We – MUMBAIKARS
Like always, on 13th July in the evening I was on my way back home riding my bike. On the way, my recently wedded wife happen to call me. As a practice I ensure that every time I start from office, I call her to tell her I have started and will take a while to get home. It is understood, I will not be able to pick up the phone. She would only call if she wants something urgently which I can pick up on the way. So I assumed, she needed something. I took a while to pull down from the busy highway to answer her call. All she asked was “Kidhar hai tu ??” I replied – “ Malad. Kya tha ??”. She said “nothing aise hi”. I was above to lose my head. I would have blasted if I would not have read my sister’s ping on my mobile messenger. She had questioned – “Are you safe ?? Am in office. “
I quickly realized something was wrong. I asked my wife again. What’s wrong. To this she replied Mumbai mein bomb blasts hue hai. But you chill. Come home and we shall talk. As we spoke I started my bike and was curious to know the places, intensity, causalities, area of blasts etc. I decided to hold on till I reach home. It took me 40 minutes to get home. I realized my phone was ringing again and again. I saw about 7 missed calls and a couple of messages. My friends, cousins and loved ones were trying to reach me just to check if I am alive and if my family is safe. Am sure most of you would have received such calls. I returned many calls confirming I am alive and so is my family and friends. Most people sounded panicked. Some were breathing a sigh of relief the moment they knew, their loved ones were safe. I got home and switched on the news channel. Heard about the incident in detail, saw snaps, heard P. Chidambram’s appeal, and heard our CM’s message to remain calm.
Well for next one hour, I was thinking to myself, Mumbai was raped once again. By now the no. of causalities reported were 21 and about 131 injured. Suddenly it struck me. I know a 1000 people and probably those 1000 know another 1000 and the chain continues. The total no. of people affected by the 3 bomb blasts put together was about 150. I thought that was probably 0.000000001% of the population of Mumbai or less. Having said that, the blasts were on my mind. We Mumbaikars have this habit of carrying emotions when it comes to Mumbai. Post dinner, caught up with a couple of friends for a smoke. Me and my best friend had a decent debate on what is required from us as citizens. We spoke about the government, politics, our aspirations, our contribution, voting etc. The debate was long and of course since we both are good at proving our points, it was a heated one. Got over in a while, probably because both of us realized others are getting bored.
Well, the day was over and we all went home to hit the bed. The next morning, my wife woke me up with a smile on her face. She looks very pretty early morning. I blushed. Well I love that smile because I know that smile indicates something special. I was inquisitive to figure out what it was. The moment I reached the living room, my sister was dancing and joyfully stating its raining so heavy and we have water logging in everywhere. No office today. I checked the view from my balcony on 7th floor. It was awesome. The roads were flooded. The sky was dark and it appeared as if the SUN was on vacation and the rain was doing overtime. It was a very pleasant atmosphere.
I was in a dilemma whether to go to office or to stay back at home and relax. I switched the TV on again just to figure out the situation of the city. I was anticipating the rains to create a mess and make Mumbai stand still. All news channels including the best ones were still busy reporting the blasts and its impact. The political view and debates. I swear I was disinterested. Had already forgotten about the incident. I was more curious to find out if others are going to office. So I called up a couple of colleagues who had not spoken to me about the blast incident. Guess what – they had forgotten too. No one asked me if my family was safe. Nor did I ask them. My best friend and me had a chat only to speak about the rains. Surprisingly, no one I spoke to have till now mentioned, enquired, discussed yesterday’s incident.
Sitting here in my office today, while I write the next few lines – I realize – we the MUMBAIKARS are use to shit. We can crib and cry about a zillion things. To mention a few, the Metro project, the monorail, the traffic, the roads, politics, potholes, appraisals, parties, salary, friends, differences etc. The list can go on and on and on. Our lives have been taken for granted from the day we decided to stay in this city. Most of us risk our life everyday – some in trains, some on roads, some while walking and some while they are at home. We all know and realize that a thief can come home and slit a loved one. We all know that a BEST driver can run over a biker and the pillion. We know a drunk driver can kill someone walking on the road. Yet, we stay here. Events and incidents happen in our lives and we FORGET. I- the Mumbaikar today admits that I forget and forgive everyone. The BMC for shit roads, the government for corruption, the RTO for traffic, the thieves for their crimes and the terrorists for their bomb blasts.
So we MUMBAIKARS are use to shit and this city has made us so careless and so useless, we fail to figure out the pain the city has received. We the MUMBAIKARS forget and move on. Probably because we don’t have a choice. This habit of ours provides such an upper hand to these BASTARDS. They know they have the right to fuck us day in and day out. We will react and we will FORGET. So we get screwed and we FORGET. For how long shall we wait? For how long shall we survive this SHIT? The day one of this incidents screw our dear one, will we wake up?? Well if you ask me maybe no. We are conditioned to be raped and somehow most of us have started enjoying it. Probably because it’s inevitable.
I want to leave each one of you with a thought. We need to draw a line somewhere, I have no clue where. But Somewhere.
