Back in office...the city moves on.

I have never quite understood the term "The Spirit of Mumbai". Perhaps coz to understand the term, you need to be a true blue 'Mumbaikar'. But of whatever I understand, I feel lately the term is getting used to cloak the weary patience of the innocent citizens here who time and again have to bear the brunt of acts like these. Rains, shiv sena hangama, the blasts - and yet, the city doesn't stop. My neighbour ( a muslim family) were kind of scared to send their daughters to school today but I tried to assure them that this would mean we are terrified. Even if we are, we have to move on.

Last year around this time I was in London and the city was reeling under the 7/7 train blast. I remember how the city commuters couldn't come to terms with the blast coz for them they had never witnessed anything like that before. For days people avoided trains. Special Counselors used to accompany people who were scared to travel in train alone. On 7th this month, a memorial service was organized and London stood standstill to honor those who died.

I know something like this can never take place here. We Indians over the years have got so immunised to terror that actually we don't care anymore. Tell me honestly, after any major attack, be it the Sarojni Nagar blast, the Mulund train blast, or the frequent attacks in Srinagar, how many times have we really stopped to think about those who died? 11/7 would soon become another date in history. One year down the line, many of us would probably not even remember that something like that had happened. We would be so engrossed in our day to day lifes to think about it.

Today morning saw that people were back in trains. The tense looks on their faces revealed their mood & thoughts, but they were back. Be it any kind of terror attack, in Mumbai, life doesn't stops. The city moves on and will keep on moving.