Incredible India

India perhaps hit a less incredible, low today...thanks to our political leadership, our elected representatives and some of our icons :

• Rahul Gandhi has claimed his trip to Mumbai a huge success. Surely he has won some brownie points. But travelling by train was not 'so cool'... even to the youth of Mumbai, whom he was trying to win over. ( He might have been inspired by a similar gesture of the Queen of England recently. But she was grace personified). The silent majority was unhappy with Shiv Sena's direct/indirect threat. But Rahul has not handled the issue well either. By downplaying the martyrdom of some local, popular cops, he has distanced not only the quintessential marathi manus, but also the average mumbaikar. Both resident & non-resident, son-of-the soil & migrants. While they will not accept Shiv Sena's stand, they will not be fooled by Rahul's immature response, more than words, his action. While Rahul or Shiv Sena may claim they won the battle, the hard-working, average mumbaikar is losing his battle, day after day.... with no hope of the political leadership making a difference to his quality of life. 
• Another youth icon, SRK, has not done any better. When he got the 'canvas' ( all the news-hungry channels), he used it well, by saying his daughter asked him if they may have to move out of India! Yet again, he disappointed his fans, many of who are educated and will not be swayed by his handling of the situation. It was a disgrace we did not pick up any of the T20 champs. But, as the owner of a franchise, even KKR did not pick up any. Then why the crocodile tears and all this tamasha... The average cricket lover and movie-goer feels cheated. 
• Jairam Ramesh is one of the most respected politicians. But the way he lost his cool to a passionate member of the audience, was poor leadership. 
• The way Pranabda handled an instigating Modi ( CM of 5 cr Gujarathis, as NDTV's puppet show would add !), showed our political leadership in poor light. 
• To top it all, No.1 cricket team ( among just 10 test playing nations, Bangladesh included), got off to a good start and failed to sustain momentum, in Nagpur, Maharashtra!

All this happening when common man is suffering the price rise. The threat from across the border took a new twist... the world is suffering, not only from economic slowdown, but also from the impact of climate change....people from all over the world are extending a helping hand to the Haitians to get back on their feet... But, our politicians are busy politicking...with some good help from others. INCREDIBLE !!! 

Cyclone Phyan

Cyclone Phyan ( =cherry fallen off a tree, in Burmese language!) skipped Amchi Mumbai...thank God !

Yet another 'Malthusian' way to remind us about our responsibility to our environment!

Food for thought....

PS: Tum Mile, set in Mumbai floods, due for release this week!!

Vacation... contd

India gate at Southern tip of Mumbai is beautiful, at sunrise...

Wah Taj

late evening, checked into a hotel, near Taj... The sight of the imposing structure of Hotel Taj brought back the sad memories of 26/11. All those precious lives, guests, cops, employees et al. Terrorism is the curse of our generation. The world needs a lot more positive vibrations through prayers, service and sheer spiritual love, to make it better...

Vacation, at last...

Sept 11
It was great to land at Mumbai, though on Sept 11...( a day, few years ago, the world made a paradigm shift, for the worse!)
The trip was comfortable, no sign of any extra-security at Mumbai airport. Thanks to the projects to upgrade airports in India, finally things are moving in the rifht direction.

But only for the air-travelers, and not for the common man on the street, not yet!

Sad to observe the state of our road infrastructure. On a personal level, the western express highway, for last 9 years has failed to clear the bottlenecks. While few overhead bridges for pedestrians were a welcome sign, the traffic moves at snail's pace. The bridge at ToI, Malad may enter guiness books, for the sheer delay. And at what cost !!! Central and state govts have been unfair to Mumbai by failing to provide the transport infrastructure. In spite of the spirit of mumbaikar, these gaps add to loss in productivity.

It is election time... Once again time for politicians to make empty promises. Mumbaikar's life will go on as usual, with all its inherent struggles !

At 8 AM, the city was bustling with energy. Even after 9 years since making Mumbai my home, the spirit of mumbaikar continues to inspire me. Mumbai rocks...

Hillary Clinton in India

This morning, as I was in a hurry to get my (King's) breakfast, I quickly checked out NDTV... nothing worthwhile reported on Hillary's visit.

At lunch, it was interview with Barkha. Late evening, at tea, it was again the same interview. Before, dinner, it was yet again Hillary and Barkha. Now, just like the interview with Priyanka Gandhi and some other similar scoops, NDTV will keep telecasting so often we would be able to rattle out the interview, as we used to memorise dialogues from Sholay..

I kept checking out CNN... surprisingly, they had better (!) news to cover ! Not even once I saw them reporting on Mrs Clinton visit !! Earlier Rev Jackson and now Fareed ....et al. But no India or Hillary! ! ! It is as much America's loss as it is India... While Rev Jackson quoted some depressing statistics about the plight of blacks and President Obama reiterated 'the destiny was in their own hands'... I felt, dalits in UP were lot more empowered, despite Mayawatis/Rita Bahugunas/Mulayams/Rahul babas....

Nothing concrete has yet emerged from the high-profile visit :( I hope she sets tone for some key issues: Terrorism, nuclear support, climate change, tie-up at corporate level, etc. We look up to Hillary and her President to lead the world's political leadership out of the current mess, on all fronts... !

Indian minister, Jairam Ramesh, might have raised a mini-storm by talking about 'US pressure on India', on climate change. I would rather say, we should take the initiative to show to the world, we care for our environment. We owe it to our children...

BBC Program by Mihir Bose

• program caught the essence of Amchi Mumbai ! also, very colourful shots...
• to get a share of bollywood was a good idea, being an integral part of Mumbai
• got on board independent voices of Shobha De, Ms Sanyal...
• Ms Sanyal and Deora (Jr) are the hopes of future India - young, educated, committed...category
• indeed, infrastructure of Mumbai is a big let down by all governments/establishment- local, state and national. Mumbai contributes to a substantial part of India's direct tax collections. indeed the political leadership is the sole problem, not 'execution', two reasons highlighted by MBose
• sadly, even mumbai indians, local team at IPL2 is putting up a pathetic show... an excellent proof of what Mihir said, 'inability of India's telented to collectively work for a common goal'
• some of my mumbai friends opted out of voting just because there were no inspiring candidatea and, no option of 'NONE OF THE ABOVE, on the (electronic) voting machine.

Indeed, democracy is one of the strengths of India. but we need some strong leadership at all levels, in all walks of life.

Mumbai, pls step out and vote

Sad to note the initial turn out at Mumbai is very low. Not fair :(
In spite of all efforts by celebrities, press, e-channels and others, the voter turn out is low.
It is too early in the day. But Mumbai starts the day early. For sake of elections, Mumbai should have started early and not like another holiday. May be organisations/government/etc should make it mandatory to employees to exercise their franchise!?

After all these decades of neglect, Mumbai need to stand up and take a stance.

• 70% of Mumbaikars live in slums. Slumdog Billionnaire is the immediate perception of world of Mumbai.
• The infrastructure is crumbling - no modernisation of critical transportation (incl local train), drinking water, sewage disposal, etc.
• 26/11 !

If all these will not shake Mumbaikar out of slumber, what will ?

It is question of future of Amchi Mumbai. The choice is ours...

Mumbai Terror Attack

Mumbai returning to normal, very slowly... For Mumbaikar, resident or non-resident, Mumbai will never be the same! The politicians and establishment failed the common man. An operation of this magnitude was being hatched and executed, we had no clue about it.

Robhin Sharma in his blog has prayed for Mumbai.
Indeed, that is what many of us did... could do.... out of devotion ...and also due to a sense of helplessness !

Today people, across major cities, are on the street. Holding candle and expressing their sense protest. Gandhigiri... Mumbai will not forget this easily. We need action this time...from governments and establishment

Mumbai Terror Attack

We lost some precious members of our own Mumbai and guests -the hostages, members of NSG/ATS/Mumbai police...May their souls rest in peace.

Sincere condolences to the members of the family who lost their valuable lives in this tragedy. May God give them the strength to overcome this grief.

• Like New York & London, sadly Mumbai has its own 'Sept 11'. Mumbai does not deserve it, for sure.
• Israeli expert has questioned whether our forces were too fast to 'attack' terrorists. This is in line with the the question I raised in my earlier posting, whether our action was 'professional' enough. We need to address this dispassionately
• NDTV got Shobha De on their channel to react yesterday. Now, they got Sanjana Kapoor on air. Both of them reflect the opinion of the silent majority of Mumbaikars. Prannoy Roy has assured Sanjana his channels would be with voices such as Sanjana in their efforts
• This global phenomenon needs to be handled very strongly, from a position of strength and true to the values of Indian ethos.

Mumbai Terror Attack

Mumbai burns...most shocking attacks on Amchi Mumbai by terrorists. How could they just come on boat, land at Gateway of India and launch an attack at 10 different spots in our beloved city ?

Hotel Taj, is part of most reputed & respected Tata group, is a heritage builging, a world class property, an iconic brand of India and truly Pride of India. Oberoi property is one of the best in its class, world wide. Nariman House would have always been a soft target for terrorist attack - how could the security agency not anticipate a terrorist attack there ? Where is our preparedness/intelligence/preventive measures ????

It is a collective failure of all who are responsible for the security of the city, the financial capital of India and one of the best cities in the World. While the political leaders enjoy the security of Z-category protection, the safety and security of the common man was conveniently forgotten. The reaction of the political establishment, including the televised address of PM, was pathetic!

For God's sake, don't blame Pakistan blindly. If we forgot to lock our home and a thief enters our home ... who is responsible ? Police ? It is our primary responsibility to keep the home locked and secured. Our establishment, political, police/intelligence and defence/navy/coast guard, etc., failed us for not securing our own city.

The image of the burning Taj will continue to linger in our conscience for a long time. The image of an old man helped by a cop in a deserted railway station too...

We lost some senior cops, including ATS head and also NSG Major. Was our response professional enough ?

For God's sake, let us bury our ego and take all international help possible to solve this case.

And, Mumbaikars, let us not allow the policians to sing glory of the Spirit of Mumbai and wait for us to forget and move on. We need to maintain the pressure on political leadership to act now and Mumbai gets what it deserves