Saturday, November 17, 2012

A Different Obituary

Mumbai, Nov 17, 2012

I had a tough time reaching home from the airport tonight. When I finally found an auto, I met a person who said he had an emergency at the hospital and requested to go instead. Probably was lying, but I obliged. Cabbies if any, were charging a bomb. I spoke to a policeman who said he can't guarantee the safety of the cabbies. Also as gas stations are closed, they may be short of fuel. Enough excuses to over charge and leave the commuters to their misery.

But I did reach home today, at least today. But as I passed today's empty streets created by different stories of sorrow, fear and avarice, I thought to myself, that this is the city where we build our home. A place where there is a rule above the rule of law. A place where the needs of many can be held hostage by the whims of the few. A place where the virtues of honesty and compassion are replaced by the desperation of survival, just like rodents learning to gorge on each other in deprived times.

We long remembered this as the financial capital, the city of dreams. Well, the financial capital of all Asia till 50 years back, seems to have quietly changed currencies and this fabled city of dreams is perhaps chasing a different dream. And on the pyres of what once was, we as Mumbai, wrote a different obituary today. RIP.