As the city comes together today to salute those that fought the good fight even as it celebrates its own ability to take on adversity and get up once again, Mumbaikars in the UAE too will unite and remember.

It’s not every cup that cheers. Some are meant to serve somber reminders of man’s aberrations
and the strength that helps
goodness prevail.

This cup — or mug, to be precise — comes from a trio of Mumbaikars in Dubai. “Salute the spirit of Mumbai,” the legend on it says. “Full, warm and resilient,” it adds in salutation to those who perished in the terrorist attack in the city on November 26 last year.

Chitra, Prakash and Prateek speak of shock, anger and helplessness. More importantly, ahead of the first anniversary of the carnage, they speak of Mumbai’s solidarity.

“For some the memories will never fade,” they say in a neat pamphlet tagged to the mug. “However, every citizen of Mumbai now shares a new determination: Never
buckle down!”

They urge us to celebrate the spirit of  Mumbai this year. “Use this cup everyday, or just display it with pride. Make it your very own salute to the resilience of a city and its people.”

Hands reach out in a logo that says “Mumbai United”.  Indeed, not every cup cheers. But this one takes us to William Faulkner’s epigrammatic Nobel acceptance line: “I believe that man will not merely endure; he will prevail.”

There is no religion today except that of being a citizen of this city. No caste, no creed, no rich man, poor man, beggar, thief, all 15 million bound together by the caprice of destiny and the ticking of the clock.

The mood will be somber and so it should. Wherever people gather there will be sense of what might have been if…if. Ifff.

patrick@khaleejtimes.com