SIONTIFIC

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

The Spirit of Mumbai

Author: Dr. Niraj Chavan
Batch: 2001

The Spirit of Mumbai

“The spirit of Mumbai”, “the resilient Mumbaikar”, “Salaam Mumbai”,“the city that never sleeps”…phrases that seem so much a cliché now, so much more than before thanks to the 7/11 blasts that rocked this metro yesterday evening. In the wake of the aftermath that followed, undoubtedly the heroes of the moment were neither the police authorities nor the administrative set-up…but the average middle-class 9-4 “mumbaikar”…yes!..He is just he same man who enjoys vada-pav and chai at the local eatery bunk, thrives on cricket and bollywood and works in a straight-jacketed routine of home-office-home…and then office again the next day.

Rather unlikely as it may seem it’s the unflinching spirit of such an “average” Mumbaikar that has helped Mumbai cope up with this disaster so much so that terms like “resilience” and “spirit” seem superficial. But what needs to be reflected upon is this : are we taking the Mumbaikars resilience for granted?…be it a natural calamity as in the case of 26/7 or the more recent rains lashing through Mumbai or the series of terrorist activities that have been rocking Mumbai ever since 1993-94. Yes,the spirited Mumbaikar does come together in times like these and exhibits an epitome of unshakeable hope, belief and support that probably no other city can boast of!(So much for being called the rudest city,eh?!) But the larger picture is this… Two weeks post 7/11 life is going to continue unmistakably as “normally” as ever before…. even the slightest traces of a major destruction being smartly silenced amidst the banter of bhajans and gossip in the local train compartments. Will Mumbai be the same as it always was? …Most certainly yes!…the answer comes almost reflexly from every die-hard mumbaikar. “Resilence” is what the perennial optimist terms it…but a faint voice from a practical headed junkie yells…”ignorance”...Hahhaha so much for the saying, “Ignorance is bliss”…

There is no undermining the undefying spirit of Mumbaikars but there is only hope that this spirited attitude to see justice happening is not restricted only to post-disaster states. What we need today is consolidated continuous efforts from Mumbaikars like you and me to shake the somnolent government from its deep slumber. We do not need another 26/7 or 7/11 to wake them up, a force of thousands and lakhs of Mumbaikars is indeed a force enough…if only this force was “one force”…a myth as it seems in todays times of hectic daily routine. The only thing that plays on mind is my priorities. Catching the 6:51 churchgate local…boarding a near packed train…reaching my office on time…finishing the daily work schedule well in time for lunch break to occur…enjoying a li’l bit of a post-prandial nap…and then hurrying back in time to catch he 5:45 andheri local…who has the time to think of what the BMC or the government should or should not be doing…the resilient and spirited mumbaikar jus throws off his magical robe...just like a Spiderman or Superman would do...and gels in with the crowd…one with the crowd…herd mentality…

It makes me wonder…wouldn’t it have been so much more better if these concentrated efforts found their way to the corridors of mantralaya and to the offices in the BMC head-office? Aren’t civic authorities taking the mumbaikars for granted just as the terrorists are?….while we have organized “terrorists” to wreck havoc in public life…it will take just one more 26/7 for terrorists to emerge from the throes of civic administration…or rather the lack of it!
Are we equipped to tackle another disaster?…morally and emotionally yes!…of course but in reality in terms of logistics of infrastructure….the answer is an obvious NO…who is to be blamed then?…(’cuz all of us love the blaming game!)…Johnny Joseph and his babus…A.N. Roy and his set of hooligans...better known as Mumbai Police…Vilasrao Deshmukh and his cabinet...or is it you and me, the average mumbaikar?…

-Dr. Niraj Chavan

Posted by Shiva :: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 :: 1 comments