It is the spirit that contributes Rs 58,000 crore to the national exchequer, and expects almost nothing in return, except the permission to aspire.

That’s why when our main artery was ripped, no one even waited for administrative first aid. The dead were shrouded in bed sheets borrowed from the neighbourhood, and the injured were ferried to hospital on the shoulders of more fortunate fellow citizens—while the railway authorities looked on languidly, and the state government debated on whether a muddied statue in a local park should be given police protection. That’s why, in the space of a week, Mumbai has been through a flood, a political riot, a serial blast—and survived. And that’s why, it will take more than seven deadly bombs to snuff out this invincible city.