To South Mumbai:

South Mumbai, you study at Cathedral school, holiday in Cannes, eat kebabs at bade miyans, drink beer pipes at Leopolds and aperitif at the Taj,

South Mumbai, you study at Cathedral school, holiday in Cannes, eat kebabs at bade miyans, drink beer pipes at Leopolds and aperitif at the Taj, lecture at Davos, and fail in Hindi exams as a matter of honour. You refer to your part of the city simply as “town”. Your life may be the stuff of our dreams, but your own dreams are in a foreign land. You disdain India’s ineffectual politics — while being insulated from its ills. Today, you are at war.

This is not just your war, South Mumbai. Middle-class Mumbaikars returning home from work were killed by terrorists firing at random, as were tourists and hotel staff. Besides, your shadow looms longer than your image. Your playgrounds — the Taj, Oberoi, and Leopolds — are destinations for that quintessentially Mumbai ideal: upward mobility. No matter which part of India we depart from, a dinner at the Taj Mahal Hotel means arrival. These dreams of ours that you painted, the changes to all our lives that your entrepreneurship unleashed, the shining India that you lit, is now under attack.

You don’t vote, most of the time. And you don’t need to vote to make your voice heard: it echoes from the corridors of Mantralaya to the darbars of Delhi. You may not know who your MP is, but mine is only one phone call away for you. Responsive politics, that illusion for which we trudge to booths every four years, is yours for the asking. You could so easily be using the power at your disposal to improve governance in India. But instead, you choose pliant politicians and bendable babus to clear your file quickly. When you do turn your gaze towards India, it is to ask for the few, not to demand for the many.

Sorry for pontificating. I know that today you are shaken. I saw you on television the other day, marching down Marine Drive, lit candles in hand. I saw you screaming on English news shows against the decay you see all around. You are out on the streets, and threatening not to pay tax. You are furious at being belittled for wearing “red lipstick”. None of this was your fault. Why should you bear the consequences? You will learn your own lessons from this terror attack. But the lessons you learn matter to all of us. And so far, here’s what I’ve been hearing: “Congress weak, Muslims guilty, India sucks”. Rethink please.

The immediate concern, one that you see, is that the Indian state is unable to guarantee your security. 10 terrorists, armed to the teeth, stormed Mumbai by boat! Ill-equipped cops were left to rely on sheer courage. The response to the siege was ever slower, with politicians and agencies fumbling to escape blame and claim credit. If this is not failure, then what is? You see all of this. But what you don’t see is that the decline in law enforcement is only symbolic of a larger story: of rotting Indian institutions. So far, the private successes of India Inc. have shielded you from the collapse in public governance. But no more.

We are all victims today. No two ways who the real culprits are: terrorists who hide their simple evil behind a complex cause. But a venal political process and abysmal administration have added to the problem. And these problems, which affect us all, affect you today. The only difference between you and me is that you have the power to do something about it.

So here’s what I beg of you: vote in person. But vote in spirit too: use your clout to demand better politicians, not pliant ones. Back babus who are administrators, not file facilitators. This isn’t your fault, but this is your future, our future. I know that you are angry, and baying for blood. So sorry for sermonising. But in your hour of need today, it is India that needs your help.

vinay.sitapatiexpressindia.com