before i let it go
“we are going to work in spite of floods, riots and blasts. to sit at home and tremble is not the mumbai way. if you have to die, it is better to die on your feet than in your bed.” -mumbaikar quoted in The Week
but, do mumbaikars have to die?
over the course of one week in july, mumbai endured a severe beating. first, the monsoon and its flooding, waste-deep waters. 250 dead. second, shiv sena riots that ground city business to a halt. finally, train bombings that killed over 200 people and injured 700.
since that time, commentators, politicians, citizens have been quick to talk about “maximum” resilience, determination, resolve in this town. mumbaikars are back on the trains. the bse sensex surged to new heights just one day after the blasts. i’ve read many personal accounts of heroism, of muslims helping hindus, poor carrying wealthy. indeed, mumbai presses on.
it is hard for me to imagine a non-resilient city, one that would not come together in the face of tragedy. new york, madrid, london - all cities that healed (or perhaps simply covered) deep terrorist wounds. there are psychological and economic concerns. from an emotional perspective, fear, anger, sadness, resolve form a complex roadmap for action and response in the face of adversity. then simple economics come into play. how to make a living? how to stay afloat?
in the case of mumbai, it seems that few options other than a return to routine are available. half of the city’s residents live in slums and survive on daily wages. taking a day off is not an option. even the middle class relies heavily on the trains to get to and from work. the city continues because it must. resolve or necessity? this is a complex question that is perhaps not so unique to mumbai… the few indians (i admit to knowing few remotely well) with whom i have spoken seem to have moved on, to have blocked out whatever emotions the bombings caused. “these things happen.” does this fatalistic attitude spring from strength or just hardened, resigned acceptance of unfortunate reality? maybe both? i’m sure i will never know.
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Jason: It appears your education has gone beyond typical boundaries and to another level. Thanks for your uniques perspective on life in another country. You’ve a great site and insights. Be safe.
Gary
Dear Jasonito:
How long were you going to keep your weblog hidden? Thanks to Kristen now I know about this, thus, knowing a few more things about your life in Mumbai, and about you in general. I just read your comment “Before I let it go”, and I wanted to share a few thoughts with you.
I have realized that we, Peruvians, for some reason don’t talk that much about our lives during the terrorism years, which went from the early 80s to mid-90s. Considering that more than 60,000 people died, sometimes I feel we are never going to get an exact idea of how terrible and painful it was for us, or how it has deeply affected us as a country, as a society. Yet, we moved on. During and after. Was it “maximum” resilience? Determination? Resolve of our big town? Yes, but I think that it is also part of our human nature (And I don’t talk about Peruvians here, but humanity). We don’t give up to sadness or fear. We either die trying or we just keep trying. I looked too at NY, Madrid, London, Mumbai, but I also look at the countries affected by the tsunami a couple of years ago, or I look at Palestine, Irak, Europe after WWII, or I even look at societies that were morally destroyed by corrupt dictatorships in the last decades: all of them recovered and learnt how to live and deal with their anger or frustration or fear.
I was a young kid when we started having curfews in Peru. Nobody was allowed to be driving between 9pm and 4am. So parties and dancing went from 8pm to 6am, and everybody had to stay in. Every time I went to visit a friend at his/her house, instinctively, I would always make sure that the windows had tape on them making a + or a X shape, so that if there was a bomb, the glass would not explode all over us. At school, we would have once a month emergency drills in case there were terrorist attacks, and our instructors always reminded us that in case of an explosion, we had to open our mouth and not cover our ears, so that we wouldn’t end up with ear or brain damage; a few minutes later, everything back to normal and to our algebra classes. For New Year’s Eve parties, my friends and I would always look for parties in places where they had their own generator, their own source of energy just in case, because it was 99% sure that a terrorist attack on the outskirts of Lima was going to cause a general blackout exactly at midnight. And total darkness, my friend, was a very powerful symbol for the Shining Path; it meant: you are losing, we are winning. So our society had to face the dilemma, paraphrasing your quote: either stay in bed, or get on our feet; either be paralyzed by fear, or just keep living our lives; we always chose the latter. And I think this is very intrinsic of the human race, and what keeps us moving forward and not disappearing.
Un abrazo,
Jorge
JLove! What’s Up My Indian Brotha! It’s good to see you are passionately pursuing knowledge and challenging yourself to learn more about some of the misfortunate aspects of the world we live in. This is only the beginning for you as I predicted several years ago. Keep stretching yourself and your boundaries. Here’s the link to the site of a professor I had at SDSU that has done some work in the areas of :Ethnic Violence,Collective,Action Policy Analysis & Quantitative Analysis. http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/dgupta/ You might find some of his work interesting and revelant to your travels.
Tell the wife I said hello and I’ll be waiting on some of your lastest music reviews.
Stay strong and safe.
Peace