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Chat RoomABN Amro executive Meera Sanyal brings hope to Mumbai politics
“We want Meera! We want Meera!”
This cry from the heart can be heard louder and louder in Mumbai, its business districts, its slums. Everywhere where people have mouths to open, eyes to see, passion to flow, there is this woman who gives hope, there is this woman who listens. In the run-up to the 30 April elections a truly remarkable woman is going round and seeing Mumbai people, spreading hope, energy and a belief in a better future.
“Let’s get Mumbai back on track” is her slogan. Meera H. Sanyal, a succesful ABN Amro top executive, has decided to be an independent candidate for the upcoming elections in her city, thereby voluntarily leaving the easy life of a banker behind, and exposing herself to political games, vicious attacks and a lot of misery and stress. But from the look of it, she has been gifted with similar skills and the zen attitude of Barack Obama in the US. Will she once be the President of India? India with its tradition of strong female leaders? If so, remember where you saw her first!
Apiedapie is the reporter in India for drasties.com.
He has intensively investigated the aftermath of the 26/11 terror attacks. But it was only after his return to Europe - surfing the web for background info for his stories - that he came across this remarkable face, this remarkable woman, this born political leader. He does not know her, he has not met her, he cannot vote for her. He just felt goos-pimples and concluded ‘Meera has it, Meera will protect Mumbai’.
read on here>>And he was of course honored and humbled to see how many of his own personal priorities, revealed by his Mumbai mission, have been included in her election programme. Or could it be that Meera has been a silent but attentive reader of drasties?
Who Meera is
“I am a Sindhi married to a Bengali, with friends who speak Gujarati, Punjabi, Marathi, Tamil, Hindi, English, and many other languages. I look like a Parsi, was born in the Hindu faith, recite the Sikh precepts of gurbani and derive inspiration from Swami Vivekananda.
What Meera wants
“They have attacked my city often enough; with your support, I won’t let it happen again.”
About the bomb blasts and security
“The bomb blasts of 1993, the floods of 2005, the train attacks of 2006, 26/11/2009 .. The city has always bounced back. It is not resilience but economic compulsion. Post-1993, the city shut down as a result of communal riots and curfews. Post the 2005 floods, the city shut for 4 days. During 26/11, the city totally shut shop for another 4 days. The result: stress, fear and loss of livelihood. Security cannot be provided by putting X-ray machines and metal detectors outside malls and hotels. The city needs to invest in better intelligence, coastal security, disaster management and police reform.”
Speaking real about the slumdogs
“Mumbai’s sewage system was built by the British over 100 years ago. In many parts of the city, sewage and water lines run together—leakages are known to contaminate the drinking water supply. Slum dwellers and encroachers defecate openly. Mumbai
needs 50,000 public toilets but only 200 are operational. Mumbai generates 1,000 tons of human faeces everyday.”
About Meera’s opponents
“And what about my opponents? Two of them have criminal records, and want to make the city assume a narrower identity, with its doors closed and walls built higher. They go about terrorising Indian citizens who come from elsewhere in the country in search of a living … All of them are the opponents – not just my political opponents but also opponents of an inclusive, open, confident Mumbai.
About the traffic jam and the taxi drivers
“All unimplemented monorail/skytrain projects should be converted into subways, despite their higher costs, to free up real estate—Mumbai’s scarcest commodity— which is more easily available below ground. All taxis must display the names of drivers, badge numbers and a call-in number for complaints.”
And loving Mumbai
“Salman Rushdie describes it so beautifully in his 1995 novel, The Moor’s Last Sigh: “In Bombay all Indias met and merged… Bombay was central; all rivers flowed into its human sea. It was an ocean of stories, we were all its narrators, and everybody talked at once. What magic was stirred into that insaan-soup (the soup of humanity), what harmony emerged from that cacophony! Those who hated India, those who sought to ruin it, would need to ruin Bombay.”
It will be clear, Apie calls upon all drasties readers who are eligible to vote in South Mumbai: VOTE for MEERA!!!
april 24th, 2009 at 8:03 am
It’s a pity Apiedapie can’t vote there…
april 24th, 2009 at 8:04 am
Do independant candidates have any chance there?
april 24th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Would Meera be interested in a spirited, driven, politically correct campaignmanager?
april 24th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
ABN AMRO? Isn’t that Bank of Scotland now? Is she EX Executive Officer perhaps?
april 24th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
But seriously, dear readers, election campaigns in India can get nasty, and she is independent, she has success, she is anti-establishment, she speaks direct, so … let us cross fingers for her and her campaign team!
april 24th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I found this one really touching, this cute little girl tells the real slumdog story and her eyes are sparkling with … energy and power. And there are millions like her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR9CBODBDh4
april 25th, 2009 at 9:15 am
@2 expatser, my friend !
surf a few more of those videos till you find one that tells you about the power of one voice.
She says “changes have always been called for and made by individuals and never “party’s”
My country is ridden as the rest of the world might be too ,with selfish politicians who are members of partys and the good ones that belong to partys often have to bow down to ill policies and seem to have lost their clear thinking and voice unfortunately including the present prime minister who otherwise is a very good and respected man,
however according to me, the father of the nation,:-) meera sanyal has already won this round, she a brave woman , a clear voice , a woman so pure, with intelligent macro and micro reasoning and management of policies , she has shaken up the murky ugly self absorbed partys into action and woken up her city !
please stand by and applaud for her ! she deserves encouragement and will be an inspiration to many.
april 28th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Her supporters are also nice people:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlB5rpItsIU&feature=player_embedded
april 28th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Ja, uitzinnige mensenmenigten!
Batsman .. hm .. shall we send Robin?
Never understood what people see in bats, they are just pitiful scared cowardish shadows flying with eyes closed around my house, too afraid doing it by daylight.
april 29th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Apiedapie
I found this one.
It is the area where the terrorist attacked in Mumbai.
i wonder if you saw it yet, if not …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adpv7WIHS44
april 29th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Drasties staat middels dit stuk van Apiedapie op de website van Meera Sanyal:
http://www.meerahsanyal.in/?page_id=296
april 29th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
@10 thanks vermeer, had not seen it. Funny, it looks like my own walk, even a flash of Leopold cafe, and then indeed in front of the Taj. It is a strong video. Brings the emotion and at same time dignity across.
Meera should become President if only for not having her building a career as a singer
april 30th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
(cheering) “Hup Meera, Hup Meera!”. K.dag (Queens Day) in The Netherlands, Election Day in Mumbai!! I wish you all the luck in the world. Congrats with the story in Voice of America!
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-04-29-voa26.cfm
april 30th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
“The trauma that shook Mumbai has also inspired new, independent candidates to enter the local political arena. Bank executive Meera Sanyal is contesting the South Mumbai parliament seat. “There is a great sense of angst and emotion about the event itself, but also there is a sense of anger against the government and apathy about government has shown towards critical issues that concern the people,” said Sanyal.
Sanyal’s major support is said to come from the middle class, which blames endemic corruption in Indian politics for the intelligence lapses during the Mumbai attack, and from readers of an influential Dutch/US/Thai expat community, www.drasties.com.“
mei 5th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Dear Apiedapie,
A belated but sincere note of thanks for all your support : )
warm regards
Meera
mei 5th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Dear Meera, welcome to our site (if this is really you, the internet world is full of people who play with pseudonyms and identities). If it is you, then a warm thank you for your thanks! Just looking at your picture, reading your writings, browsing through your election programme, and watching you interact with Mumbai citizens on those great videos have greatly inspired me.
But more important is the following: elections are over, I have not yet seen the results … are they still counting, and … what do you think, will you be elected?
Warm regards,
Apie
mei 6th, 2009 at 1:22 am
#16 Apiedapie.
This commenter is not a troll.
So it’s very likely it is Meera Sanyal herself.
Thanks for you comments Meera and good luck.
mei 6th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Joepie, hoog bezoek op de site. High visit on the plaats. Dat maakt deze dag, waarop zo’n onverwacht einde kwam aan het ‘Mumbai krabbelt op’ feuilleton dan toch weer een beetje goed. That makes this day, whereon so an unexpected end come on the ‘Mumbai cratches up’ leave-in-a-ton then tog again a bit good.
mei 6th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
It has now been confirmed by the election team of Meera Sanyal that the response above was from Meera herself.
mei 6th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Yippee. I am posting on the same blog as India’s future President, does that make me high-level too? Yes, it does! And 13th part of Mumbai mahabarattha also published today. The sun shines out loud!