Rise from the ASHES!

While shameless politicians sink into ‘Pawar play', Mumbai resurrects like a whistle in the dark

Rupa Gulab Mumbai

I hate to break the Lashkar-e-Taiba's (LeT) pathetic apology for a heart, but facts must be faced: sorry vermin, but life hasn't come to a standstill in Mumbai - so there! People aren't cowering in their homes and hoarsely whispering, "Is it safe to go out?" Less than a week after the terrorist attacks, the city was determinedly on the move again.  

While Mumbai is resilient, it is still in mourning. In a show of touching solidarity, celebrations are sombre and muted. Eid was a low key, black arm-band affair, and Christmas and New Year celebrations promise to go the same way. Clubs, local gymkhanas and hotels have agreed to give up their money-spinning events of the year - not just because of security issues but because we're in no mood to party. If Bollywood's popular nautch girls do get their pelvic girdles into a twist on New Year's eve, it will probably be at their own parties. And this is what all Mumbaiites want Santa to deliver on Christmas (apart from peace - and bullet-proof vests and bullet-proof cars for the cops and for ourselves too!): What we really, really want are better parents. Parents who teach their children that while we may pray to different gods, we're all asking for exactly the same things for ourselves, our families and our country.

Perhaps the most reassuring story I've heard of late is about a four-year-old boy. While his family was anxiously glued to the TV screen during the siege, he firmly declared that he was not frightened of ‘silly old terrorists'. His school was shut the next two days, affording him no opportunity to prove that he really meant what he said. On the third day, schools re-opened, but, to his disappointment, he was down with the flu. Yet, he made it a point to categorically inform each and every member of his family that the only reason why he was not going to school was because he was sick, and not because he was scared of ‘silly old terrorists'! Hmm. So much more courageous than Ajmal Amir, the lone caged terrorist, who is now crying for his mummy. Really crying. Delicious! And more than willing to write the following sentence a zillion times: "I was brainwashed and misled by the nastiest, most inhuman living beings on planet earth.' Or words to that effect.

Meanwhile, Mumbai's adults are busy, busy, busy, what with work, recreation, and participating in rallies, marches and human chains in different parts of the city - a bonding exercise to reassure all of us that we have no differences with each other, and that we dislike our politicians just as much as we hate Pakistan's lovingly nurtured terrorists - perhaps even more! Some people are actively involved in citizen's groups, collecting signatures to sue media houses for leaking sensitive information during the siege. Others are creating pressure groups to throw out corrupt politicians: our newly sworn in Deputy Chief Minister, the hon'ble (snigger) Chhagan Bhujbal, heads the eject list.