Mumbai was attacked. Perhaps India's worst ever. It is all over the media. EVERY ONE is talking about it since morning. So am I. As at 2140, I am irritated, frustrated, angry and perplexed. Suddenly everyone wants to not sit back and look at the drama, but stand up against it. Can someone PLEASE tell me what standing up against it means?
I do not want this kind of terror to plague my country either, but I am not in for a Rang de Basanti or a A Wednesday. A moment of extreme disgust does make me want to do something like that too, but on a more practical note... it's stupid, I cannot do it.
What else? Tell me... everybody who is saying 'raise you voice', what do you think should be done? If the authorities are sitting like jackasses and not raising THEIR voice, what should I do to change that? Vote? Yes, I am eligible this time and will exercise my right. Then what? I am sorry I am at my peak of cynicism today... but I really am feeling too helpless and frustrated. Ronak just sent an email and said that it is not the people or the physical loss that bothers him, but the rape of the concept of what a city/country/people represents that offends him. And I think I agree with him. We talk about the victims, but the truth remains that we are only bothered about people we know. Ok, I won't generalise. I'll talk about myself. It is the ideology behind it that bothers me.
And I feel torn. Yesterday I wrote about the dalits. Today I am writing about terrorism. And tomorrow I can write about the crime against women. Where does it end? How does it end? Will it ever end?
I hate to do this, but since morning I have been thinking about a discussion I had with friends in college a couple of weeks back. India is so burning with conflicts right now that we can easily see a civil war in the near future. Just have a bloody look at the pictures of one of the terrorists this time! He looks like one of us. Educated youth. What brainwashing must have gone into making him do what he is doing. The point is, if somebody could give him a reason to do that, can you imagine what people who are being ripped of basics of life can do?
I do not want this kind of terror to plague my country either, but I am not in for a Rang de Basanti or a A Wednesday. A moment of extreme disgust does make me want to do something like that too, but on a more practical note... it's stupid, I cannot do it.
What else? Tell me... everybody who is saying 'raise you voice', what do you think should be done? If the authorities are sitting like jackasses and not raising THEIR voice, what should I do to change that? Vote? Yes, I am eligible this time and will exercise my right. Then what? I am sorry I am at my peak of cynicism today... but I really am feeling too helpless and frustrated. Ronak just sent an email and said that it is not the people or the physical loss that bothers him, but the rape of the concept of what a city/country/people represents that offends him. And I think I agree with him. We talk about the victims, but the truth remains that we are only bothered about people we know. Ok, I won't generalise. I'll talk about myself. It is the ideology behind it that bothers me.
And I feel torn. Yesterday I wrote about the dalits. Today I am writing about terrorism. And tomorrow I can write about the crime against women. Where does it end? How does it end? Will it ever end?
I hate to do this, but since morning I have been thinking about a discussion I had with friends in college a couple of weeks back. India is so burning with conflicts right now that we can easily see a civil war in the near future. Just have a bloody look at the pictures of one of the terrorists this time! He looks like one of us. Educated youth. What brainwashing must have gone into making him do what he is doing. The point is, if somebody could give him a reason to do that, can you imagine what people who are being ripped of basics of life can do?
6 comments:
I don't know what to say! It's a sickening feeling.
It is..
It's just sad. And scary, as you wrote.
Switch over to CNN's coverage.
Rohit..
To CNN-IBN or CNN international? Because CNN-IBN is nothing different from the rest of the channels. Useless!
Raise our voices for what?For fear that we might be the victims of bomb blasts? If that is so, its useless. Nobody cares for our fears...We must stop fearing because if we are destined to be victims,we will be. If we are destined to leave this world, nobody can make us stay...
I am in complete agreement with what you have written here...
Unfortunately raising a voice is taken literally and everyone just wants to talk and then talk about something else once we find something else to talk about !
Here is what i suggest, and I think we can do it too...
Write to
1. Ministry of Home Affairs (http://mha.gov.in/)
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India
North Block, New Delhi - 110001
Tel. Nos. 23092011 & 23092161
Fax Nos. 23093750 & 23092398
2. The Prime Minister's Office
(http://pmindia.gov.in/rti.htm)
3. http://goidirectory.nic.in/
and ask for why do they think India is such an easy target, and what are the actions they have taken to ensure that we are safe?
I think the questions can be worked out, as they have to be objective in nature to be answered and its going to take time, but I have a feeling that the answers will come ! This is what I personally feel that has a potential to change, as it challenges the doers for what they are responsible for... or may be not, but I think if everyone who reads your blog, or mine, or blogs at some level or the other writes to them something will happen !!!
The more difficult thing would be to make people write a letter, and "post" it after putting a stamp on it..
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