The flurry of media channels has ensured that even a fart by a politician or celebrity would not go unnoticed. Yet, they are nowhere when we need them the most. It has been coming down hard since last night here in Mumbai. When I woke up this morning, I was positive that several areas would be waterlogged. Adding to this, a metro pillar collapsed near Sakinaka, arguably the busiest traffic junction in Mumbai. I scanned the news channels for updates, but except TV9, no channel was even running a ticker about the rains. There was no source of getting a real-time update on the situation. The authorities were mum on what citizens are supposed to do, but thats typical. Most Mumbaikars know enough about the rains and chose to stay home I think. Thats what I did too based on my past experience here!
I am most appalled at the state of the news websites. It is incredibly easy to update a website and post live notes as the news pours in. But none of the websites had any mention of the rains until 10AM. All of them waited until noon and posted "articles". By then, everyone that cared about the rains knew about them. The less said about the Mumbai traffic police website the better. Its not that these websites cant do live coverage - they do it with budgets, bomb blasts etc. I have no idea why they dont do it on occasions such as these.
I wish we had a website that posts minute-by-minute updates on situations such as these. Maybe I could start one.
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