It’s amazing how activity in a major city like Mumbai can be so suddenly disrupted, its people cut off from each other, within a matter of a couple of hours. The streets get flooded. Knee-deep water. The rains coming down so hard that the buildings on the other side of the road get hazy, uncertain shapes. I just can't help but imagine them.
Turn on the TV for news, and you get static. It is a wonder that life isn’t wonderful for long, so the power goes as well. People get stuck in darkness, trapped high-rise apartments, high enough to stop flood-water coming in, low enough to avoid the inevitable leaks from the roof of the building.
Mobile phone batteries run out, and the signals it receive get intermittent. Stuck planes at the airport, waiting to take off as the runway gets more and more flooded. Food packets being air-dropped. Rains lasting for more than 48 hours. Electricity supply gets switched off because of the flooding, and would not resume till the water levels got back to normal.
But still, Mumbaikars never give up. After the rains have stopped young men and children come out to frolic in the water, which was muddy and filthy. Bits of garbage float on it, and a few plastic bags. The air fills with the crying of street dogs,who ran from one corner of the street to another, trying to get to higher ground. The hour in the evening when the rain gets held up fills by the noises of excited children. Some sit on the road divider, dangling bare legs into murky water, still at the age when they enjoy the water and do not think of the dirt and disease it carries. Then the rains came down again.
The night seems unreal because it gets dark outside. Even at night they are used to little bits of light here and there: streetlights in the distance; glimmers from windows of buildings; at least stars. The only light they see, besides the candles inside and the sporadic lightning outside, is from the occasional car gliding through the water, one-third of it submerged, its headlights warning of its arrival in front of windows from a distance. The dark, still water being disturbed by first ripples and then waves of light and dark, and then the car itself, resolving no doubt to never make fun of boats again. Cars breaking down in the middle of the road, and the drivers abandoning it, leaving its indicator lights flickering all night, so people would know it was there.
Every year in Mumbai there are at least one or two days when life comes to a halt and streets are flooded. If you happen to be in office when it happens, you are invariably stuck there overnight. If are unlucky enough to be commuting, you could spend hours in whatever mode of transport you choose, though often walking makes more sense. Walking 30-40 kilometres in knee-deep water isn’t unusual. Sometimes, through chest-deep water.
Many of them slip into a manhole. Wading through thigh-deep water, people suddenly feel no ground beneath their feet, and find themselves slipping. But people behind often help others from falling. That’s one thing about Mumbai: people help each other, because they know that we’re all in it together. You look out for the guys around you, and they look out for you. It’s self-interest.
The rains stop by mid-morning, though the lights often take till evening to come. The streets no longer flooded by noon. Electricity comes back to the city in phases, and that welcome clicky sound, and the whirr of the fan starting up, coming in the evening, after more than 24 hours without power. The pictures get pretty scary: streets like rivers; thousands of cars abandoned in the highway; and everyhere, brown muddy water. The city becomes its drainage system; soon, that would go underground again, and life would be normal.
Until next year.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Zindagi bhar nahin bhoolegi...
The skies were literally black and water had seeped in the ground floors of offices all over. Something was horribly wrong. The huge, huge traffic jams, going towards the suburbs and the empty road going the other way beckoned instead.
But I'm sure many many of us have friends and relatives of ours in this beautiful place called Mumbai whom we could have chosen to stay with - had we known the situation was so bad and many more would have stayed put in their offices - again if they had an inkling they would have to spend the night in cars and buses.
But information, which is so very plentiful was just not there, this season...
Whether bureau
I agree that weather forecasting is not an exact science but our met department has such a bad record that had they actually announced "heavy rains expected" no one would even have believed them.
Still, just a simple early warning system that monitors the amount of rainfall by the hour and the flooding situation in about 10 key problem areas could easily be set up. Once the mm of rain and / or water levels rise above a particular danger level the information could be broadcasted over FM, cellular networks and TV.
Now the problem with this is there could be false alarms - logon ko ghar jaane ka bahaana mil gaya, some khadoos bosses might say. But the only other option is jaise chal raha hai - 'bhagwaan bharose' .
Excuses rain down
The most maddening part was Vilasrao Deshmukh (the then CM) coming on TV and laying all the blame on nature. What about the garbage situation? The desilting of drainage pipes - which never takes place?? Not to forget - miserable suburban town planning.
It takes less than half an hour of medium rainfall to turn the road outside Andheri station into a river of mock amazonian proportion...
Travelling to and fro - even on 'normal' days - is often a nightmare. It really doesn't take much for the whole system to collapse!
The Eternal divide
Restaurants were packed but otherwise things were normal in south Bombay. How, and why? Midday asked the question on many people's minds: Why did city float while suburbs sank?
The rains erased all class and economic differences. But the difference between south Mumbai and the suburbs remained stark.
While people from the suburbs were stranded or had to walk for hours to get home, for the lucky south Mumbai lot, home was only a short cab ride away. Why?
Of the many explanations given, the one which was most disturbing but at least partially true: The real reason is that the BMC and other agencies cannot afford to have the ministers and high-profile people living in south Mumbai inconvenienced.
Update, Jul 29, 2005: South Bombay received only 73.4 mm of rain so maybe all this analysis is crap - townies were simply lucky!
As reports poured in...
Star News had the most dedicated coverage, I thought, while NDTV scored a coup by pressing Gautam Singhania's helicopter into service to give aerial shots of affected areas.
Makes you wonder, given the competition between news channels, will a fleet of helicopters become as integral to Indian TV stations as OB vans are currently? That is, after all, the American way...
But getting back to the coverage, more than TV, the FM stations provided vital information and connections between people trying to reach each other. Because they had more 'micro' and more frequently updated information about the situation in specific areas - not just the broad picture. As a local medium rightly should.
FM also ruled because there was no electricity in large parts of the city. And with the mobile networks down, about the only useful thing one could do with the handset was tune into the radio!
Wonder though how many cells suffered 'death' by drowning... Despite 'waterproof' covers : )
No doubt, there should be early warning systems and there should be better forecasts. But cribbing about it is the easier way out, isn't it? Like most mumbaikars, waded thru the rainwater. Vileparle to Bandra and then Dadar west to Five gardens, to be exact. But what touched me was the impromptu help groups that were formed, out to help others.
Yes, our Government is extremely reactive and it needs to change, but why harp on the obvious? My point: we need to highlight the great work done by the ordinary people. They are the ones who make Mumbai what it is. Most mainstream media overlook the good news and highlight the bad, doing nothing to improve the situation. If there has to be bias (and I guess one can't remove it) I'd rather that it's on a positive side.
As for the systems, railways were up quickly, electricity was cut down to prevent electrocutions, FM was doing a wonderful job. So, there was method in the madness.
Also, statements like "it does't take much for the systems to collapse" are not really true. If you want to see a systems collapse, please make your way to Bangalore. But then, expectation is like amoeba growing exponentially with time, and wait increases expectations.
The biggest point of disagreement that I'd have is thing about the lack of a crisis situation in South Mumbai. But c'mon is it really the well maintained drainage system? Narayan's Rane's photographs that had recently moved from Sena posters to Congress', Cuff Parade suede buildings or their sueder inhabitants, that it did not flood in South Bombay because I do believe that more rain means more damage/chaos/helplessness versus less rains, all things remaining the same. It rained only 73mm in South Bombay, and 994mm in the suburbs. That's like 13 TIMES less. Who would you blame, the BMC worker fed on South Bombay money?
On an unrelated note, my deepest respect goes to people who helped others in the time of distress. And to those who survived to tell the tale:
The Day After
Yes, Mumbaikars were 'bouncing back' - but what choice is there? Mass emigration to Canada??
The newspapers are full of the Mumbaikar's 'never say die' spirit but as Amitabhji once said in that famous song from Mr Natwarlal : "Yeh jeena bhi koi jeena hai, lallu?"
There just may be some hope with younger politicians like Milind Deora at least having the guts to admit - on national television - that something is wrong.
But he is merely a Member of Parliament. Not a BMC worker...
Kuch ghaas nahin
As a compulsive tryer-of-new-things, I could not resist. So I forked out 25 bucks for the 'super juice that is a concentration of essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and cholorophyll'.
Well, it's 'fresh' - that's for sure. They uproot the grass growing in a box right in front of you. Then they wash it and plonk it into a mixer. Voila - wheatgrass juice ready for consumption.
How does it taste? Slightly sweeter than you'd expect but vile nevertheless. Luckily, you only get a small 'shot' of it in a cup which looks like it's stolen from a kiddie kitchen set.
Curious to know more about the 'health benefits', I did a net search. There are many who swear by its efficacy but some have expressed doubts - and I lean towards that school of thought.
Unfortunately there’s little scientific evidence that juiced wheatgrass provides these benefits. And while it may be a good way of getting a limited amount of a whole range of nutrients, it’s certainly not a direct substitute for a kilo of veggies. Plus, if it’s extracted juice, there’s no fibre in it.
On the other hand it’s probably harmless, and makes an interesting alternative to a coffee or Coke — as long as you can bear the taste!
Here's an even more bizarre piece of information. The idea that wheatgrass can benefit serious disease sufferers was conceived by one Ann Wigmore.
Claims are that the juice "cleanses" the body, neutralizes toxins, slows the aging process, and prevents cancer.
Wigmore's theory on the healing power of grasses was predicated upon the Biblical story of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar who spent seven years, insane, living like a wild animal eating the grass of the fields. Because he recovered, Wigmore theorized that the grasses had cured his insanity. The common observation that dogs and cats nibble on grass, presumably when they feel ill, also strengthened Wigmore's belief in the healing power of grasses.
The fact that grass-eating animals are not spared from cancer, despite their large intake of fresh chlorophyll, seems to have been lost on Wigmore. In fact, chlorophyll cannot "detoxify the body" since it is not absorbed.
In 1988, the Massachusetts Attorney General sued Wigmore for claiming that her "energy enzyme soup" could cure AIDS. In fact, when challenged legally, Wigmore backed away from healing claims stating that she merely had an "educational program" to teach people how to "cleanse" their bodies and make vegetable juices.
Moral of the story: You won't get a high of any sort on this grass! Just eat your green leafy veggies at home and dig into the junk food at the mall once in a while and you'll be OK.
After all human beings weren't designed to eat chaara. With the exception of the honourable Laloo Prasad Yadav...
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