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Another World Forum friend, Swati Popat, shared this personal account from Mumbai:

Dear friends,

What's happened in mumbai is indeed horrifying and an eye opener. I was reminded of the film “The Day after Tomorrow,” the scene on the 26th of July was exactly that. It started pouring at about 12.00 noon. We ignored the rains, thinking its just one of those heavy showers. By 2.00 pm, we received calls from parents, that all train services were stopped, we looked out on the roads and saw ankle deep water, but the torrential rains were something to worry about.

Two of our buses had left with kids, now we were worried about them. In our high schools where 10,000 children study, we decided to stop the buses �" the reason: traffic had come to a standstill, phone lines, land as well as cell lines were jammed, parents were trying to reach the schools and could not.

In Mumbai, the city is divided into north and south, both at distant ends, the south has all the offices and the north has the homes, so people in offices, sometimes both the parents were stuck there and their kids in school.

I waded through chest deep waters to go to my mother's house a stone's throw away from the school. It took me 45 minutes wading in the water. By this time the electricity had gone off. All over Mumbai, it looked like time stood still. People were just frozen where they were, with the down pour and the accumulating waters.

But we are close to the sea, then why so much water in the city? Well, it was high tide and all storm water drains had been shut off, otherwise the sea water would enter the city. People were suffocated in their cars, people left expensive cars on the road to trudge home. Half of them spent the night in buses or went back to their offices. Children stranded in schools with their principals and teachers were nervous, frightened, hungry.

The rain did not let up for three days, there was no way you can get to anyone, because nothing worked, no electricity, no water, no flights, no trains, nothing. WE REALISED WE WERE DOOMED.

My two school buses, one managed to drop all the kids, one got stuck in water, thankfully there was a teacher and an attendant, and both the kids parents reached the bus and spent the night in the bus.

Why did this happen? What caused this fury? I think and today there are numerous press articles on this, that we have played havoc with nature and now nature is playing havoc with us. Mumbai had an important river called Mithi. The city planner's in their thirst for urban development, in many places the river's route was diverted, or buried. Further many mangroves were destroyed, hence this coupled with heavy rainfall caused this terrorizing damage.

What do we do now? Well, at our centre we have started sensitizing parents through their children about the need to save Mumbai's natural resources. To be zealously proud of the fact that we are the only international grade city with a national park in the middle, 6 lakes, a river and the sea. We have the most “rain trees” and ecological mangrove treasures. Let's make the kids treat this all as theirs and lets teach them to zealously guard this treasure.

I have been doing a lot of adaptations of the “te whariki” curriculum in India and I think, the one principle which stands out, is “belonging”. We in Mumbai need to belong to the city, only when you belong, you start caring, when you care, you start loving and when you love you fight for it.

So our message to not only Mumbai kids but all over the world: This can happen to you, so guard what is yours, nature. We have started a project called “I love nature, it belongs to me”. Through puppet shows, drawings, quiz we are making children aware of what they can do to save themselves.

Swati Popat
Director, Podar Jumbo Kids Preschool chain, Mumbai, India

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