The Silent Mumbai

Mumbai has always been a city that never sleeps.  The sounds of Mumbai encompassed the soul of the city. From the blaring sounds of the rikshas to the hustle bustle of traffic, Mumbaikars have always been a part of this humdrum. As the news of the pandemic set forth states started to take coercive action by shutting down non-essential services. Maharashtra was amongst the most affected state. With limited supplies and logistics people were just running helter-skelter with the thought of returning to their hometown.

After the first wave of the pandemic had gone, we had all believed that the coming year would allow us all to be back in action. Things started to be better with the government easing out the regulations and people again started to get back to action. But this was short lived. Only to know that the new year bought with itself an even deadlier variant of the Covid 19. And before one could realize that the things had gone way out of control, we found ourselves bound to the chains of house arrest. Welcome to the second wave, that’s what blared on the television sets. And, we all kept thinking of the nightmare that was approaching.

Just when the morning sounds that welcome Mumbai had begun, the next moment it returned to silence. We are in a ‘new normal’ world, where now the day starts with a cup of coffee, you are not greeted by the autowallahs honk but by the constant sounds of notifications or the tingling of the mailbox. Our conversations have changed from ‘meeting’ at a coffee house to meeting virtually on Zoom. Books have turned into Kindle and the most cherished moments of movie watching has taken the face of OTT platforms and ‘binge-watching’. Our questions have changed from Good Morning, to saying ‘Hey I hope you are keeping social distancing’ and most importantly, our expressions have got ‘masked’.

Amidst all these, there are a few who are still keeping the heart of Mumbai beating. They are the people who are working tirelessly, selfless, unconditionally to keep a hope alive. The hope of a longing mother, wife, sister or a father that they will get to meet their kin again. - Yes. I am referring to the medical faculty, comprising of doctors, nurses, compounders, medical shops, the municipal corporation workers and the people working to create the vaccines - the real Covid Warriors.

Today, as India is getting vaccinated under the guidance of the state’s brilliant administration, we are returning back to the hope that ‘we shall overcome’ this pandemic. Yet, as you see the city from a closer lens, you would find the roads empty, closed shops and life is still at a standstill… Mumbai is still in a state of silence and the only sounds that are beating are that of hope that the city of dreams shall rise up victorious for its Mumbaikars!