Mumbai8217;s misery

8226; I was one of those stranded on the Kalina fly-over for 24 hours from Tuesday ...

8226; I was one of those stranded on the Kalina fly-over for 24 hours from Tuesday afternoon. While the experience itself was nightmarish, I was happy and sad at the same time on two accounts. Happy because of the experience we had of human values in our great city by way of good samaritans who came, gave us biscuit packets and bananas and vanished even before we could say 8220;thanks8221;. And a small wayside tea stall operator, who served tea to all stranded persons without asking for money and refusing to do so! Seeing me struggling with my Orange mobile, a tempo driver parked behind my vehicle offered his Reliance mobile which had just one call time left in his pre-paid card! At the same time, I am sad and disgusted that when we started crawling out of the fly-over, there was absolutely no government or BMC person in sight to provide even some water nor any policeman to help in clearing the traffic. If this is the government response when a disruption due to rain occurs, I shudder to think what will happen when a major disaster God forbid, such as an earthquake, takes place.

8212; Sudarsanam Mumbai

8226; I agree wholeheartedly about the tremendous spirit of the Mumbaikar in the face of adversity. Mumbai sets the lead, yet the country as a whole has been responding time and again similarly. In the last month alone we have experienced the attack on Ayodhya, monsoon fury in Gujarat, Assam and now Mumbai, a catastrophic fire on the off-shore rig and a powerful bomb blast on a train. In spite of all this, we continue to move on and do it in style. The average Indian has repeatedly demonstrated that 8216;when the going gets tough, the tough get going8217;. In spite of our dodgy politicians, slumbering bureaucracy, corruption and poverty, it is this invincible spirit that makes me a very proud Indian.

8212; Dara Cooper Pune

8226; The blame game in Mumbai begins. The state government, the BMC, the MMRDA, the builders, and others, are blaming each other for the disaster. But, it is the corrupt corporators, MLAs, MPs, and bureaucrats who have brought this horrific situation about. They have neither basic knowledge nor education in town planning or disaster management. And to rub salt on our wounds, the PM has praised the state government for efficiently handling the disaster. The PM should be reminded that it was not disaster management but disastrous management in Mumbai.

8212; Geraldine H. Mumbai

8226; What a huge natural calamity! Totally unprecedented in the history of the city. But we Mumbaiites faced the entire challenge with grit, determination. Hats off to us! Of course, the loss of lives which were unavoidable. Still, life goes on.

8212; C.R. Ramakrishnan On e-mail

8226; While courage, patience and resilience of Mumbaikars was so evident during the deluge of the century, sadly the failure the administration was equally evident. Someone had called Manmohan Singh an 8216;invisible prime minister, it was an 8216;invisible government8217; that night! The only time we saw some traffic authority briefly was at Dadar, but soon our hopes were dashed. It was only to facilitate the passage of some VIP! Disaster plan, anyone?

8212; Ratna Magotra Mumbai