Mumbai Monsoon Madness 2012 Begins
A couple of weeks or so ago on the day that I was leaving India to go home for a short visit, it started raining cats and dogs in Mumbai. The timing was right so I figured that the monsoon season of 2012 had officially begun that day.
But during the two week period that I was away, whenever I called the office or my driver in Mumbai to check up on things, I would ask – is it raining? and the answer was always: No. Puzzling!
Then, I returned. On the day of my return, and for a few days after that, guess what? Rain, pouring rain, and more rain! I guess I’m good for something in Mumbai. 😉
But can someone who is more at home here enlighten me please, about the Mumbai-monsoon chaos? The season itself is remarkably regular, like clockwork almost, give or take a few days. Every year, Mumbai monsoon arrives in June and it rains relentlessly for four months. Every year. (And I assume it has been this way for…centuries).
So, how come Mumbai and Mumbaikars are surprised and overwhelmed by it every, single darn year?
How come Mumbai is always caught unprepared for the rain?
Resulting in its people being forced to endure this way of life –
- crawling vehicles for miles on end (my usual 15 minute commute is now taking an hour or more)
- traffic jams so bad – the likes of which you never see in the dry season (even as bad as those are)
- water logged streets (in the same damn places every year!)
- potholes
- more potholes
- many, many more potholes!
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[To get some relief from this, the only advice I can come up with for the frustrated and stymied commuter is don’t look down. Look up instead, so you can admire the beauty of Mother Nature – the rain, the clouds and the bright green, clean leaves].
You would think that after centuries…or even decades…of being super acquainted with the arrival and challenges of this season, there would be some level of preparedness by the city authorities! This is not rocket science after all.
But noooooooo….
Instead it’s time for Mumbai to be ‘surprised’ by the monsoon yet again this year. (And year after year after year…).
Worse still, why and how do the hard-working, tax-paying citizens of Mumbai put up with this s**t? Other than some bashing by mainstream media, I have not seen much from people beyond general head-shaking and muttering about inconveniences. Where is the collective anger and outrage? Where are the riots and revolts? Why are people so accepting and passive about what amounts to government malfeasance that occurs year after year?
I can hear you now…I’m just a short-timer and expat, what do I know?
Well, I guess it’s just time to shut up and endure another installment in the long-living saga – welcome to the 2012 edition of Mumbai Monsoon Madness.
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Shifting Gears
Enough about that. How about getting some relief from all this pothole-talk…
Just sit back, relax, get in a different kind of Mumbai monsoon mood, forget about all that chaos I described (I want to!) and enjoy this brilliant music (thanks Eurythmics). I mean it. Really enjoy!
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In case Bollywood is more your cuppa tea and only it can put you in the right frame of mind to savor this season, here’s one for you too. Carefully selected, it’s a vintage monsoon melody, with the backdrop of the city, circa 1979 – a relatively pristine and uncrowded yet waterlogged Bombay:
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And simply because I’m in a much better mood now, this one’s a bonus, from 1942 Love Story, capturing all the simple pleasures of love…and rain:
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Aaaah, I feel so much better already. You?
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Follow-up: On India Shining
I’m no journalist or economist, just a deeply interested observer who happens to write a blog. A few posts ago was one that I called Oh, India Shining, Wherefore Art Thou?. In it were my simple layperson observations about the stories we have told ourselves about this country and what I was seeing on the ground today.
One of the more insightful publications I try to find time to read is Foreign Policy. As I was casually looking through the latest Foreign Policy news today, I spied this article:
Think Again: India’s Rise
“Is the world’s largest democracy ready for prime time, or forever a B-list player on the global stage?”
This is truly the professional’s version of what I was trying to say, containing a whole lot more perspectives, insight, research and opinions than I could dream of having or conveying. [The argument is written by Sumit Ganguly who holds the Rabindranath Tagore chair in Indian cultures and civilizations at Indiana University in Bloomington and is a senior fellow with the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute].
It’s certainly worth reading if you have an interest in this topic but fair warning – read it only if you are ready to hear a more balanced opinion on the India Rising hype-story.
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The Yin and Yang of Life Anywhere 