Mumbai: From appreciating the selfless policemen to wondering how newspapers are getting delivered in the morning in an inundated city, India Inc. took to the social media to show their solidarity with the citizens who were grappling with a huge deluge in their lives. The state administration –- not wishing to exert itself – declared a public holiday on Tuesday for schools and colleges, as well in its offices, after the heavy rains ripped through the rickety infrastructure of the city yet again. Comparing the city police with the superheroes of Avengers, JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal said their superpower was a remarkable dedication to the city! Year after year, they do everything in their power to keep Mumbai safe and moving.
Anand Mahindra, the chairman of the diversified Mahindra group, was full of praise for the newspaper delivery boys who continue with their morning jobs despite everything else collapsing around them. Mumbai airport runway was shut, schools closed, train stations flooded, but the newspapers arrived in my house on time and dry! he tweeted. I have to salute those quiet, unsung heroes who brave torrential rains so that we can experience a normal day, he added. However, there were no voices on the creaky infrastructure, or how it failed, by the industry leaders, many of whom have their offices in the financial capital.
Also, they were silent on the continuing failure of the civic administration and all the tall claims of rain-readiness that the BMC has been making all this while. This was so, even as there was a deluge of complaints and disappointments on social media. While many private companies allowed their staff to work from home as the local trains came to a grinding halt, financial markets were functioning with banks and stock exchanges operational. Earlier in the day the nation’s premier exchange, the BSE, said it is open with the chief executive Ashish Chauhan sending out a message that the BSE will function normally.
Even though it may have been posted in a different context, Zee Entertainment chief executive Punit Goenka’s tweet posted early in the day was the most relevant one applicable to the hapless citizens of the city. Quoting the American missionary Walter Elliott, he said, ‘Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.’
