Tragic July

2

I am neither superstitious nor a believer in jinx. But the month of July seems to be jinxed for Mumbaikars from the last three years. On July 26th 2005, 944 mm of rain lashed Mumbai in four hours leaving nearly 1,000 people dead and loss of property worth crores of rupees. On July 11th, 2006, seven bombs ripped apart seven trains across the western railway line leaving 187 commuters dead and over 800 injured. So you may ask me what happened this year. Till the afternoon of 18th July, 2007, I was glad that no form of tragedy has struck Mumbai this July to make it a tragic hatrick. But I was celebrating too early. Around 5.45 pm on 18th July, a residential building collapses in Borivali leaving 29 people dead and more than 11 seriously injured. Yet another human tragedy and precious lives....

7/11 blog: The CNN-IBN Impact

10

The frequent criticism about News channels is well known ... Too much noise but negligible impact on the lives of people around them. So three weeks back when we sat together to make an outline for the program on the lives of survivors of 7/11 blasts in the last one year, the brief from our Special Investigation Editor, V K Shashikumar, was very simple. A hard hitting followup of survivors who have been ignored by the administration and society in general and ensuring justice is done to them. We started on this difficult path by first getting in touch with many individuals who were already on our list. But we faced an uphill task trying to convince them that we were serious about helping them get justice. Many had lost hopes of getting any compensation from the railways or state government after making several rounds and....

7/11: Spirit of Mumbai

10

"Spirit of Mumbai", "Mumbai back on track", "Life moves on"... I first started hearing these terms on 11th July, 2006. The fateful day when mindless terrorists blew up 7 local trains in Mumbai killing 187 commuters and injuring over 1000 commuters. And it was not just me, every journalist reporting on this terror act used these terms freely in an effort to showcase Mumbai's terrific spirit to fight against all odds and get back on track. But were we right" Does life really move on" Maybe we are wrong. Life does move on for most of us who are unaffected by the blasts. For journalists like me, it was yet another story to be covered. Yet another deadline to be met. Yet another case study to be shot. Yet another round of administration bashing. Most of us got into the trains the very next day. And after a....