Mumbai is always praised for its so called 'spirit'. which i fail to understand. it is said that how remarkable it is, that after suffering from heavy rains, bomb blasts, train accidents.... and several like incidents, the city is back to its normal life so quickly. I beg to differ. how can a person who lost his dear ones today be normal and back to his routine life tommorow. how can a person who lost his body parts in the accident be back to his normal life a day after. What happens is, people who remain unaffected by the tragedy return back to their 'normal' life. They see the sufferings, feel the pain ( i am really not sure about this ) , thank god that it did not happen to them and return back to their daily routines with the 'remarkable spirit'. And thanks to the media.... they come on television and give their speech... which is something like " we have faced the agony of life, but we have moved on". Is that reality? can a widow mother who lost his only child 'move on' a day after... can a man who is the only bread winner of his family, who lost his legs/hands 'move on' a day after.....can a shopkeeper whose life-time earnings got drowned in floods 'move on' a day after.
I agree that one has to move on. but its not so simple as its projected. When there is a wound in your palm, your hand is stif for some time.... it gets normal after a while, but its the palm which takes time to become normal.... the time which that wound takes to heal. Only after that you can say that you have moved on. Yes... you can not keep thinking of what happened, you have to move on eventually.... but it takes a finite time. Untill then, help the affected people to get back to their life.... don't rub salt into their wounds by saying that they have 'moved on'. Untill then... this so called 'spirit' is not remarkable, its 'insensitiveness' of mumbai.... sorry but thats the truth.
3 comments:
I fully agree.
you know there is a comuniti in orkut namd Salam mumbai, I posted the same views there but noone ever replied to me.
I am from Mumbai, and i agree with your views. The people who are affected by the incidences cannot move on the very next day.
But at the same time, i disagree with you on one point. You cannot call the unaffected people "insensitive". They have the courage to face up with the world the next day, inspite of knowing that it could be their turn next. They travel in the same blasted bus every day, and catch the same train to work which was torn into pieces.
It is not that they dont feel for the victims. Most of the victims are people who are closely associated with them - friends, classmates, neighbours, relatives, teachers- as these incidences literally happen in the neighourhood. But, it is nothing that the unaffected people can do, except learn to value life and relationships more and "move on".
when i commented about the in sensitiveness, it has to be taken with a pinch of salt. It may seem a bit far-fetched.
I agree with your point, that moving on is the best possible option and people do that. But as i said, it takes some time if you are hurt badly.
What i wanted to say is ... yes, majority of people do feel for the victims, but if they are not directly affected by the tragedy, its easy for them to move on. But its extremely difficult if you are the one who have lost something really significant.
I will try to summaries..... "people who are affected by the tragedy and people who 'move on' immediately are not the same groups, but our media tries to project as if they are the same."
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