I see four maybe five vultures ....

It has been so many days after the 26/11 Mumbai Terror Strike and life is NOT business as usual. The tightened security at work place and malls. The security personnel frisking the general public with a nervousness which is palpable, almost like a prayer to the Almighty no terrorists on my duty shift please. The common people are venting their frustration in discussions at home and workplaces alike. There is a outpour of emotions in blogs, email forwards and sms campaigns. But behind all the anger and furore against the system, there is a quiet feeling of desperation and resignation when will this menace of terrorism strike us again.

The protest rallies across the countries, the outburst against the political class and a surprisingly persistent sense of outrage of what happened to the innocent citizens in the heart of the most elite urban community in the country with such brazen brutality. It seems finally the veil of cynicism and callousness has been lifted from the usually cynical middle class India but at what price is the question before us.

If I had to imagine the carnage of the 26/11 terror strike, I can imagine a pack of vultures circling in the sky above seeing the destruction and the dead. I term them vultures all of them have an agenda in this senseless devastation. I saw four maybe five vultures in the sky and they were:-

Media

The TV channels vitually competed in 59 hours terror courage with exclusive shots, giving out tactical information and zooming on the commando locations. Thursting mikes into harrowed rescued hostages, asking a man who lost 6 members of his family with complete sympathy with most gycerine tears "Kaisa lag raha hai aapko". It was the most voyeuristic reality TV scenario come true for the journalist brigade. The deaths at Cama Hospital and CST train station was sidelined in order to focus on the more elite Taj and Oberoi Hotel victims.

Bureaucrats

Before going to the favourite and obvious punching bags the politicans, there is a huge, inefficient, corrupt, bourgeois class of bureaucrats who are complict with the politcian class who undercut the quality of bullet proof jackets, arms and ammunition. The intelligence failures are as much the responsibility of the national security advisor and the home secretary as much as the ruling ministers. But the bureaucrats have perfected the art of stealth and the public doesnt hold them as accountable as they should be.

Politicians

I would not like to add much, they have been maligned in most cases rightly so. The former CM of Maharashtra taking Bollywood directors for terror tourism trip, to ruling CMs saying dogs would not go to a martyr's house and the reappointment of deputy CM who was discarded from the cabinet for alleged role in the Telgi Stamp paper case. The main opposition party did not leave the opportunity to exploit the terrorist fears for electoral gains. It is heartening to see the people who went in for the state assembly polls gave a fitting reply in Delhi, Rajasthan and Mizoram.

Neighbouring Countries

It is well know that Pakistan, Bangladesh or atleast elements in these nations have a role in the terror strikes in India. The volte face by the Foreign Minister of Pakistan about sending the ISI chief to India and the "stateless actors" statement by President Zardari shows the utter lack of sincerity these countries have towards the so called war against terror. Although a direct miltary strike is not a viable option, a strong economic and diplomatic campaign must be launched by India to keep these nosy neighbours under check.

Earlier in this piece, I said I see four maybe five vultures, so what constitutes the fifth vulture ?

All of Us

The reason, ironically I put the common people who sufferred from the terrorist attacks in the same bracket of conspirators who failed the country is because of the indifference which was seen by the middle class when bombs burst in trains, buses we just acted like ostriches burying the head in the sand. When hundreds die in Kashmir and the North East, we never bothered about those lives or even the riots in Gujarat.

Ending on a Positive note

But it is hearting to see that indifference melt away and there is some channelising of that outrage and politicians have been pushed into a corner and some accountability has emerged. The people should continue to keep pushing the system to take action and make India a safer place. The spirit of Mumbai is not just picking up the pieces and going to work the next day. The Spirit of not just Mumbai but of entire India lies in taking up onus and becoming the change We seek.

Let us reclaim our humanity....

The recent terror strike on Mumbai has affected each one of us in a very deep and personal way unlike the past. The spectacle of seeing terror holding fort of our lives for 59 long excruciating hours was nothing like the country has ever seen before.  I will be honest, I have seen previous reports of bomb blasts and just treated it as a statistic, brushed it aside and thinking it will not happen to me.  

But this time it was very different and I became to really feel the hurt and anger within. To see husbands, sons, mothers massacred senselessly by a group of psychotic youngsters ( I refuse to even call them misguided or brainwashed anymore) was too much to take. 

I even began to contemplate that there should be a strong response to destroy all these people involved, enactment of tougher laws, extreme surveillance and exterminate the root of these evil even at the cost of some collateral damage including a few innocents losing their human rights. To be candid, I felt like a monster with a strong sense of rage bordering on ill-tolerance.

The thing which is very tempting, which a section of right wing politicians who shall choose to exploit the demonization of members of the minority community and paint them all with a single brush. Quite poignantly, I happen to see the movie 'Aamir' yesterday, it is about an educated Muslim middle class gentleman who rejects terrorism and prefers death risking his family's safety. All terrorism and unrest has its roots in class inequalities namely lack of education, poverty and access to a better future.

The nation today is outraged. But How do we achieve something constructive out of this collective rage as a nation is the question before us. The media and the people have gone on to bash the politicians and police.  I hope that this does not fritter into  a frivolous blame game and we get over this trauma over the weekend and start going on with life as usual. If that happens it will be most sad aspect of urban cynicism.

What India needs is that people show a strong sense of solidarity and keep pushing the establishment to take corrective action and ensure change takes place in the system, instead just being arm chair critics.

The focus areas for the government is choking the finances of these terror organizations, countries to collaborate and disassemble the training centres and bring people to justice. The operational aspects involve improving the intelligence networks, arming the forces adequately. Secondly the government must ensure that people have access to education, reduce unemployment and ensure all sections of society in this country succeed in the India growth story.

The title of this post is let us reclaim our humanity …. the reason I say so is that we should neither become too cynical and take inaction or swing to the other extreme and become bigots and set off a vicious cycle of hate and terror.

Seems a fairy tale doesn't it ?? Do you think this will happen over night in a short haul, not likely at all. The answer is NO. The politicians of India will listen to you only if you are part of a vote bank... so let us became a single VOTEBANK which will only vote for politicians who can bring this change in handling terrorism and ensuring security. Let this day not forgotten by all of us.