Mumbaikars (natives of Mumbai city) are well aware of the hardships which they face everyday. To name some of the few – train travels, bad roads, polluted water supplies, growing slums, etc. Just recently I had an argument with a friend who has come down from Delhi to work with us and he was unapologetically critical about this city. The fact of the matter is that I know what plagues us and I know that the solution lies entirely in the hands of the administration which is not focusing on the city right now. I lost my temper and hit back with strong words on this.
This was probably the first time that I took the comments on Mumbai quite personally and I have no explanation for this. Mumbai, marathi language, the culture of this city, etc. have been imbibed in me since childhood and perhaps I felt they were being mugged unnecessarily by an outsider who has no inkling of what actual hardships are (he stays in churchgate and works from the same place). I was also inspired from an article that I read in Indian Express where Farah Baria has written about the downslide of Mumbai. My colleague will be here as long as his job entitles him to and he will go back to his favourite place. The point I am making is that the natives of this land have lived & experienced problems since a long time and they are the best people to come out with the solutions too. If at all we want some winds of change to blow across this island it can only be with the help of people who want improvement and not otherwise. I know it’s only a matter of time.
