A V Rajwade: Salaam, Bombay

WORLD MONEY

Once in 1993, and now, the city's true spirit has come through

I have been a Mumbaikar for more than four decades now "" and felt so proud of my city and its residents the previous Tuesday (July 26) when record heavy rains (900 mm plus), coinciding with high tide, brought all public transport and vehicle traffic to a halt by 3.30 pm.

And, this in a city in which millions, half of them women, young and old, are dependent on public transport to take them to their homes, often 20, 30 and more kilometres away. It took me eight hours to travel from Lower Parel to Vile Parle "" five of them in three cars abandoned on the way, and three on foot, often in waist deep water.

But what I witnessed on the way is a tribute to the spirit, the generosity, indeed the stoicism of my fellow Mumbaikars "" often branded as money-minded, cynical, commercial and self-centred.

It took me two hours in my car to reach near Mahim, when a tree fell and the road was blocked. I could not turn back because of bumper-to-bumper traffic "" and the road divider. Another tree, under which my car had stopped, was creaking and in danger of falling. By then, the engine had stopped and would not restart.

Just as I was wondering whether to abandon the car in the middle of the road, half a dozen neighbourhood boys, Mumbai's taporis, made famous by Bollywood, came and offered to push/lift the car over the road divider, beyond the fallen tree and in a nearby lane.

They did not even quote a price, and pocketed whatever tip I gave without even looking at it, rushing away, no doubt to help other stranded motorists. Thank you, Good Samaritans!

I abandoned the car in the lane, and came out. A private taxi took pity and stopped to enquire where I wished to go. I told him. The taxi was empty and the driver obviously knew he could make thousands "" and had an unimpeachable reason for not turning out for his contracted fare.

But he refused, saying that he has to pick up his usual call centre employee from Sion, but that I was welcome to come in the taxi to anywhere on the way. (With even taxi drivers knowing the importance of call centre commitments, no wonder BPOs worked without a hitch through the crisis!).

I accepted the offer and in the next 45 minutes we traveled barely a couple of hundred metres. Then, very luckily, I saw a friend and neighbour in his car. I thanked the taxi driver, tipped him and joined my friend in the car.

Two hours and a couple of kilometres later, we were forced to abandon that car too on the road "" the car stopped, and, in any case, the traffic was not moving. We decided to walk from just before the Western Express Highway to Vile Parle.

It took us three hours in pouring rain, through thousands of stranded cars, two wheelers and riskshaws "" and an endless stream of Mumbaikars walking in the dark (power had been cut off in most suburbs), wading through often waist-high water flowing with great force. Each step required an effort. The highway was so jam-packed with people and stranded vehicles that it was not possible even to open umbrellas!

But the spirit of Mumbaikars shone through "" there was good humour, laughter and singing, not even one instance of lost temper. Many, who had walked long distance and hours, were tired and sitting stoically on the road dividers, men and women, young and older, even some children "" singing bhajans, chatting, shouting "chai garram"!

Volunteers were cautioning the pedestrians against underwater and unseen ditches, guiding them to the best part of the road to walk on, offering tea, biscuits, even milk for children.

Wednesday morning I took a stroll in my suburb. It was still raining, though not as heavily. Tea stalls were doing brisk business. Others were selling bread and milk, that too at standard prices "" but rationing them at one pack per person. One stall was even selling attachments to recharge cellphone batteries in cars ""clearly, the Mubaikar's famed enterprise was alive and kicking.

This was the second experience in recent history "" the first was at the time of the bomb blasts in 1993 "" of witnessing the spirit, the resilience, the helping tendency, the stoicism of the average Mumbaikar "" as admirable as his London counterpart displayed on 7/7.

Subsequently, there has been a lot of criticism of the absence of public services and disaster management efforts by the authorities. To be sure, there were great individual efforts by municipal employees, policemen and so on. But any kind of organised effort was not in evidence. But more on private and public services in a later article.

Email: avrco@vsnl.com