Mumbai Rant

People say you never forget your first day at work. For me, it was my first day at my first work. I was officially in the Biotechnology industry. After 7 years of education - Masters in Biotechnology followed by an MBA, I was certainly itching to get going at work. Being placed from campus was a high. The only painful bit being; having to leave home. Moving to a new place, without a friend in the place. Well, almost no friend. I had a very good pal, although a bit far away from where I was going to be put up at. As of this point in time, I have already met a few people, whom I gladly call friends.

Bangalore wasn't much of a culture shock. So, yes, I'm at Biocon. Anyhoo, I'm at Koramangala, supposedly one of the most happening places in Bangalore. Although a far cry from good ol' Bombay (Mumbai), I'm beginning to warm up to the place. That Forum mall is nearby, is a big relief.

A few weeks in Bangalore though, made me realise what a unique place on earth Bombay is. It's a maddening city and so often, it's seemed to me to have no heart. I've read somewhere that we could judge the character of a city by how it treats its weakest people. Mumbai doesn't score very high on those counts. A reader's digest survey, rated Mumbai as one of the rudest cities in the world. That may well be true, if you consider the fact that what Mumbaiities know about civic sense and ettiquette, one can stick in a fly's ear.

But heck, you can't write the city off. I have no doubt God loves this insane city. It's a land of bewildering paradoxes. Someone who's just moved to Mumbai might be flummoxed - one sees posh apartments, luxury cars and just when one's getting used to the show of indulgence, one sees sprawling poverty. Huts, kids running about and filth. How do the twain meet? The thing is - they hardly do. Indifference is a way of life here. Whether it is to the suffering of the poor or corruption or injustice. Bribes are routine and euphemistically referred to as chai-paani kharcha. Sab kuch chalta hai. Adjust karo..

Yet, in Mumbai, people can make an enterprise out of anything. You walk down the road and break your shoe, there's a cobbler 'round the corner. You can't get into your own home; no problemo, for there's a chaabiwala who'll do it for you. Cooks to cook, maids to clean, and you'll get a rickshaw to get you from point A to point B; even if the said point A and point B are only a spitting distance away - in minimum fare. And no rant on Mumbai would be complete, without mentioning its legendary local trains. People curse the trains; but these serpent-elephant locomotives transport almost the entire city in a single day. Mumbaiites call the local trains as the lifeline. One day without them and the city will be brought down to its knees. In these trains, folks become travel buddies, complete strangers share their life-stories and resting your weary self down on a fourth seat is no minor feat.

People ask me if Mumbai's like this big melting pot. It's not. New York may be a melting pot, where people lose their identities and blend into the background. Mumbai, in Shashi Tharoor's words, is more like a thali, where people of diverse and varied cultures, somehow manage to retain their distinct identities.

It's a mad city. Oh, it's raving mad. And though I find myself gravitating towards New Bombay (Navi Mumbai) increasingly, I wax eloquent about my Mumbai, when someone asks; and even when they don't ask. Jeez, who would've thought I'd miss cheesy Hindi film songs. This post was to be titled, 'My first day at work' but after all this, it wouldn't fly. So, Mumbai rant it is..

For all it's crazy contradictions, I puff up and stand my full 5 feet 4 and a half inches, when I say I'm from Mumbai. Like I said, God loves this insane city. He died and rose again for its people too and yours truly is one of them.

Perspectives on Terror Management

The students of the SIES College of Management Studies (SIESCOMS) organized an event on the evening of 3^rd January, 2009 at 4 pm in the Institute premises on the topic of "Terror Management." It sought to bring together varied and diverse perspectives on the global menace – Terror and was aptly called ‘The Other Angles – Perspectives on terror management’. The discussion revolved around the current security infrastructure, the onus on the corporate world, and roles & responsibilities that various stakeholders can potentially play in the process of terror and crisis management. The discussion was moderated by an eminent journalist from CNN-IBN – Mr. George Koshy and the panel included representatives from the Police, Non-governmental Security Agency, Media, and the Corporate World, in the presence of management students, alumni and faculty, on a common platform in the SIESCOMS amphitheatre to discuss and debate the intricacies of Terror Management. The panelists included:

Mr. Surendra Mandhane - retired ACP, Navi Mumbai.

Dr. Aakash Akinwar - St. George Hospital (C.S.T), who also witnessed the Mumbai terror attack. 

Mr. Rana Uday Kumar Singh – GM (Operations), Watchguard Security Services, previously handled the Security division of the Indian Air Force for 20 years, was the Head of training – Bombay Intelligence Security Agency and has been handling Corporate security since the past 15 years (Marico, Telco).

Mr. Harish Iyer – Creative professional at Shobiz, Social Activist and blogger of international repute.

 Mr. Sonal Dabral - Bates 141 - Executive Creative Director, Asia Pacific, and Chairman, India. Prior to joining Bates 141, Sonal worked with Ogilvy for 16 years.

Ms. Rashmi Dhanwani - Ex Journalist & Social Activist – International NGO, Breakthrough.        

The evening started off with initial perspectives and first reactions, from the panelists.             Mr. Mandhane shed light on the initial confusion among the police, as to the nature and gravity of the attack. He described the gruesome bloodshed at the C.S.T railway station and the Metro junction.

Dr. Aakinwar, was at the Olympia hotel, opposite the Leopold Café, which was also attacked by the terrorists. He along with his colleague moved the injured to the St. George’s hospital. He quickly mobilized students and interns at the St. George’s hostel and worked through the night, trying to save lives. Ms. Aditi Mishra, a student at the hospital, shared her feelings of fear, as reports of the attack poured in. She stressed upon the lack of preparedness of our hospitals, to deal with a calamity of this scale and how difficult it was to get together, basic medical essentials like blood and suture materials. At the same time, she was overwhelmed by the heartwarming response from people all across the city, calling in to offer help and donate blood.

Mr. Singh, talked about the absence of pro – active security measures and how much things need to change; stressing the need for an independent training agency to handle terror attacks. “Security is sidelined and ignored”, said Mr. Singh and recommended that a basic security module, be made part of the curriculum at the school and college levels.

Mr. Sonal Dabral, who was in Singapore on the day of the attack, shared the feelings of helplessness that washed over him, as he watched the horrific scenes unfold on television. He spoke of how people, irrespective of nationalities, bond together in times like these, calling the attacks as an attack on humanity and not just India and Mumbai.

Mr. Harish Iyer, a creative professional at Shobiz and an activist, discussed the impact of the new media. His popular blog saw responses from all over the world. Relatives of people stuck in the Taj and the Trident, called up, desperate to hear some news about their loved ones.

George Koshy, pointed out how death was a leveler and that terror had no boundaries. Rashmi Dhanwane, who was present outside the Taj and the Trident, reiterated the fact, by calling terrorism a global plot. She commended Mr. Mandhane, Dr. Aakinwar and Mr. Iyer, for knowing their roles and jumping onto their tasks, instantly. She called for a greater clarity on individual roles and responsibilities, including the media, hospitals as well as the citizen.

At this point, George brought in the ‘Citizen’ angle, which was the highlight of the discussion. Asking members of the audience, “Who failed you?” he spoke of citizens as part of the entire link, when the usual suspects were mentioned – politicians, intelligence, and the entire government system.

 The discussion that began with the problem of terrorism, followed by all the things that went wrong, eventually boiled down to the ‘you and I’ element. Various concrete steps for action were brought out by the panelists, which were taken down by the students, to be included in a research project on terror management.

George called for stopping corruption at the basic level, by an increased conscientiousness among the citizens, in what he called as ‘getting back to the basics’. As examples, he spoke of refusing to bribe a cop, if one is caught for violation of a traffic rule or not complaining at security checks at airports.

Rashmi emphasized the need for awareness of local and global occurrences by means of absorbing media reports, various opinions, books and the like. This was a first step, in shaking off apathy. “Be participative” she exhorted and mentioned initiatives like Jaago Re, Jagrut Nagrik.com, ivote.com, United Way Mumbai, as a means of individual involvement in the political system.

As the discussion came to a close, George posed the big question, “Will things change?” As a good number of the panel and the audience responded by saying that, yes, they did believe, that things would change for the better, Harish brought the evening to an eloquent conclusion, by stressing the importance of doing small deeds. “Do things at the micro level. Each one of us bringing about changes in our neighborhood would make a big difference.”