The one thing that has held me in good stead in Mumbai for the past 2 years I have been here is the fact that the city and I share a common philosophy: Never Say Never.
Unfortunately, that spell was broken today for the first time to my observation. The whole of last 10 days have been not so great for Mumbai, what with the first spell of showers in this years Monsoons. They did expose the underbelly of the city and how prepared it was for the rainy season. Well, not too well I must say. I was on vacation at Delhi, and the moment I landed in Mumbai on the morning of July 3, 2006, the plane splashed straight into a Puddle!
Life was disrupted, and then some more. It was a replay of last years rainy season afterall. But the citizens got the better of it by trying and keeping life as normal as possible. Hell yeah, why else would people step out of the comforts of their homes and push the envelope to get to work. Why else would the BEST run buses in knee deep water as long as they could help it?
But then things have to wrong sometime and somewhere at least. Mumbai was excited about the Football Worldcup finals. All the papers and my inbox were full of offers and invitations to go watch the match on the big screen somewhere etc. The day was planned out well, meet long lost one friend for breakfast, recieve another one at home sometime later, and then go out for a movie in the evening, and then the Big Match. Little did I know there was trouble brewing in the heart of Mumbai.Someone made mischief in Dadar with the Statue of Bal Thakarey's Wife and the Shiv Sena Matriarch, and the entire Maharashtra Erupted! The entire episode seemed to be too non-sensical to me. There is no sense of restraint in the politically motivated it seems. If there was one fool taking a calculated risk in desecrating the bust, he or she knew that there were going to be enough fools to take the bait and go out and create lots of trouble for the city and the state of Maharasthra at large. And it happened!
Came back late last night after catchin up with a few pals at a pub, and so woke up late [Wokue up, went out for breakfast, back and slept] and out of tune with the news around me. A friend told me in the afternoon about the fact that there was rioting and some kinda curfew in the city. nevertheless, we planned a movie for the evening, after which i decided i shall head out to town and go watch the final match on the Big Screeen at the Taj President's Trattoria.
But things were not meant to be. Turn on the TV and all the channels are full of news about how the Sena and its supporters have moved around the state and created nasty scenes. Tell me, how does burning down a bus or hitting the police with stones make up for your so called loss? I have never understood the funda of how someone's loss could make up for someone elses loss? And there were these politicos, making irresponsible statements on TV like " They are just expressing their anger against the miscreants, This was bound to happen" Hello? If you want to express anger, demonstrate. Don't make a loss situation!So, the day changed! I stepped out of home, and the whole of Andheri was empty. Shops were shut down! The usually active BEST also pulled the plug on bus services in the suburbs as a precautionary measure. I hunted down a Rickshaw to go for the movie, but almost getting there I was informed about the dropping of the plans ... and I gingerly asked the same guy to take me back home, as I did not want to be stuck in a tense situation in the city. The Football plans were as a result called off with apologies and a promise to make up with tank fulls of draft beer to the ones at loss ;)
On my way back home I noticed huge groups of Sena activists around someplace in Andheri. Now has the State lost its spine to not be able to control an "Unlawful Assembly" of people? Well, apparently, they want mileage from all of this to be able to fight back after their losses of Narayan Rane and Thakrey Nephew. For all you know, they might have planned and executed this feat themselves, to get some news coverage... considering elections are around. And this theory is now being talked about by the papers too. Click here to figure out what ToI has to say on this.
Any country's stature on the International Arena is today dictated by its Economic and Economic Stature alone. And just while we are finding our feet as Bigwigs on the International Arena, here we are with the commercial capital of the country shutting down shops, shutting up work at the Airports and causing unnecessary tension in the City for no good reason. Imagine the loss to shops which actually make their buck on a weekend more than a weekday. The Coffee Economy, the Restaurants, and all the other fun joints. DNA says that over 200 Crore Rs. were the opportunity loss for one day! Too Bad!
To take the leap into being the world's springboard of ideas and economic importance, we need to be teaching our generation and the ones next in line the lessons of economic independance rather than the difference between various Communities that exist in India. After all, you and me work together to make this country better, and no community works at cross purposes!
The politicos gotto learn their lessons and losen their grip and get the Manmohans and the PCs to run the country the way they want to. And not cause grief to everyone by pushing away the reforms agenda further from the country everyday.
my 2 paise!
