A first for India : Memorials for Mumbai victims

Govindraj Ethiraj writes about how loss of public life is being mourned now. An article I really liked:

"The 2-minute silence did not bring the city to a grinding halt. But for a first attempt of this kind, it was notable. Citizens even complained they did not hear the sirens that were supposed to alert them to the moment. Now, there is talk of a wear-white day on July 26, the day floods and an incompetent local administration brought the city to its knees last year. Over 400 died in Mumbai that day and over a 1,000 in Maharashtra. "

As Govindraj says, this is something new for India, as there were no memorials for 1993 blast victims, or the August 2003 blast victims, or even last year's 26/7 floods in Mumbai in which many people died, but there are memorials and annual services held in Madrid and Bali:

There could be other reasons as well. But the fact is that you won’t find a memorial for the March 1993 blast victims or the August 2003 blast victims in Mumbai. Or for all those who died in last July’s floods. But contrast Mumbai’s fate to similar tragedies elsewhere in the world. From the Madrid train bombings and Bali’s bomb blasts, public memory is retained in the form of permanent memorials and annual services held there. Incidentally, the toll in Madrid and Bali was roughly the same as Mumbai.

This year, 20 NGOs appealed to the citizens to wear white on 26th July in memory of people who died last year from the Bombay floods. Times of India reports:

Perhaps, taking cue from the over pouring of public grief last Tuesday, when almost the entire city observed a two-minutes silence to pay respects to the victims of July 11 terrorist bombings in Mumbai trains, colleges of Mumbai and Peace Mumbai - compromises of around 20 NGOs - have appealed to the citizens to wear-white on July 26, in memory of over 1000 people in Maharashtra who lost their lives last year in the devastating floods that ravaged the state.

The question is, will this continue or not? Has it really made people more concerned and sympathetic? Or is it just one-time, after all we have too short-lived memory for things like that?

Well, I did my bit by wearing (almost) white t-shirt.