The Spirit of Mumbai???

Every time a calamity occurs in Mumbai, as it did yesterday in the multiple bomb blasts, the first reaction that we hear is the “spirit of Mumbai” or specifically “the spirit of Mumbaikars”…..everybody and everyone keeps repeating it….its an ambiguous praise, I feel and here’s why….

True as it obviously is, its time we and the Mumbaikars ask the question as to why they have to be tested so severely so often and why is it that the city unites in solidarity when there is a calamity (a more or less natural human instinct) but that same solidarity is seldom to be seen when there are activists trying to fight off land mafias who are depleting the mangroves that are the natural sponges of the city or when there are citizens trying to fight the communal parties who vitiate the social fabric of the city….maybe because the consequences are not immediately palpable but then, these are very factors which gives cause for Mumbai to show its “spirit”….

Every time we see the images of destruction and hears tales of heroism and of people helping each other, we say proudly, that is how a city must be…shouldn’t we stop and think if we really mean it? Gujarat showed solidarity cutting across religious barriers during the January 26 earthquake and one year later they were cutting each other’s throats….maybe the spirit of Mumbai is much more evident because the city is under siege so often….the question to be asked is, would we prefer this show of “Mumbaikars” spirit so often or prefer a city which does not have to undergo loss of life to show this spirit….

Your call….