I don’t think Mumbai will ever be the same again. I mean no one will ever dare to underestimate the power of her monsoons (I somehow like to think that cities & countries are females. They sound so cool). They say this is the heaviest rainfall in 100 years in Mumbai and I have sort of shrugged that claim altogether. Flooding in Mumbai is not uncommon and we all know that the amount of sewage waste this city produces in a day. I have said earlier that the lax administration has to be blamed for this present fate of Mumbai. For a start, mumbai needs to be ‘moisturized’ even further to make it look beautiful. Clearing the unauthorised slums is not the only solution but planting more greens all across the city is what is required. The administration needs to be given a lesson or two in lateral thinking (read De Bono’s 6 hats theory) to come out with innovative ideas about how to stop the flow of migrants into the city. Politicians and political parties need to look beyond their populist agendas and work together for a better Mumbai. Phew! I know this is easier said than done :(
General
Stranded!!
Its supposed to be the heaviest rainfall for Mumbai in 100 years! The records can be set straight by looking at the devastation bought about by the rain gods. I spent 2 days eating, sleeping, playing games in the office and also shopped for clothes at Westside like a touring guest. I also went and shopped for toiletries – face soap, shaving kits, toothbrushes & toothpaste. I don’t know how much I can justify the money that I spent on the purchases but I was ready to stay back for a few more days if the train services had not resumed to Borivli. I caught the 8:38 Borivli local which reached its destination at 10:30 but I had no complaints. It’s nothing short of a miracle that I reached home safe and sound.
Forget Shanghai or any other city that you may have wanted to stay. These rains proved to be a test to the government’s dreams of turning Mumbai into a world class place to live. The administration was caught napping. You might be tempted to defend the government but please don’t forget those hundreds who slept on the roads, away from their family because the transportation services went offline. This is something that Mumbai faces all the time and everytime it displays a human face of the tragedy which is people coming out of their houses and helping the needy. Even this time I heard stories of people distributing medicine and food packets absolutely free. This is the time to make a strong resolve of improving upon our defunct public services. Throw those outdated disaster management manuals if they ever existed and innovate newer methods so that the local populace is not subjected to third degree stresses by the forces of nature. Forget torential rains, have we braced ourselves for a tsunami or a Category 1 cyclone?
Mumbai Under Siege
It’s monsoon time again and what can be more frightening for mumbai city than that. 400 mm in just a day and the rumour is that there’s no respite from it for the next 24 hours too. It’s my prediction that there are atleast 2-3 days in the month of July when rains have total command over this city and it brings it to a complete standstill and it has come true almost all the time.
When Nature Calls
The God who painted nature in its varied hues and moods is the greatest. He must’ve worked painfully hard to produce such flawless beauty which entices the human mind, even though he may not be physically present there. He then blesses us with rains & cleanses his creation to its original form and welcomes us to enjoy it. To my mind, this is definitely the season to be one amongst nature.
The Discovery of ‘English’
This happened a few weeks ago but it’s worth a mention. And it’s not the review of Nehru’s timeless classic ‘The Discovery of India’. I happen to be an inactive member of GFXArtist. My purpose of joining the community was to network with other fellow designers and see what work they do. Their Chat Room is very well-known amongst the members and is a place where I frequently like to hang out.
On one such occasion I got introduced to a member, 17 years (?) old Jane from Norway. She’s an artist herself. I was taken by surprise one day when she asked me “how do they pronounce my name”. Citing a cultural ‘grand canyon’ that existed between us, I got what she was saying and I quickly typed ‘Boo-Shun’, just they way they do in dictionaries everywhere. And then it struck me!! After some research into the language, I discovered that there’s no letter such as ‘Bha’ in english!! Infact there’s no letter that starts with ‘Bh’ except for ‘Bhutan’ which is pronounced as ‘Boo-tan’ by the westerners :-)
In the end, this turned out to be just too much ‘gyaan’ for her and Jane has now decided to call me just ‘Bo’ :D. In retrospect, I felt that Hindi/Sanskrit and the other Indian languages are far rich in phonetics which are missing in the rest of the global languages. Perhaps I have to yet come across a language that is richer than the one my countrymen speak :-)