I have seen two riots in my life. I was very young when the anti-Sikh riots happened in Delhi in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s killing in 1984. Mumbai in 1992 after the Babri Masjid was brought down was the second. In those early years of my life, the only source of information, news and rhetoric was the morning newspaper and the state-controlled television with its once a day news bulletin. We knew what we saw. In 1992, that changed as we watched the BBC on cable television. NDTV’s 24 hour news channel would not make its debut for another 6 years.
To believe what we heard and saw on television or on the Internet was an alien concept. Besieged as we are now by television channels, web sites, radio and the morning, afternoon and evening newspapers, we truly get instant gratification of our need to be fed news of events as they unfold and as they happen. We cannot wait for the morning newspaper. That’s the next morning, for God’s sake!
But what is the news we are being fed? We are told how the blasts happened over and over again. We are kept updated on how many people died and how many were injured. We are told every time that the official figures are way under the actual as many cases of death and injury are unreported. Every detail of where and when and all the theories expounded by a seemingly clueless government and police are repeated ad nauseam. What kind of a need in us does it fill to know how many died or how many injured? How does a higher death or injured count make a tragedy better or worse?
In the past few years, we have seen the explosion of the Internet as a communication medium. We have celebrities posting their OMGs on various web sites. And all of us go “Wow! How nice” and “What a good person”. Is posting on a website reflective of the spirit of a city? Or is not posting on a site reflective of the lack of spirit or the presence of a negative spirit?
While it is important to make your thoughts felt and your voice heard, how many of them actually went out and helped someone? Did I go to Mumbai and help anyone? I did not. Did I post on a web site on what a great tragedy it was? I did not. Does that make me a lesser mortal or even an un-spirited one? I don’t know. I am just not connected. Just as I did not connect to the two riots because I was not affected.
I got on with my life the same day or the next day. I had to. I had to get to work or to school. Like me, millions of people in Mumbai just have to get to work. They do not have a choice. Do we expect them to stay at home? Thousands of daily wage workers have no option but to get to work. Their evening meal depends on their working every day.
In the two tragedies I was close to, I saw people helping others selflessly, without any consideration for their own safety or for the cost, their effort, their time that the assistance took.
These are the people who make or break the spirit of a city. These people are everywhere. They were as much in Delhi in 1984 as in Mumbai in 1992 and later. They are present all over the world.
The spirit of the city is not one that shows up on twitter or facebook. The spirit of the city is not that the people have got on with their lives. The spirit of the city is not a few celebrities posting on web sites. The spirit of a city is not those celebrities condemning the tragedy on national television or holding candlelight vigils.
The spirit of the city is in that taxi driver who drove an injured and dying person to hospital without charging and probably saved his life or at least his dignity after death. The spirit of the city is reflected in those few who picked up the injured and took them to the nearest vehicle, building, hospital, shelter and did not care about soiling their clothes. The spirit of the city is in the police men, firemen, the general public who helped the affected pick up the pieces.
The spirit of the city is in what you do for the city and the people who make up the city. Not in the noises you make.
Cheers
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