The Spirit of Mumbai

The term 'Spirit of Mumbai' is coined by the media. However, the enthusiasm and the will to stand-by each other is often looked at as some sort of helplessness. To which I strongly disagree.

No one tells Mumbaikars to be nice to each other in times of distress, that is just the way the city functions. If people admire it and can make an example out of it, good. If not, I don't see a point in pissing on the ones who admire the goodness in this awfully busy city in which no one has time to even see each others face otherwise.

I was very infuriated by the situation, not just of flooding but also of broken roads. However, the good people living in affected areas started serving tea and biscuits in knee deep water. They were there in the rain serving strangers without asking anything in return. They were not members of any social organisation or NGO, they were just citizen. They could have stayed home. I heard that almost every temple, masjid and Gurudwara in the city were providing shelter, food and water and people were opening their doors to let strangers in. It's not like they are idiots or they don't know the risk, but they still did it. For me, that speaks volume for the so called 'Spirit of Mumbai'.

Of course the city has an unplanned infra, the trains certainly broke down and people were stranded and guess what? Mumbai doesn't want the world to tell it that it's administration is responsible for it. It wouldn't be the financial capital which it is, if it did not know the ground reality.

The so called 'spirit of Mumbai' does not tell Mumbaikars to overlook the reasons that led us to the situation, it is the way the city copes with the situation at hand. Blaming the administration and finding a better replacement can be done after everyone has reached home safely.