What does it take to bring a metropolis to its knees? A terror attack? A deluge? Or less than 1,000 striking motormen? Your guess is the opposition party's gain.
What does it take to bring a metropolis to its knees? A terror attack? A deluge? Or less than 1,000 striking motormen? Your guess is the opposition party's gain.
As the city ground to a rasping halt on Monday evening, we were reminded once again of the tenuousness of life in a metro. It was no longer enough to drag our comatose selves through the matrix. As lakhs of us
lay stranded, streets were clogged with traffic, and networks were jammed, we realised, yet again, that Mumbai was seething.
The suburban railways' motormen's strike is a wake-up call, one that we have perhaps already forgotten in the pitiable attempt to polish our badge of resilience. After all, we are a resilient lot, who make our living in the city of amnesia.
Never mind that over 65 lakh of us worried about how to get home that Monday night, or feared for our own or a loved one's safety. Once home, we switched on our television sets, sat back and watched as rival political parties gleefully got to work polishing their party agendas, and as local party leaders threatened to take matters into their hands.
The important thing, one assumes, is that a compromise has allegedly been achieved between the motormen and Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil. The most important thing is that we get to catch our regular train and get back to this business of being.
The majority has spoken, and the majority allegedly agrees that the motormen's demands for better pay and better working conditions should be met. The point is why must things get to a crisis before a compromise can be reached? Why should anyone be pushed to the edge before he can be allowed to live his life with some of the dignity money affords? Why should anyone be arrested just to be heard?
Indifference is a high price to pay for earning a living, and there's no one who knows that better than a Mumbaikar.
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