More than a hundred lives lost and over a three hundred injured. Of what worth is all this immense loss, I understand not. Why target the innocent common man? Where is all this leading to? When will peace return to this land?
Bombay. What I share with the bubbling city is a long time love affair. The terror attacks that wrecked havoc in the city, by targeting the lifeline of Bombay, have left me feeling empty and wanting to share my spirit to fight, though I don’t stay there anymore.
A part of humanity wants to instill terror, while another goes about its business undaunted and the city wakes up to live the next day as normal as ever.
What's more. It's high time some relevant action is taken on this front. Meanwhile, the strength of unity is what can help us now. Overcoming differences and joining hands is the need of the hour and Bombay set a perfect example of this spirit yesterday.
I remember how we fought the July 26th floods last year and like I was mesmerized by some supreme force, I got back to office the very next day. I am sure the same calm would have returned over the skyline at the Marine Drive, even today.
Salaam Bombay! Your spirit shall rule over every other evil force that wants to purge the courage out of you! May the kith and kin of those who lost their lives, find themselves even stronger and may those who caused it, tremble with shame for the gruesome act they committed!
6 comments:
It was great to see people helping each other.. I wonder how they decided that Mumbai is the rudest city in the world.
Yeah, people might not extend help on a normal day but they do when it really matters..
Tragedies like this are so devastating that it's hard to find words for them...
Since the first moment I heard the news, you (and all my indian blog friends) have been constantly on my thoughts...
India is a big country and with big cities, but I keep wishing this didn´t affect directly anyone who could be close or dear to your heart...
Beautiful and power words for such a delicate and difficult moment, my dear Anu.
A BIG HUG. MrG
Ms.Anu,
Don't you think this whole "Spirit of Mumbai" thing is hyped way too much? Do you honestly think that had this happened in any other city in India life would have been crippled beyond recognition for days on end?
Bouncing back to normalcy is a matter of survival. The common man, anywhere in India, or the world, for that matter, has to pick himself up, dust off and be on his way to earn his next meal.
Across India, we have desensitized ourselves to a great extent and human life or the loss of it impacts us only so much. Whether this is for the good or bad is a moot point.
Karthik, yeah, I came across the rudest city thing..The point is, the factors on which you judge rudeness defines the outcome as well!
Parvati, :)..glad we concur!
Dushy, GOK!
MrG, Welcome back! :) and thank you for your hug! :)
Anonymous, I won't discuss whether the media is hyping the 'mumbai spirit' here..but I would have said the same thing, if it had happened in any other place and not just Bombay..The point is I have been a witness to the last year floods (may be you were too, if you are a bombay resident..unfortunately, you haven't disclosed your identity!)..and I saw people facing such a thing bravely, for the first time, personally..
This is a personal account and according to me, my claim is not a hype..Agreed that bouncing back to normalcy is a matter of survival, but it's just that we don't often personally come to view such things and hence, what you have witnessed is what leads you to appreciate that spirit! Hope I got the point across..
hi anu,
just like you, mumbai holds a special place in my heart as well and i must say whatever happened will not be to curb the spirit and strength of the Mumbaikars..but a silent prayer lingers for those who lost their lives in this mindless show of brute force and fanaticism...may their souls rest in peace!
Amen.
Hi..
"Spirit of mumbai" sumbody will say"it's hyped", sumbody will say "xtra-ordinary" but is anyone there to give salute to these HEROs. just read this lenghty portion:
As the city stood still for two minutes on Tuesday at 6.25 pm, the feisty Mumbaikar couldn’t help stealing a glance at the railway indicator to check whether those two minutes were going to cost him his usual Borivali fast local. But in those two minutes his life in the last 15 days flashed before his eyes with the subtitle “Spirit of Mumbai”!
For starters, there was 200 mm rainfall which would have been considered normal anywhere else in the world. But not in a city with a larger-than-life image! So the spirited Mumbaikar warmly welcomed rainwater and the overflowing gutter in his neighbourhood into his one-bedroom-kitchen ground floor flat. Reliance switched off power. MTNL switched on its automated complaint number to mourn dead telephones. And the BMC went off the radar! But the proud Mumbaikar didn’t grumble. He, his wife and their five-year-old son stoically braved the passing showers, cleaned out the water from their small flat, sold their scooter to buy vegetables, cooked dinner and went off to sleep.
The next day he was back on his feet, ready to push his way into the overcrowded public transportation and fight for the space to keep at least one of his feet firmly on the floor. During lunch hour, his wife called him frantically to say their son fell into an open manhole while going to school in Andheri and ended up outside a college in Malad!
But the Mumbaikar slogged undeterred day after day - until Sunday when he stepped out of his house to visit his sister in the neighbourhood. The weather was fine with no warning of heavy rains or thunderstorms. What nobody had warned him was that Mumbai, instead of being turned into Shanghai, was being modelled on the lines of the small towns in Somalia where mobs suddenly take to the streets and indulge in vandalism. So the baffled Mumbaikar found himself stranded in his sister’s house to allow the mob to burn buses, pelt stones, shut shops and stop traffic as part of their emotional healing process!
And then terror struck last Tuesday...
Two minutes over, the die-hard Mumbaikar took his so-called “spirit” out of his pocket, pasted it on his forehead and stepped in the Borivali fast local. While the blast hadn’t killed him, his slow death was imminent at the hands of clueless cops and heartless politicians!
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