Mumbai - A devastated city fights Back ---- My Tribute

'Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan' (This is Mumbai my life) were the words of legendary singer Rafi in those early days about a half a century ago. Yes life in India's economic capital was difficult, but ahhh ... did it matter ? Certainly not! Until 26th July 2005

This just seemed to be the beginning of misery for the Indian Megapolis, on that terrible tuesday, Mumbai was turned into a pothole by 37 inches of rains that devasted the city., killing thousands and thousands of people and destroying infrastructure to the maximum.

This was followed by the Bombay High Blaze, which emblazened the ONGC Oil Rig with 385 people onboard in which 11 people lost their lives, againt to be followed the False Tsunami Alarm and the resultant stampede, which killed another bunch of innocent people.This wasn't enough, that Mumbai got another setback when leptospirosis broke out after the flood water subsided

But the city lived, it is said that the life in Mumbai travels faster than light. Nothing could be more true and none could have been a better proof than me.

Sometimes it becomes difficult to comprehend is it heartless, selfish or commercial? Or is Mumbai a city of heart warming stories where men end up as millionaires ?

Yes, Mumbai is commercial. It provides the bulk of government taxes. But it has given shape to the dreams of millions of Indians.

Mumbai was paralysed when 8 bombs exploded that exploded in day before yesterday. Hundreds were killed and people panicked. But the next morning, trains and buses were packed as usual as people went to work. "We will not allow the militants to disturb our lives" was the general reaction.

A short quote on the spirit of Mumbai,

Time and again Mumbai has been a target, either of terrorist attacks or of Nature's fury, but guess what ? We have lived it
Innocent people were killed, there was destruction everywhere, but guess what ? We have lived it.
There have been attempts to cause communal disharmony, pani and fear, but guess what ? We still lived it.

During the blast day before yesterday, I was at Mahim for a Seminar, but for some reasons its for cancelled and I was at Mahim station at 3 (Yes the same station the bomb exploded) but owing to a strong backache I decided to take a cab and reached home at 4.30. I just lay on my Sofa and fell asleep only to be awaken abt 1 and a half hour later by my mom asking about my whereabouts. It was then I came to know of the blast, the though itself badly shook me.Later some friends called me and we went to donate blood and what I saw touched me to the core

A recent survey adjudged Mumbai as the most rude city? Who said it ? Let me get that Bugger ... Does Dropping 5 books on a floor in a mall and no one coming forward to help you pick them up make Mumbai a rude city ? NO ....Can these be the sole standards where the nature of the city can be decided? NO ...Is this of any importance ?? F**k NO ,,,,,

When you're a 16 yr old young girl with clothes torn owing to the blast and a stranger comes and offers you his shirt and drops you at a nearby health camp! That's Important!!!!!
When you're a 60 yr old man,badly shaken and with no clue and a stranger with a cellphone in hand comes to you and offers to help you contact your family and also drops you home That's important !!!!
When you're returning from a long day at work and just wanna get home and get some hot food along a steaming cup of tea to rejuvenate yourselves but get targetted by these anti-social incidents, still find nearby stranger residents rushing towards you with first aid, hot Vada Pavs (Yes the Indian Burgers) and Tea, that's important!!!!!!

Fathom this: Within 3 hours of the blasts, long queues of blood donating volunteers were seen outside various hospitals, where most of the injured were admitted. By 12 midnight, the hospital had to issue a notification that blood banks were full and they didn't require any more blood. The next day, attendance at schools and office was close to 100%, trains & buses were
packed to the brim, and the crowds were back. The city has simply dusted itself off and moved one - perhaps with greatervigour.

Am on tears as I write this, please pray for the deceased and the injured ...
R.I.P

The attitude of many people today is cynicism, hardly are we spreading cheer. Why isn't the media more humane? Spread the news that the world IS a nice place to live in & MUMBAI I SALUTE YOU for leading the way!

*Ae dil hai Jeena Muskhil yahaan, zara Hatke zara Bachke Yeh hai Mumbai meri Jaan*

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Btw, for all those who were worried about me. Just to let you know I am fine,safe and sound. Thanks for your concern.
Just pretty much shaken up by yesterday's incidence, maybe because of the proximity or the possibility....
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Mods, this Topic has nothing to do with the Bomb Blasts alone, so please donot merge these two topics.
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Abhishek

 

Good to see you back Abhishek

All were concerned about you and the other Mumbaikars from DP

 

Thanks Chetan
I knew people must have been concerned hence left a message at the end.
Glad to see the concern ... Things have just been a bit hard at my end,
The rains had flooded a power transformer in my area and the local ISP lines were disrupted too ... Got My power 3 days ago and The Internet Only on 11th
Abhishek

 

Yes geting all the news on the TV.

Floods + Blasts at Stations - All might have effected Mumbai a lot.
We had a big issue here about the blasts with a few pak.'s -
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=106754

Check it out.
All my concerns to the other Mumbai Residents too.

 

Glad that you are fine Abhishek!!
Do you have info of any other Mumbai DPer??

 

No Bro, I myselves was about to ask if any of you have any sort of contact details so that I can personally verify if they are fine

 

I am here, and am humbled by the fact that I and all people directly known to me survived the ghastly terrorists attack.

 

Hey!

Glad that you're okay Ajeet!

 

Welcome back both of you hero's

 

Glad to see you back Ajeet and Abhishek.

 

Good to hear that both of you (Ajeet and Abhishek) and your families are fine.

 

wow u both are fine and thank god

 

Thanks for all your concern It's really touching to see someone concerned about you ...
Just had a look at the other locked thread and felt nice to see mention of us by Webby, Amit, Pankaj, Sumit and our new member Kris ...
Also Glad to see you are fine Ajeet ...
Any news of Harry ? Haven't heard from him ....

Btw, the above Post was taken over by the Good News Blog

Me Mumbaikar

 

Condolences to all those who have lost loved ones, I was shook up on 9/11 when a neighbor tom dowd, passed with the 87th floor.

It will be something to see how the indian government reacts and how the world reacts as well.

don't give up any freedoms for security, then the terrorists have won.

 

welcome back Ajeet and Abhishek

 

There will be nothing to see...
Indian govt is not gonna do anything, they are waiting until terrorists blow up Govt's own ass.

The current Govt. is useless and full of shit, gonna take louder Explosions to wake them up.
We have had 3 attacks within 8 months, still all "lets cry, whine, keep two minute's silence and forget all about this" attitude..

Why dont we have someone like let Indira Gandhi ????

 

The thread is all about that attitude People don't wait for the authorities ....
THEY DO IT...

 

Thinks are really devastating here ...
The Media shows what gets it viewers, earlier they showed the so called "actual number" of deaths and now they're showing the terrorist behind it to gain maximum TRPs.

The last I saw they said the death poll was over 200 and there were nearly 700 injured people, whereas the inside news is that the death rate is over 500

I never thought of what was happening to these injured people! Are they living ? Are they dying ? Until I happened to get a call from my aunt that my 'cousin' had been one of the victim. Fortunate for her, she was alive. She happened to be standing near the door like most college girls and was thrown out by the blast only to land on a pile of what they call 'reti' the sand used in building purpose. Hence she got away with no fracture or internal injuries BUT UNFORTUNATELY she lost her left eye.

According to what she said, as the explosion took place something hard came flying towards her and struck her in her eye leaving her blind from one eye. She'll me taken abroad somewhere the next week for the docs see some possibility of restoring her eyesight ....When I was with her .... she cried ...and was later put on anaestasia by their family doc owing to some strong pain she sensed in the neck.

Went to KEM Hospital after that to meet her doctor along with her dad and my dad, the view i saw was devastating. I was crying there ... Saw a woman hittin her fore-head so hard it'd have split .... On asking a lady beside, i was told ... SHE LOST HER ONLY DAUGHTER .... Dead Bodies were strewn all over as if ..... I was feeling so close to DEATH ....

Today in the morning I saw some documentaries on Mumbai's spirit, and had seen and helped in the services yesterday ... I was flowing with the Mumbai's never say die spirit ... I was touched ... As if nothing had happened ... I even wrote in about it in the above post but this meet and this visit to the Hospital devastated me completely ...

I dunno why, but somehow, a sense of guilt prevails in me ...I want to do something, but I feel handicapped ... Maybe it's because I am too young ... or maybe it's because I dun wanna shrug off my guilt giving a big pay cheque to some organisation who pays their directors 20 lacs annualy ....

The fact is my mind has stopped thinking, I don't know what to DO ... If any of you can come up with something, please let me know I'd be grateful to help ... or if you want to verify about your relatives in Mumbai or someone you know wants to .. PM me for my cell no. or any other ingo just let me know ...

Abhishek

 

Hi Abhishek,
Being in Mumbai, I can appreciate what you are saying. Here are my thoughts:
I was engulfed with a sense of wanting to do something. But, unlike the Tsunami relief where volunteers were the primary relief workers, this is a serious crime and volunteers do not have the same role to play. But, there are still some things you can do quite easily. One of the most important thing is to encourage people to donate blood. Blood is going scarce, especially the rarer groups. And it is the easiest thing to donate.

As soon as the blasts ripped trains, the only thing I found myself capable of doing was to help passerbys reach home. Also, I sheltered about a dozen students in my office and hosted them till their parents could have them collected.

But, then again, considering the monumental nature of the attacks, the frustration levels are very high. It is at a time like this that you also need to bring some semblence of normalcy in your life. Try to do as many of the regular things as you can. If you go beserk, the terrorists are winning. Mumbai will never let that happen. Nor will you Abhishek.

If you want to meet up, PM me and I will be happy to travel to a location convenient to you. BTW, I reside in Powai and work close by.

 

Hi Ajeet,
Glad to see your reply.
Blood Donation is what I plan to do, I have rung the local corporator already and he has assured me that he will make some arrangements by 10' today. Have already asked those Loudspeaker guys and some rickshaw guys to go arnd announcing in the town.
Btw, I am at Kalyan right now ...

Seriously yaar, I was feeling guilty a lot yesterday. When a senior member on another forums told me that it was a mix-up of 'survivor guilt' and 'grief' which are common and expected emotions at such times. I thought this answer to be right. But still this doesn't in anyway stop me from doing what I have in mind.

One thing's for sure, I aint giving any money to any organisation at all. Have known enough and seen enough.

Reading my blog posts the other day, I got two mails, one from a lady in NY and a young student in NY .... Both were worried about their parents who were in Bhayander and Byculla but were daily up-downers. I personally verified their well being and got them informed to these people.

The fact is I am experiencing a mixed feeling of fear, frustration, guilt, gratitude, pity and god knows what not!


Now, I myself am confused as to how we can help. My blood boils when I see the news on TV, the fuckin cops doing nothing, the average middle class Indian is the only one going out of his way to help his bretheren. Why even the rickshaw walla wasnt willing to take the fare from me when I was going to donate blood. This is the true Indian spirit. All of this IS good...but does it help prevent any such thing happening in the future? Do you think these f*cking politicians will be affected by our words? WIll their hearts melt ever? NO. If it were the movies, they'd show that a bunch of young guys form a political party and make everything alright. That is not how it works...(my blood is boiling again).

Im with you on this one, if anyone has ANY ideas as to how we can help, lets talk..

Arre ....I got my den at Sanghani estate in Ghtkpr ...it's like 7 mins by my bike to powai .... you shld have told me earlier
Abhishek