July 26: 3 years on

This was the day Mumbai suburbs Sunk!!!! The common expression would be that Mumbai city drowned, but in fact, the city had witnessed only 57 mm of rain on that day. The suburbs of Mumbai meanwhile received a whopping 944 mm of rain in less than one hour. The deluge paralyzed the suburbs for close to 10-15 days. The outer suburbs were cut off for nearly a month before normalcy returned. This deluge left a scar for some time on the resilient Mumbai people. It came to such an extent that whenever a heavy shower came upon the place, the people recounted the frustrations they faced on that day.

The floods of July 26 showed the city the damage that it inflicted on itself when they tampered with the environment. The cutting of the mangrove trees, the choking of the Mithi river with sewage, garbage and chemicals all pointed out that this could have been a possibility if something happened. On July 26th 2005, something big did happen. The floods also showed the haphazard development policies on reclaimed land. Majority of Mumbai of today is reclaimed land.

The deluge showed the people that if development is not held accountable to nature, devastation is imminent. Unless and until we develop in methods which causes the environment no harm, the city will be a safer place. But, it is easy to say that typing on the computer. All along when i have finished the typing, a million tonnes of sewage and garbage will have been dumped. A building will have gotten erected for more people to stay, and immigrants in the millions will have already flocked to Mumbai in search of dreams.

There seems to be no control, which is why anything new to happen in Mumbai is very hard. With so many people looking to the city for their dreams and economic prosperity, such disasters will only be shaken off and forgotten. If something like this happens again, Mumbai will just shrug it off, which is unfortunately or fortunately the way the city functions. Maybe, the environment will have to undergo this silent ignorance and then die a death. A July 26 will keep on happening, but unfortunately, people just do not care