The Great Ganesha

Notwithstanding my opinion on using ‘Mumbai’, this is serious.

A friend forwarded me an email the other day and it has to with the bomb blasts that affected Bombay on July 11th of this year. So many people have complained about the vaccum of governmental support that existed both, in the events leading up to the blasts as well as afer the blasts.

This post has to do with people actually doing something about the lack of infrastructure surrounding the blasts. They are actually trying to cause some kind of policy change. Knowing full well how hard that is in a place like Bombay, I support them wholeheartedly in this endeavour.

The email was originally written by a Satchit Balsara, and about the project, he said,

Project mumbaiVOICES — launched today on the one month anniversary of the blasts, by Sri Sam Pitroda, Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission of India —provides a platform that will allow a people-centric, rigorous, in-depth, analysis of the city’s response to the tragedy of July 11th. Conceptualized by Mumbaikars home and abroad, mumbaiVOICES is a unique coalition of many institutes of learning and repute.

Basically, what they have done is have experts (including public health professionals, physicians, economists, and disaster management experts) set up templates on their websites that people can fill out regarding their experience in the blasts. You can contribute your story, participate in the discussion forum or just read other’s stories about the blasts.

They plan to use the stories and the data to effect some kind of policy change in the city. Here’s what they say:

The research team will provide a comprehensive analysis of the collected responses to qualitatively influence Mumbai’s plans for risk reduction, and disaster response. On-going analyses and policy briefs will be posted on the website. All studies will be made public, and reports will be presented to the state and central governments to bolster their disaster management plans.

I went to read some of the stories. They ranged from this one by a survivor:

I wasn’t really injured.There were bruises due to the bursting of tubelights in the trains and the glass oeices falling over me.I got of the train as it slowed doen an reached the closest station.

To this one by a taxi driver who was a bystander:

i am a taxi driver. i stay at matunga.i was crossing the z- bridge when a loud noise was heard and the bridge actually shook . a lady standing on the platform actually fainted after seeing the horrible scene. some people on the platform rushed forward offering help.i took 4 victims to a nearby private hospital in my taxi .the police and railway authorities arrived soon.college going boys helped the policemen.nearby shopkeepers came with eatables and made drinking water available to everone on the station as well.i came back to the station and took 2 more people to the hospital.

If you have anything to say about the blasts, then please do go there. I think that these are real people trying to do some real good.

Their website is at: www.mumbaivoices.com.

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