladies get to their destinations.
After the initial shock, a lot of people turned good samaritans helped their city people get home. But the "Never Say Die Spirit of Mumbai" being alive is just pure junk stuff. Since I can really express my feeling at that particular phrase, with the words it deserves, I am just saying junk.
What about the spirit huh? hey!, the market did not crash - spirit of mumbai! People were back to business - spirit of mumbai! hey people helped - spirit of mumbai. What absolute rot!
In any tragic situation, anyone would help, be it a mumbaikar, or a puneiite or delhiite. Its pure humanity! And markets not crashing - pure hype. And people back to business.Who wouldn't. With so many people who survive on daily wages, or for that matter, those of us employed elsewhere. Do you think our management would be sympathetic, and say - hey guys - stay home for a couple of days - since there was this tragedy -BS! The city had to move on.
The spirit of mumbai being alive was just a diversion, that the government used, to deviate the people from reacting to the indifference, their intelligence failure. Besides, what has really happened afterwards. The intelligence is still going in circles here. And law, justice etc is just absent isn't it. Soon all will be forgotten till something else happens.
Being a rotary club member, I have seen what this spirit of mumbai is all about. For tele journalism, it was just business as usual. What great spirit it was to see the journalists line up and keep asking the injured or relatives of missing people - Excuse me, How do you feel? What is your reaction? etc. What about those scoundrels, who were near the bomb blasts, and merrily taking gory pictures on their cell phones - to MMS the same to the TV channels, rather than lending a helping hand to the victims.
What about those thieves, who made off with people's mobiles, wallets after the blasts? At the Bhagwati hospital, the heartwarming sight was the team of 10-15 doctors from nearby places who were lending a helping hand to everyone who needed the same. What was heartwrenching, was to see the TV reporters trying to jostle between people to talk to the injured. Another case was th touts of private hospitals, trying to garner patients to their hospitals, yelling out free treatment, but not meaning it.
We have also come across certain lawyers, who armed with the list of injured/dead from certain areas, going to their houses telling them that they would help get the compensation from the government - for a small fee of 25% of the amount. How low could you get.
Maybe I am too sceptical about my city, but nothing really is happening for our city. We are just being taken for granted. Through the rotary I have been to areas in mumbai, that are the pits. We talk about mumbai - the next shanghai, but the truth is we are really being Shanghaied away from the reality that is really mumbai.
