Random Musings

The lilting voice of Jagjit Singh, singing this beautiful song, “Woh Kaagaz Ki Kashti, Woh Baarish Ka Pani” had the power to generate goosebumps for one and all, who have left childhood behind, in life.

For today’s children, who will become adults tomorrow, will this song have a relevance?

Disasters come and go. Sometimes soon, sometimes a little later, life resumes to normalcy. Whether it was Indira Gandhi’s assasination, the Babri Masjid demolition, the Mumbai bombings, 9/11, the Bhuj earthquake, Tsunami or whatever.. beyond a point in time, life returns to normalcy. Sure, for some people who are directly impacted, life would never be the same ever again. But for most others, it would be one tough event, which came and went.

But for all the normalcy that we claim to resume to, there are scars that are left, and which last for a long, long time, if not forever. The scars burn and pain a lot in the near term, but they continue to irritate us, for much longer.

In the present situation, what Mumbaikars have seen is:
1. Water levels can rise up to dramatic heights, unseen before, and the rise can happen very quickly, in a matter of minutes, so to say,

2. Water levels can rise in locations earlier known to be “safe”,

3. Water has a force which can be felt not just in the Andaman Islands during a Tsunami strike, but also at the walls and trees of Mumbai, when rain Gods lash,

4. Children may not be safe in school buses, adults in cars, and everyone in local trains

5. The date of 26th of a month can be more dreadful than Friday the 13th

When all and other situations of this kind happen simultaneously, as they did on the dreaded 26/7, a HUGE fear psychosis sets in, and that can be the scar that is left in our heads, post-26/7. So in the future:

a. When a child’s bus is delayed on an average day, and its drizzling outside, the worst fears will come to the mind,

b. When there is some water logging, sitting in the car, we will want to keep our auto car locks “unlocked”,

c. Slight heavy rains (as on Monday, 1st Aug), and everyone will think whether its worthwhile to step out of home at all; schools and colleges may be trigger happy to declare holidays, especially those which have seen the worst of the brunt of 26/7,

d. Ground floor flats will be available at a discount, basements will go on distress sales, and even 1st floor levels will be hard to sell for builders; the premium for floor rise will increase to compensate,

e. When the calendar comes in, in the month of December, people will use a red marker pen, to mark out the 26th of each month, along with any Friday the 13th, that they can see in there; dates to stay at home, if possible, dates to be extra-careful about,

and

f. Parents will admonish a child wanting to go and play with her paper boats, in the rain water. “Stay at home, and watch some TV, or play on your computer games” is what they will tell the child.

Which is why I ask at the beginning, whether the children of today will ever look back and feel nostalgic when they hear Jagjit Singh’s “Woh Kaagaz Ki Kashti, Woh Baarish Ka Pani”…

Many disasters happen in India – bombings, floods, riots, and what not.
But they don’t happen in Mumbai.

Sometimes some events happen in Mumbai also – like the bombings in Ghatkopar, or at the Gateway of India.
But these were isolated, one off location events in the city.

It could easily have been thus, even with the rains. There could have been equally devastating floods in Konkan and Raigad, there could have even been some problems in the city too, like floods in Kalyan or Dombivili or something.
But if they had skipped the rest of the city, then….

1. The city would have continued like nothing happened. And they would have talked about the ‘spirit of Mumbai’ and how the citizens continued, inspite of the floods in Kalyan and Dombivili..

2. As commuters trudged into the city in the morning locals, they would have talked about some colleagues who suffered in Mumbai, and chuckled in sympathy. And then gone ahead and changed the topic to Narayan Rane joining Congress, or how there is no Mumbai boy has made it to the Indian cricket team..

3. The floods in Raigad would have featured on page 1 of the morning daily, with a photograph and some smart headline (“Citizens’ vacations to Goa suffer as Konkan Railway goes down once again”); but the page one space would have been shared with other stories like the injury to Ayesha Takia on her film set, or the latest MMS featuring Rakhi Sawant…

4. The sensex would have penetrated the 8000 level by now; under the present circumstances, with Mumbai underwater, the sensex has kept going up, but if Mumbai had been spared, it would have raced faster..

5. Many of us would have planned an evening together, to watch the inconsequential, one-sided cricket game between two depleted sides, on Sunday, just to watch India win after a long time, against West Indies. And we would have arranged cocktail snacks to go with our drinks, as we enjoyed the game. But in the break between innings, we would have also discussed the floods in Kalyan, and how our material cannot be received from there, and how we have two staff members who are unable to attend for last 3 days… along with our analysis of Harbhajan’s looping delivery, and whether Laxman is really injured..

6. There would have been a rush to the multiplexes to see the actual product behind the beautiful sepia promos of “Yahaan”, as it released on Friday..

7. Some os us would have planned a drive to Bushy Dam in Lonavala, followed by a brunch at Fariyas, as ‘finally there are some rains in Mumbai’….

But for once, the rains did not just skirt Mumbai. They came in big and strong.