Mumbai meri jaan

Whenever India's premier metropolis takes a hit, all those who live here get into sentimental over-drive as maudl-in emotions push logic into a distant corner. We come through assorted cri-ses, and start singing our own praises. Saluting the spirit of Mumbai, rhapsodising over its resilience. I'm guilty of this myself. As I watched Mumbai stea-dily getting submerged in the merciless rain, I realised that the only way we could survive the catastrophe was to lull ourselves into believing that Mumbaikars are somehow unique and different...Look at us, we boasted, admire our survival instincts, our humanity and bravery. Guys, aren't we amazing?
On many levels, Mumbaikars are truly amazing. Not because we are wired in some special way. Nor because we are genetically programmed to cope with disasters differently. It's because, we really have no choice. It's that, or doom. Self-reliance is our only hope. For, if we don't help each other, no one else will. I say this, not in the voice of a victim or martyr. Rather, I speak from the bottom of my heart. Powerlessness and vulnerability in the face of impending disaster, often throw up unlikely heroes. If today, the rest of India is waking up to stories of courage and sacrifice from this city, it is only because of one pathetic reason ��� there was nobody to take charge, assume responsibility and save us. That is the bitter truth.
Rage has replaced panic, now that Mumbai is gradually getting its groove back. Frankly, I don't see the point of all those PIL's being filed by angry citizens demanding accountability. Successive governments have let Mumbai down. Everybody knows the nexus between avaricious builders and politicians, but nobody wants to take names. The erratic and arbitrary "development" has not taken place overnight. It's been going on for decades. Mumbaikars watched mutely as the underworld muscled its way into the city's innards. Even as we choke through water levels that have flattened the rich and poor alike, nobody really wants to get at the bottom of this tragedy.
It's fine to talk about Disaster Management Plans and Contingency Blueprints, but even the best measures will cease to be effective if all of us continue to exist in collective denial, and pretend we have not surrendered our existence to some shadowy figures operating from outside our shores. It's they who are holding us to ransom. What sort of a disaster plan do we have in place to fight them? Which is why we watch terrific but essentially escapist films like Sarkar and feel childishly vindicated. Never mind if Sarkar is sending out a terrifying message: "If you want rough and ready justice, forget the cops and the courts, just find the local godfather and fall at his feet." We feel pained in Viruddh and come out saying, "In his place, I would have done the same thing." Sure. Like it's so easy to acquire a gun from an obliging goonda, walk into the swanky office of a powerful politician's murderer-son, and shoot the man dead . Absurd solutions, but we live in equally absurd times.
Meanwhile, Mumbaikars will continue to console themselves with stories of how bravely Mrs Dandekar tackled waist-deep, gutter water to walk 20 kms where her baby was crying in a sinking creche. Or how Mr Mehta swam across a snake-filled nullah to rescue a bunch of school kids on a crumbling mud-bank. These are just two inspiring stories. There are hundreds of other equally uplifting accounts of super-human bravery. That is the Essential Mumbaikar ��� a near-mythological creature, able to defy nature, capable of overcoming any adversity. We are living in a virtual world. If only the villains were virtual. May the force be with us.