Mumbai is also sometimes called “City of Dreams” . Millions of people from all over the country come here to try their luck. Also, Mumbai houses Bollywood, and metamorphic for film industry is also dreams that are sold to millions of moviegoers. Not all are successful though, but nobody starves here! There is work and opportunity for everyone. This immigration of people from all over has made this megapolis a heady melting pot of different cultural, linguistic and ethnic groups.

The city that welcomed and accommodated everyone in the past is now in throes. Of late, it’s infrastructure has started creaking and it is not able to support rising pressure on it any more – buildings, houses, vehicles and above all people! Infrastructure development has started and you can see work happening all around, but it seems to be too little too late! What, however, is the cause for greater concern is helplessness of the city to offer safety to its citizens. While in any megapolis of the size and magnitude of Mumbai, there will be daily casualties due to road accidents, train related accidents (unique to Mumbai and its lifeline) , murders, suicides etc., the situation gets aggravated during the monsoons. One heavy downpour and you see people dying of electrocution, falling into uncovered sewer holes, trees falling on them- but this year, fires, landslides, stampedes, buildings caving in and yesterday’s unfortunate accident of Andheri bridge falling on railway tracks clearly indicate that Mumbai seems to be giving in to the pressure of excesses. It seems to have crossed tipping point. How the authorities plan to cope up with new sky scrapers visible all over, new and bigger vehicles getting registered daily and manpower influx continuing unabated? I pray that resilience of Mumbai and Mumbaikar should not be tested ; on the contrary the city and its denizens deserve better infrastructure and treatment.