I’ve been busy this week with work, and have become a bit selfish I guess in going about my routine and praying that I do well at work, etc. etc.

I was so selfish that till about a few hours ago, I did not fully comprehend the amount of havoc the rains had been causing in Mumbai. I had talked to Praneet a couple of days ago when he told me there was flooding in the city and that he had to stay overnight at work, and I joked around with him about how it wasnt as cool as me getting to stay back at work a couple of years ago when NYC was shrouded in darkness because of a massive power outage.

Then Praneet didn’t come on to chat for the next couple of days, and I was so caught up I didn’t give more than a cursory thought to if he was ok… only today when I read about the destruction in Bombay did I start really panicking about how he was doing (and about another cousin of mine, GK, who lives there too, and might’ve actually been on an offshore rig).

From what I found out from family back home, both of them are apparently ok and just out-of-reach because of the lack of communications connectivity all over that city. Yet, the panic that first set in reminded me of how easily we all become involved within our own lives, and how easily we can lose track of the world around us till something devestating happens to shock us out of our selfish reverie.

Is that why the world in general seems to be going through a lot of major catastrophes (both man-made and natural) lately? Have the people of the world become so caught up in the self-gratifying routines of their daily grind that we have to be constantly woken up with a jolt by these horrifying events?

I pray every morning, but I am ashamed to say that even those prayers have slowly evolved into uninvolved, me-first recordings which I get through as fast as possible because I am usually rushing for a train/bus/life. Maybe I should stop and take time to actually talk to God again from tommorrow, thanking him for keeping my loved one’s safe and letting him know that I will try and get back in touch with the rest of the life around me, instead of constantly shuttling between the routine stops of me and myself.