Mumbai Mayhem!

Hello friends, How are all of you doing??? All's fine at my end.....except the weather, that is! I'd be a total nut if I were to not write about the chaos here in the past week.......What better topic to blog about?!!!!!! So as you all know, its been pouring cats and dogs here for the past 5 days and we've had the constant pitter patter of raindrops falling incessantly on the same roads that were starved and parched for the rains just a few days ago! That's life for you..............when it’s hot, you want it to rain and when there's a downpour, you wish it away! Well, so, its been a wet week here so far and from the looks of it, things are not going to end very soon.......of course there has been some welcome respite from the rains since today evening but I have no idea how long the "dry" spell is going to continue! The rains started on Saturday evening and everyone welcomed it with glee but when it continued well into Sunday evening, everyone started getting anxious about the forthcoming week...and as feared, the rains poured nonstop on Monday too with mighty winds lashing out and umbrellas being rendered useless. Me being the ever-adventurous, over-ambitious creature and the "extremely sincere student” that I am, braved the rains to pay a visit to my esteemed college early in the morning on both Monday and Tuesday expecting the rains to be just a part of the regular Mumbai monsoon but seeing sense soon after, returned home immediately on both days......College was obviously closed on both days!!!!!! And today being declared holiday well in advance, I didn't have to prove my "smartness" yet again!!!!!

So, roads were water-logged and water had accumulated at many places in the city and news channels were, rather still are, continuously showcasing the mess that they claim Mumbai is in.........Seasoned Mumbaikars however seem pretty unperturbed and say that these are the sort of showers that they are used to and the regular showers that paralyse Mumbai for a couple of days every year! All the focus and tension is mainly because of the "Terrible Tuesday" 26/7 that totally crippled Mumbai last year and yesterday, also being a Tuesday was for many people an omen for a repeat of the same.......However, while last year, Mumbai recorded over 900mm of rainfall in just a day, this year, its "just" over 250 mm......a meek contrast!

I'm not trying to be brave or superwoman or anything but I do think that last year's havoc has made people paranoid about the rains and the slightest increase in rainfall seems to make them believe we are going to have chaos all over again.....even news channels are proving themselves to exaggeration kings and queens.....Let me quote a few instances.....

We had this reporter standing in the middle of a road somewhere in Kurla.....supposedly one of the worst hit areas....screaming her lungs out that the place was in utter chaos.....I do hope she knows what the word chaos means because all we could see was her and miles and miles of water all around....there was not even an insect to be seen anywhere in the vicinity....where's the chaos, madam?? She was upto her thighs in water but just a few metres away, we saw the water level just reaching the bottom of the wheel of an autorickshaw.....

And in an attempt to show how cars were stopping midway, we were shown a car moving slowly, navigating its way through the "sea" of water (why in God's name do people take their vehicles out in such forbearing weather, I have no clue......particularly when they can expect trouble and even see it right in front of their eyes??) And then all of a sudden, the car stopped and all the people got out of the car pretty gleefully to flash their Colgate smiles at the camera!!!!!!

And then there was this lady who was screeching on the mike about wading in knee-deep water and I think she must have mistaken her ankles for her knees!!! Of what they were showing us, all we could see was water submerging the toes at most! I mean, excuse me.... but people watching TV are not exactly blind or brainless!!!!!!!

And I found it sadly unfair that people were lashing out at the BMC and complaining that in spite of last year's mishap, the BMC has not learnt from its mistake and has not done anything to improve the situation.......but this is not true.....It seems from various reports and interviews, that a lot has been done to improve the situation this year. And I definitely feel that what is called for is not a minor change but a serious alteration in the infrastructure of the city.....I don't think it is humanly possible to achieve a change of such great magnitude in such a short span of time........Things have improved as compared to last year but it is too much by any standard to expect a total makeover so soon.......from the looks of it, the change is going to take nothing less than 3 years.......considering the size of the city and the work at hand, 3 years seems to be a reasonable amount of time to ask for....and its not as if they've been sleeping over the job......things have been better......

I was on the roads myself last night and saw that water had receded astonishingly in the very places that news channels had reported to be flooded barely a couple of hours ago.....the most susceptible regions were minimally flooded and as Mumbaikars say, that is something they've lived with since time immemorial. There were constables and rescue persons stationed at various spots to guide motorists on the roads......Railway lines were very well managed and the Harbour line railway which is the first to be hit and the last to recover was closed only for half a day.....so was the Central line and amazingly, the Western railway line was not closed and was continuously plying all through the day, albeit with major delays and at snail's pace but plying nevertheless........

Why is it that we are always first to complain and we always fail to see the beauty in every situation......probably because the persons who were really stuck had no choice. But I definitely say that the BMC has done a commendable job of averting a possible disaster this time, unlike last year........on the other hand, as I said earlier, maybe we never had a disaster in the first place and we were just anxious and paranoid after last year's fearful episode!!!!!!!

So I'd just say that while we're cursing the weather, let's not curse the people who've truly made an attempt to bring about a visible change in the disaster management systems here..........true, the change is far from satisfactory, but its there, only if you look hard enough! And I truly believe that fear is in the mind.....of course, prevention is better than cure and we've better off within the safe walls of our home rather than the roads, but the rains are no reason to panic beyond reason!!!!

If life in Mumbai halts as a result of these rains, it would be an insult to the indomitable and undying spirit of this ever-bustling city and its daring people!!!!! And mind you, true Mumbaikars would never let that happen! Come rain, come storm.......NEVER SAY DIE!!!!! What say my mumbaikar pals?????

So that was a detailed account of the mayhem here in Mumbai.....let's hope the weather and people's attitudes stabilise soon so life comes back on the fast gear and the superfast pace of life here is not disrupted!!!!!!!

That's from me for now............Till next time, from slo, this is...........TALLY-HO!!!!!!