Posted from my drafts - written a while ago- of course there have been many developments after this but those have been saved for part II.
It's been a while since I posted something new around here and I was bubbling with so many delightful incidents to spin my stories around. But alas! The past five days have left me too sober to think about anything other than the state of affairs in my home country. It is a rude awakening for folks like me who tend to complain (or crib) at the drop of a feather. For the past few days, I have been looking at my life with the eye of an insufferable on the borderline of indulging in self-pity. But all my little misgivings with life have seemed to have shied away in the wake of the magnitude of what happened at Mumbai. This entire Thanksgiving, I have been glued to the couch in front of the TV and after the international telecast on CNN got cut, I have been drinking in the inspiring journalism on NDTV 24X7 Live. Sometimes my heart feels so numb that my mind starts playing tricks on me and I drift into a trance where I am certain I have imagined it all. If only life could be that fair!
In the past three decades, "We, the (Indian) people" - think we have been through it all - from watching riots break out outside our homes on various occasions including brutal assassinations of at least two prime ministers, having some of the most terrible politicians history could have ever seen rule over our land, observe passively one tragedy after the other engulf the country - Bhopal gas leak, religion/caste centric riots, slanders and wars, natural calamities like earthquakes and tsunamis claiming thousands of lives, - to being thrown in a world where the air we breathe is deemed unfit according to international health standards. Of course, Indians are a very resilient lot. How else could we have borne all this? Whatever happens, L-I-F-E goes on. Correction - Life has to go on. We are a developing country after all, who cannot afford to take some time off for ourselves for mourning, can we? Whether that is a good thing or not is debatable but there is no refuting the fact. So deep down in your heart, when you have this smug feeling about adversity and wonder what could be worse, along comes a reminder of terror that sweeps you off your wit's end. To hear about "something" that happened in the news is one thing and to actually experience it live as the horror revealed itself little by little over three excruciatingly long days is a different dimension of fear altogether.
May be that is what makes our heart wrench when we hear the words 9/11 to this day many years later and it is the same familiar feeling that is gripping our souls today about Mumbai.
May be that is what has rekindled the flame of revolution in the hearts of the youth in Mumbai.
May be that is what the media has decided to showcase in their fight against dirty politics.
The "media" have been typecast as news-hungry gossip-mongers since forever of course. But akin to all other things in life, "not all" media is bad, right? We expect radical changes, then we'd better get used to the fact that positive journalism can act as a fast-acting catalyst. After all, life is all about taking risks and shattering the umbrella of "conventionalism". If I may say so, the only lucrative outcome of this tragedy is that India has learnt to recognize "both" of its worst enemies - the "religion-less" terrorists themselves and internal politics leading to costly mistakes. The citizens have risen and taken it upon themselves to ask precise questions - "Why were the intelligence reports from the U.S. ignored? What took the NSG commandoes more than 7 hours to reach the location? Why aren't our cops better trained/equipped to handle chaotic, dangerous situations?" The past has to be dug up and cleansed thoroughly in order to usher in the new "tomorrow". Security analysts in the U.S. admit that the stand that U.S. has always taken against India-Pakistan tensions cannot continue to be played by the rule-book anymore.
Looking ahead...Many were the images of carnage that moved us to tears but one of the most striking images that brought with it a breath of fresh life-saving air is that of the citizens (people) holding candles in the dark of the night (some until as late as 1:00 a.m. in the morning). Their glowing angry faces represents the future of India, I thought. I hear them talk day in day out in what is now being called as "We, the people - Citizen's Movement" and I'm transfixed by how lucid they are in expressing their opinions. Why does the voice of the common "man" whose average intelligence is much higher than people-who-shall-not-be-named get buried beneath all those bureaucratic blankets? Not anymore, I pray! The vigil has begun inside the country but what can we, who are away in greener pastures, do? The inability to do anything has been ravaging my being. I say to myself - there could be something we could do to bring about a radical change too. I examine my conscience to look for answers to whether I've inadvertently stepped into the shoes of the clan of the younger generation that decided "enough is enough" a long time ago and fled to greener pastures. I have an urge to not just sit around pondering over this but actually do something. I realize every small step will be one step closer to the goal and the flame that the folks in Mumbai lit up, is blazing through every Indian's heart.
May the flame remain immortal!
