The Spirit of Mumbai
“I say this Congress Government is corrupt” I declared.
“I understand” said Lulu, my parrot who was munching fruits.
“And it is very inefficient; there was perhaps no previous Government which was so inefficient.” I said emphatically.
“I see your point” said Lulu, who was now looking at the huge billboards in front of a Mall.“It is impossible to live in Mumbai. It is the dirtiest city in the country, huge slums everywhere and filth on the road.”
“That’s unfortunately true.” Lulu.
“Just take a look at the suburban trains; they call them ‘Local train.’ There is no place to get in, forget about standing all the way to destination.”
“Hmmm…I’d never been inside, but you must be right, those trains are so crowded.”
“When you get down from the train the hawkers make it impossible to walk on the street all the way to your office.” I said angrily.
“Even Malls are crowded on weekends. No place to park your car there.”
“Yes, yes. Parking is a huge problem in Mumbai. And they tow away your car!”
“Right.” I said. “The traffic moves in absolutely undisciplined manner. Sometimes they move through one way street in banned direction. And breaking signals is becoming so common that they better not operate them.”
“Very unsafe. I see your point. It is an unsafe city even for parrots.” Lulu agreed.
“If you want to eat in a good restaurant you have to wait for at least half an hour before you get inside.”
“Now don’t talk to me about unhygienic conditions of their kitchen. I have seen it all.” Lulu said.
“Road side ‘thelas’ are also very unhygienic. But poor people – they eat their food there. What will they do?”
“Poor souls.” said Lulu.
“People will die by dozens in Bomb blasts, but Mumbai will move on even if no action is taken. Actually no action was taken as we know. And no action about so many problems of this city!”
“tut tut tut tut” Lulu sympathised. “But why does Mumbai get into situation like this?”
“Because they have perfected the art of ignoring everything that goes on around them.”
“You mean that’s the spirit?” Lulu asked, nibbling chillies.
“Yes, that’s the spirit!” I answered.
Vivek
I never completely understood the romanticised idea of the 'spirit of Mumbai'. I was a resident of Mumbai the cloudburst hit the city on July 26, 2005. I remained a resident when the train blasts of July 11, 2006 happened. I heard a deluge of comments of how 'Mumbai moves on' and how 'the undaunted spirit of Mumbai' lives on. And I used to think, it hasn't got so much to do with resilience as with the necessity of living. A candle march hardly achieves anything. I think it is time we started making our elected representatives responsible for our cities.
I actually want to sue BMC for poor quality of work on King Circle Flyover…for that matter every fly over…there is no road left…needless to say causing immense damage to car!
Tax ka paisa gaya politician or BMC walo key jebo mein… I see no ROI of the tax we pay!!
I have been pondering over the 'spirit of Mumbai' business. Only one question remains : To the common man on the street, what choices do we have ?
Which in itself is not a good state to be in !
We have no alternatives other than either fight or continue.. Most of us chose the latter. I think all Indian cities are like that, be it Mumbai or Bangalore or Delhi or Kolkata.. Cities with huge potential let down by the governance at all points.. And at all times we always spoke… Yeh politicians kab sudharenge… We never say… lets enter the governance.. hence the consequence… n sadly when i say this, I m still the same who choses to blame rather than play the game
very true. that only makes it easy for the nethas and babus to live comfortably what ever comes over India… which is dumped on common man's head who is busy working to win bread for his family!
Welcome to Bangalore if you say Mumbai is bad. The word "bad" takes on new proportions in this city. Talk of indiscipline, corruption, the total collapse of infrastructure ….. the list goes on. And above all this the favourite maxim of "Solpa adjust madi" meaning "please adjust a bit". Not very different from the "spirit of Mumbai" is it? The Indian meaning of "spirit" or "adjust" means a complete apathy and lack of will to sit hard on the politicians one has spent one's precious time voting for.