Truly globalized

It's indeed a flat world.

Whether our city planners’ dream of turning Mumbai into Shanghai comes true or not, London and New York are beginning to look seriously like Mumbai – courtesy Rainstorms.

That’s exactly how I felt as I read this report in New York Times – “Deluge Brings New York to Its Knees”. A brief but fierce storm drenched the New York region just before the morning rush yesterday, paralyzing the transit system, flooding major thoroughfares, cutting off electricity to thousands of homes and causing confusion that lingered through a humid, sweaty day. It began with already-soggy commuters trudging to the subway, only to discover there was none. They trudged to bus stops and tried to crowd onto buses any way they could, through the front door or the back door. Some settled for the bus after that. Or the next or the next. As the day went on, crowds and unusually long lines persisted at some bus stops in Manhattan and Queens. Those who managed to squeeze in witnessed little tiffs, like, ‘Hey, buddy, there’s no room.” How do we say it in Mumbai ? – “Chodna yar, yahi gaadi mili ghusne ko, doosri pakad le”

A few days back London took it in the chin.

I just hope our town planners don’t see these parallels, or they’ll say – “Dekha, sab jagah aise hi hai…!” ([Don’t just blame us.] “Look, everywhere it’s the same”).

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