I have been following your columns on the terrible battering that Mumbai has undergone the past week and have been somewhat demoralised at the lack of perspective most accounts seem to suffer from.
I have had the privilege of living in Mumbai for about three years in the 80's. Coming from calcutta where there is no civic sense of any kind, or even pride in the city's physical space, I was always impressed by the island city's dynamism, an energy that seemed to amke it the only real city that India has with all its problems of inadequate infrastructure, corrupt politicians and inefficient slum management. Consequently when the deluge happened and Mumbai faced a crisis of enormous proportions I was upset but could do little from my location thousands of miles away except empathise with the terrible pressures Mumbaikars - the middle class and the poor in particular are dealing with. However the reports have been so shortsighted except to harp on why Mumbai will never be shanghai or how the city ahs taken a beating in terms of its image.
is it image that we should be concerned with now or reality that requires intelligent and sensitive intervention andmaking netas accountable
