Bombay Rocks - This Time Resistance not Resilience.
Bombay rocks once again. And this time it’s been hit where it hurts the most. The blasts occurred between 6 and 6.30 pm in Mumbai. Latest estimates indicate 180+ dead, with several hundred injured, most of them are critical. Train services were shut down and local telephone lines jammed. The day may have ended, but the trauma has just begun. “Gory” has a new meaning today. This word has come out of my old fat dictionary on to the railway tracks and station.
Yesterday again, we saw helping hands in form of common citizens and not authorities. We again saw commoners going out of their way to help people reach their homes safely and rushing the injured to the hospitals. How can I forget that these are the same mumbaikars who gave a helping hand during the last year floods or the more recent last week downpour. Always showing their solidarity when it matters. And did I hear somebody calling us rude? And after seeing and experiencing our spirit, I am proud that we are rude. Yes, we are rude because we don’t wait for exchanging gratitude while we are busy helping the distressed. Yes, we are rude because we don’t serve the needy only when they politely plead. Yes, we are rude because we believe in helping selflessly with out being rewarded with a dose of courtesy. We are happy to be called a helping city rather than a courteous city.
And now when the city is grappling back to normalcy, we are again proud of the great spirit of Mumbai. I totally agree on the resilience of mumbaikars and have been an avid advocate of the same. But am I happy about us being up and running today. The answer is a shocking – “NO”. Not that we should be sitting home and fearing the bloody terrorists. That would mean an easy victory for them. But somewhere down the heart, I feel that our spirit is taken for granted. Its been almost assumed by the authorities that we will bear the brunt of any and every thing and almost from the next day we will be happily back to work and keep on filling their coffers.
Last year floods were something waiting to happen but the authorities were caught unaware. This year also all the promises of taking preventive action were broken with a small downpour on last Tuesday. At all times we have been back to our toes in less than 24 hours and this is what makes us easy targets. Our resilience is being used against us for the authorities to be complacent. But we should put our foot down and draw a line somewhere. If we can be resilient, we can also be resistant. And its time, we show our RESISTANCE.
Yesterday again, we saw helping hands in form of common citizens and not authorities. We again saw commoners going out of their way to help people reach their homes safely and rushing the injured to the hospitals. How can I forget that these are the same mumbaikars who gave a helping hand during the last year floods or the more recent last week downpour. Always showing their solidarity when it matters. And did I hear somebody calling us rude? And after seeing and experiencing our spirit, I am proud that we are rude. Yes, we are rude because we don’t wait for exchanging gratitude while we are busy helping the distressed. Yes, we are rude because we don’t serve the needy only when they politely plead. Yes, we are rude because we believe in helping selflessly with out being rewarded with a dose of courtesy. We are happy to be called a helping city rather than a courteous city.
And now when the city is grappling back to normalcy, we are again proud of the great spirit of Mumbai. I totally agree on the resilience of mumbaikars and have been an avid advocate of the same. But am I happy about us being up and running today. The answer is a shocking – “NO”. Not that we should be sitting home and fearing the bloody terrorists. That would mean an easy victory for them. But somewhere down the heart, I feel that our spirit is taken for granted. Its been almost assumed by the authorities that we will bear the brunt of any and every thing and almost from the next day we will be happily back to work and keep on filling their coffers.
Last year floods were something waiting to happen but the authorities were caught unaware. This year also all the promises of taking preventive action were broken with a small downpour on last Tuesday. At all times we have been back to our toes in less than 24 hours and this is what makes us easy targets. Our resilience is being used against us for the authorities to be complacent. But we should put our foot down and draw a line somewhere. If we can be resilient, we can also be resistant. And its time, we show our RESISTANCE.
5 comments:
First of all, as much as we hate it, the official name of the sity is Mumbai. So let's accept it.
Secondly, related to your opinion of suggesting Mumbai-ites should have stayed at home as a protest, read out point 3 of my post on Mumbai blasts and the Spirit of Mumbai. It is a choice for some, a compulsion for others.
Sorry for the errors. 'sity' should have been 'city' and 'read out' should have been 'read'.
Hey Nirav, U got me wrong.
I never advise to stay back at home.But i suggest to send out strong signals about us being unhappy with the situation. Just because we get back on our feet doesnt mean that we are used to this.
nothin could have been more explicit than this...i mean this is exactly what i wanted to express.....this article will be circulated to all i know and will send you the feedback....
I think this is the time to be one and raise our voice ...if we r feeling proud of ourselves OF being mubaikars then we r absouletly wrong..Spirit of mumbai is not to shut and go back to our normal life, behaving as if nothing is happ, but to raise our voice against terrorism.
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