True Spirit

26th July 2005 – Mumbai, the financial capital of India was hit by a cyclone and the city witnessed almost 944mm of rainfall in less than 24 hours. The city has suffered serious damage both in life and property; army has been called upon for help. Normalcy will take time.

But what makes me write this blog, it’s the true spirit of Mumbai that the world always talked about and yesterday I witnessed it myself.

A time of disaster in India means extra moneymaking time for the corrupt and taking sadist advantage of the situation, but Mumbai witnessed heroes rise.

The rains was so severe that the Local trains stopped (the heart of Mumbai travel), busses stopped, taxis and auto stopped and most of the personal vehicles lay stranded in more than 10s of kilometers of jam. More than 100 of thousands of people took the roads on foot with more than 4 feet of water.

My office is 32 kilometers from my home and it took me 2 auto rickshaws, 1 taxi ride, 2 truck rides and a 10 km walk to reach home in more than 5 hours. But I consider myself lucky as some had to suffer more.

What failed?

Government failed miserably, I would say India should again go back to the status of under developed country. Mumbai had no disaster management service. People lay stranded for more than 36 hours, 1000s become homeless, 100s died and only thing that one got to hear in media was -

Police blames municipal corporation, municipal corporation blames the fire brigade department, fire brigade department blamed it on the Navy and the cost guard, they in turn blamed it on the failure of the mobile networks.

So you can see this is what we are best at, I am sorry not the people, let me rephrase this

“So you can see this is what are MINISTERS and LEADERS are good at, eating away the money and at time of questioning blame it on each other”. It’s so sad.

What did not fail and will never ever fail?

It’s the people. No one was there except the people and citizens of Mumbai for each other. Shopkeepers served tea and gave free food to the stranded; truck drivers and taxis gave free rides to people, travelers held each other and became support for one another. The true spirit of Mumbai and its people filled up the air.

I will never ever in my life will forget this day, as this day I realized the country is not of its leaders but of its people, a company is not of its bosses but of its employees and instead of me wasting time cursing our corrupt leaders, I should utilize it by helping the needy and praising the Heroes, praising all those unknown faces who came to the rescue with a single motive of serving humanity, god bless them all.