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Here’s my brother’s perspective on the recent flooding in Mumbai. Interesting reading, I’d be curious to hear your comments.

Mother Nature, it is said, is the great equalizer.  Human achievement, wealth, and society pales in the face of her fury, for she is at the controls; with either too much of water, our lifeblood, or a lack of it, civilizations that have taken thousands of years for us to construct live or die.

This axiom proved itself in Mumbai last week, as all strata in this class-conscious society were affected by the floods. Slum-dwellers and millionaires saw the water wash away their belongings; water seeped into the bungalows of famous film stars, forcing them out on the streets with the rest of this teeming metropolis. Not even the chief minister of Maharashtra, the state of which Mumbai is the capital, had electricity or running water in his house (and had to be evacuated by the Indian navy).

Mother India has had the misfortune to have a double dose of nature’s fury in the last year; once in December 2004 during the tsunami calamity, and again last week when the clouds above Mumbai burst forth, pouring an unimaginable 36 inches of rain into antiquated 150-year old drainage system in the span of 24 hours. Three feet of water in 24 hours. In Houston, when it pours all day, we used to get maybe five to six inches of rain in a day – and that would be the worst day in a year. This was the highest recorded rainfall ever in India and the brunt of it fell on the country’s economic engine.

The water proved to be worse than any other beast nature could have dreamed up and more adept at spotting the weaknesses of humankind. It seeped through car windows and doors, causing people to drown while stuck in traffic jams; burst forth from rivers, raising water levels in instants; leaked through roofs, permanently tarnishing cherished belongings. Last week was a sobering week for all us who are related in someway to Mumbai, for it was a chilling reminder of minuteness of human aspiration in the face of nature’s abilities. This is a city which was dreaming of becoming the next Shanghai or Dubai; which aspired to be the financial and commercial hub of a country that is quickly arriving on the international scene. Over forty-eight hours, it was transformed into the watery grave of a thousand souls and the source of misery for the millions they left behind. Food packets had to be air-dropped into districts to stave off hunger; some clamored on top of trucks to stay above the torrent, while others waded through neck-high waters, passing floating carcasses, to get home.

On a personal level, I was far less affected than most Mumbaikars (as residents of Mumbai are referred to) since I was on a field visit in the northwest state of Rajasthan most of last week.  My colleagues however were forced to spend 36 hours in the office, unable to get home to anxious family and friends. Cellphone networks were down, air, train and bus links completely shut. The city was brought to a complete standstill, perhaps giving us all pause to reflect on the frailty of our humanity and the fallacy of our priorities. We concentrate on earning more money, producing more efficiently, creating greater value, in an endless pursuit of what we have deemed to be success. In doing so, have we left behind the most basic learnings that humans of centuries ago have taught us? Learnings, for example, which focus on sustainable building, flood planning, and drainage systems? Is life so cheap that apartments, shops and offices must be built anywhere at any cost, for that is what constitutes development?

In the aftermath of the monsoons the fingers have dried out and started to point. It’s the municipal corporation, some say, they should have enforced existing city regulations. It’s the emergency services, others say, where were they when we needed them the most? But I say it’s all of us. We are the ones who want the new roads, shopping malls, luxurious flats and office complexes. We are the ones who put pressure on the government to let go of environmental regulations which curtail the city’s growth. We are all at fault for losing our place in the ecosystem that is our universe. As humans, we have an incredible tendency to move forward and forget that foundations our civilizations were built on. Perhaps mother nature is reminding us of the fundamental need to respect our surroundings and rethink our definition of progress.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 8th, 2005 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.