500K Homeless In Indian Monsoon Floods - Mumbai 2 Feet Deep In Rainwater

[hatrack]

EDIT

"Rains are receding. Except in some parts of Telengana, rains are almost over in the state," said M. Satyakumar, director of the Hyderabad Meteorological Centre. "Over half a million people living in low-lying areas of 12 river front districts have been displaced due to the three-day downpour and flooding," Ponnala Lakshmaiah, the state's irrigation minister, told Reuters.

Naval helicopters and coast guard boats were searching for 150 missing fishermen who went to sea last week despite warnings, officials added. Earlier they had said 60 fishermen were missing.

In western Maharashtra, thousands of people were being evacuated from Nanded district, about 650 km (400 miles) east of the state capital, Mumbai, after 25 villages were cut off by heavy rains.

EDIT

In Mumbai, traffic crawled in the city's western and northern suburbs which were under two feet of water. Officials said the city's suburban trains were running about 15 minutes late and some services had been suspended. Flights were being delayed by up to half an hour. "The met office has predicted more rains. We are already on alert. Our disaster management team is working to drain out the water," V.V. Vaidya, the city's chief disaster management officer told Reuters.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/37539/story.htm

[ananda]

1. Mumbai used to be called Bombay,

right?

[Kutjara]

2. That's right.

India got tired of calling many of its cities by Anglicized versions of the real names, cooked up by Imperialists who couldn't be bothered to learn how to pronounce the real ones (or in some cases, chose names favored by one ethnic group over those preferred by others). So they took the eminently sensible step of changing them back to what they should be. I don't know when this happened exactly, but I remember Bombay starting to be referred to as Mumbai about fifteen years ago.

[Odin2005]

4. I don't see a problem with using both.

Besides many cities have both a native and an aglicized name; Rome/Roma, Moscow/Moscova, Cologne/Koln, Athens/Athini; I don't why English-speaking countries can't use Bombay and the locals use Mumbai, it smells like political correctness gone mad to me.

[Kutjara]

5. Perhaps, but the difference between the examples you cite...

... and the names of Indian cities is that, in the latter case, the naming conventions were imposed by an occupying power. I'm sure if the United States was conquered by China and had all it's cities renamed by the occupying Chinese so that they could pronounce them more easily, Americans would be pretty quick to change them back if the country someday reasserted its soverignty. They'd also probably be pretty cheesed off if foreigners insisted on continuing to use the 'Chinese' names.

If we look at the example of Chennai (formerly Madras), the Wikipedia entry says: "The name Madras is derived from Madraspatnam, the site chosen by the British East India Company for a permanent settlement in 1639. Another small town, Chennapatnam, lay to the south of it. In due course the two towns were merged, and the term Madras was favoured by the British. However locals used to refer to it as Chennapatnam or Chennapuri. The city was renamed Chennai in August 1996 as the name Madras was perceived to be of Portuguese origin. It is believed that the original Portuguese name is Madre de Sois, named after a Portuguese high authority who was one among the early settlers in 1500."

The article goes on to say that Chennai may not be all that native to the area, either, but it's the perception that Madras was a foreign name imposed by conquerers that's the important distinction here.

Quite apart from the 'political correctness' aspects of the name changes, they can equally be seen as an important indicator of India's growing confidence as a state and pride in its history.

[hippiechick]

3. Holy Moly, 2 of my bosses are in Mumbai RIGHT NOW!

:wow:

[cliss]

6. I'm scheduled to go to Mumbai...

not until November, however. I certainly hope the rain waters recede by then. Does anyone know when the monsoon season typically runs?

What's the weather like in November? (I'm going to a State department function, was only planning to take light clothes). Maybe I need an umbrella.

[NNadir]

7. I have been to Mumbai.

The perception that some of the "homes" there belong to people who are not already homeless would shock a Westerner.

I will never forget what I saw.

To imagine all of this and more than half a meter of water as well, kills the imagination.