When did we get this way?

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I've been getting these forwards lately that compare the Katrina hurricane tragedy in the U.S. to the Mumbai monsoon crisis.

The comparison, in all these forwarded emails, begins with that declaration of odious originaility: 'Couldn't stop making this comparison..' (Really! Wonder what you'd have done if no-one had sent you the email.)

This mail notes, in excruciating pedantia, how Mumbai trumped New Orleans in various aspects.

An excerpt:

inches of rain in New Orleans due to hurricane Katrina... 18
inches of rain in mumbai (July 26th).... 37.1

number of people to be evacuated in new orleans... entire city..wohh
number of people evacuated in mumbai...10,000

Cases of shooting and violence in new orleans...Countless
Cases of shooting and violence in mumbai.. NONE

So on and so forth...and it ends with a sorry tongue in cheek remark:

USA...world's most developed nation
India...third world country..

oopss...did i get the last fact wrong???

Well, I don't know about the facts, but the attitude...yes, it's wrong. (And what's with 'oopss'?)

It's tragically horrid that someone should resort to alpha-male thumping in a time of grief; in anyone's time of grief.

People don't suffer any less just because it's America.

Comments

Anonymous said…
This is wrong at so many levels, its like comparing apples to watermelons. But facts aside, what gives? Next we will be comparing bomb blasts.
10:30 PM
Janaki said…
I totally agree. This mail sickened me too.
10:30 AM
Nagesh Pai said…
Your Empathy for the Pain and suffering of the Americans as much as those of our own folks, is the true fragrance of an Indian.

We must treasure this.

About the mail, my wild guess the mail has come from the desk of Vill Bill (the guy with the CM label on him) or from not-so-lil Johhny (the BMC d'comissioner), with an intent to create a feel good saying "Hey things arent so bad here :-)"
12:15 PM
oglidonkee said…
Ahh well i was glad to see that mail, every last week of the month my client allows for a dress down at work and they collect a pound for the same which would in turn be donated to some cause.

Last month they had a poster showing two images of Mumbai .. (a)one Gateway of India and the other the (b)Dharavi slum......
And wrote below it the city that has (a) also has (b). So lets collect for the mumbai floods!

These ppl need a bit of "un" learning they think they know too much about a city they have just heard of ......
so i would say kudos to that email.

OD
7:06 PM
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