I was worried the world was coming to an end. Yesterdays hot and amazingly humid conditions in Mumbai refereshed some images from a TinTin comic edition titled ‘The Shooting Star’ which I had browsed long long ago. The sweaty stinky moist bodies of middle-aged men brushing in the crowded locals, is not my idea of a pleasant journey by any stretch of imagination. Yet someone amongst the heavens above might have yearned for some more fun to unfold as the train I was riding pulled in on the newly constructed (and a true nightmare for any infrastructure project in this city) platform no. 8, which is far from the Borivli area. The long march towards the exit was completely forgettable.
monsoons
A Day I Would Love to Forget!
I don’t know how many of us can foresee an eventful day when we wake up early morning. I couldn’t either and hence this article comes up :-)
It was like everything had to go wrong for me right from the word ‘go’. When I was taking mummy to the hotel from the hospital, the taxi driver took a longer route and I ended up paying out of my shallow pockets. He didn’t have the necessary change to give me too. Then on my way to the office I encountered another driver who did a similar thing by taking a longer route. I guess every one was briefed about taking their passengers on a ‘joy ride’ today by the Taxi Union. By the time my day was over and I met mummy again at the room, I took another taxi ride to the station. This time the driver didn’t have even 2 rupees to pay me the extra change for Rs. 20. So I obliged by fishing out the last penny that I could find from my big bag and yet it was 50ps less which he didn’t mind :-)
Mumbai ‘Moisturized’
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 :(
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.