For the unbelievers??

The recent murder at the Gateway of India has invited critics from all over the city and country. Its the city that only supposedly has a heart and it's all a big farce. People are all claiming that the people surrounding the girls should have been helped by the bystanders.

We have the epitome of feminism, Mrs. Shobaa De taking the oppurtunity to blast the males in the crowd. We have plenty of letters being written to various editors of various newspapers. I would just like to ask all the doubting Thomases whether anyone of them would have stepped up and rescued the two girls. Let me tell you that fear paralyzes. One loses one's basic presence of mind. Fear grips you in a manner that renders you unable to perform the most mundane task. I am not saying that they must not have been helped. It's just that the people must have been overcome with fear and hence were not responding in time. I know what the survivor said regarding that she screamt out for help yet her pleaas felll on deaf ears. Fear does do that to you.

My city has a heart. Mumbai is compassionate. I have been on the right side for long wnough to vouch for the same. Please stop being so cynical of the world.

One more word to Mrs. De. Would you have stepped forward? Sure you would have. Or should I say your bodyguards? Your female bodyguards.

The city chugs to life again

I LOVE BOMBAY. This city teaches you to live. No matter what happens we are able to move on. Time, they say, heals every wound. What Bombay went through on July 26th was nothing short of a disaster. I can vouch for it having borne that storm.

The losses are astronomical. Insurance companies are going to have an onerous task on themselves. The slightest drizzle nowadays gets people in a frenzy as to what would happen.

But thats not what defines this city. Its far too strong a city to have a cloudburst affect it so. The blur of faces sprinting in the opposite direction as I go to college vindicate my statement. My bus stop has all possible people stand beside me. You have those slum dwellers who can be labelled survivors. MY college has students whose houses were ravged that day. Yet, you see that very same smile on their faces as you see everyday.

What is it that makes people move on so quickly? I am pretty sure having to throw away many sentimental possessions due to the effects of rainfall that lasted 2 hours is very much easier said than done. How are they able to come out of the trauma? Is it callousness or the sheer lack of time? Might be. But there must be more concrete a reason. MY guess is the resilience inculcated in all of Bombayites. We travel in the most crowded of buses. No matter what the situation, we end up in office on time. We know failure would be the end of our job. The prices are sky high, yet the hearts of the people are far bigger than the sky. When R.K Laxman coined the Common Man he must have been travelling in V.T Local. That face reflects a Bombayite than any other Indian.

My building still has a damp smell to it. There is still debry lying around. Horror stories of the floods are not out of the favourite topics of discussion. But as I wait for the bus home, I see my friend from Saki Naka, who cheerfully waves out to me.