It was shocking to see images of New Orleans after the city was torn apart by Katrina, the hurricane. Just about a month back, all of us in India were busy blaming the government, the local administration, the politicians, builders et al. for the event that brought the financial capital of the country, Mumbai to a stand still. Most of us were probably right in the criticism and i personally felt it wasn't misplaced at all. I have spent a considerable part of my youth in and around Mumbai and know the place and the people well. It takes a lot to bring this place (Mumbai) to a stand still and only a natural disaster as big as the one we saw could achieve that.
The story of Mumbai and New Orleans suddenly did not look too different to me, the only difference was that Mumbai (and the whole of India) is ruled by corrupt (& criminal) politicians & run by corrupt bureaucrats. The fate of the people in the two cities was almost the same, no relief could reach them, people were stranded for days, large scale contamination of water could spread diseases causing epidemic.
At the end of the day i thought the administration in New Orleans, USA should have fared better, done more and also much quicker to help us Indians put pressure on the corrupt bureaucrats and politicians in Mumbai.
May be our grand mothers would be right on this one, when god wishes to intervene, a Bush or a Deshmukh really do not matter....
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