I am extremely angry and like a volcano can erupt at any moment.
I am in grief – the intensity of which cannot be articulated.
I am experiencing Himalayan helplessness and I am devastated.
At the moment, I am a bundle of all sorts of complex and contradictory emotions.
As a community we have lost count of such events. We have lost count of lives that are affected. We conveniently forget the pain and suffering. We watch the bloody scenes with hell lot of interest. We discuss and keep on discussing. We never act.
How many bomb blasts have rocked India in last decade? How many people have died and how may live through it with a shock? How many dreams shatter and how much fundamentalism is seeded through such events? How it teaches us to distrust every stranger? How?
Earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones ….. the destruction is not new to us. For generations humanity has experienced it with awe, anger and surrender. The fear of unexpected attack is part of life. But human beings are crueler than nature. Nature makes and takes it back. Human beings can only take it back, they can never make it.
Fundamentalism is labeled with religion – media calls it Islamic Fundamentalism, Hindu Fundamentalism and so on. Let us come clean on this. Any act of fanaticism, fundamentalism is absolutely wrong. Bomb is a bomb and it takes away lives. One bomb, one Fundamentalism cannot be better than the other – both are equally worst. It is not only the quantity of destruction but also the intention of the action. Any violence aimed at innocents because they belong to certain religion, country, class, caste; gender, ethnicity … is unwarranted. Any kind of Fundamentalism should be done away with immediately and decisively. People should be given chance to correct mistakes, but not at the cost of others’ lives. The question ‘If they killed hundreds with bombs, why can’t we kill a dozen?’ – is wrong ideologically, philosophically, practically, legally, rationally, emotionally, spiritually … wrong from all sides. Never support such a destructive idea.
In a way we deserve it. The society who laughs, claps, appreciates and quotes Munnabhai (as if he is Gandhi of the present) forgetting that he is convicted by judiciary - has no right to complain. A person who has killed people by his rash driving, hunted protected animal gets welcome as a hero by mad crowds…. they do not have right to complain. A known drug addict who was celebrating ‘success’ within a month of his father’s death is listened to (about his girlfriends probably!) with attention. The nation is interested in who he is going to marry next … has no right to complain. A police commissioner of the city, whose appointment is questioned in the court, he still is the commissioner of the city and we all accept it .. . We do not have any right to complain. A person jailed for corruption becomes a minister and gets all the luxuries one can dream of …. those who accept it do not have right to complain. A nation where political parties have difference of opinion on whether to ‘forgive’ a terrorist for the attack on the parliament …. No, we do not have right to complain.
It is countless because it is all of us …. It is definitely most of us. We choose to be just spectators, and when it affects us we are dead, so we cannot protest, we cannot complain. We choose to feel safe, because ‘it is happening somewhere out there’. We choose to blame someone else, because that is the easiest thing to do. We are intelligent enough to say ‘what should have or have not happened’ but never active enough to make it happen or stop it happening.
Our earlier generations had a dream to make this society better. They dreamt of a strong India with justice, peace, freedom, food security, equity. They gave up their comforts and some gave up their life to make India strong. The flag had to be carried on by next generations. But with freedom, we became selfish and reckless. Looking at the present scenario I realize that I have not contributed to the positive change with my utmost capacity. I am guilty of not actively participating in the movement of change. I am guilty of not resisting the wrong at the right moment. I am guilty of allowing the helplessness to influence me. I am guilty of trying to fight with the system by becoming integral part of the system.
Let us commit ourselves to a cause. Let us create a better world not only for future generations but even for ourselves. Individuals too can make a great change with their determination and commitment. Let us act – now and here. Are you with me?
What you expressed is outburst of attack on mumbai. We all are so disturbed that there is hardly any words.But you rightly said that this is high time to act on real issues.Mere anger and taking sides will not solve problem. And we must be ready to sacrify lives. Israel is exampalary.I am against Media these days. in such situations they create more panic than redress issues.Some of our friens in Media do acted sensibaly. i am with you on this cauze.
ReplyDeleteYes, I am with you. I feel I must become a totally peaceful person.. only then, world will ever become a peaceful place.. Peaceful beings make a peaceful world. But asking others to become peaceful, invariably generates more trouble!! So, time to turn within and ask some very basic questions from ourselves..
ReplyDeleteYes Savita tai, I'm with u.... u have expressed it right... The Terrorists have no religion, I agree... but they do have ideology... "The Ideology of Terrorism"...! & the terrorism can't be destroyed without understanding that ideology...that is the truth we should understand & act upon...
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We are Extremely Proud of those Policemen who laid their lives while defending our Dear Motherland from Jihadi Terrorists on 26 November 2008, who took bullets in chest for us... our Proud & sentimental Tribute to those each & everyone....
मुंबई को जिहादी आतन्कीयों से बचातेसमय 26 नवंबर 2008 को शहिद हुए हर पुलिस कर्मियोंको वि्नम्र प्रणाम......!
Yes Savita. I am with you. Terrorism is claiming lives of innocent people. I heard the terrorists were young boys aged at 20-25. I sometimes feel what made them so mad to kill people at their the cost of their own life.
ReplyDeleteYes. I am with you. Your every word is right. We are very proud of those who laid their innocent lives.
ReplyDeleteYes Savita, what you have said is absolutely correct. But to motivate and activate people you must provide - or at least suggest - a clear cut program like Bapuji had slated.
ReplyDeleteInstead of just asking everybody to love his country, he asked them to spin and wear Khadi, to prepare salt, to boycott foreign goods. Every such act in itself was a very small step but all such small steps and programs uprooted the mighty empire on which the sun never had set.
Like him, we can certainly turn the tide if we follow his teaching and strategies too.
Yes, we all are struggling over what action/s to take. Evolving clear prgoram on mass scale needs a different kind of leadership capacity - which as you rightly pointed out Gandhiji had. But now we can't afford to wait for a Messiah to come and save us. People can share their individual 'actions' - then some movement may (or may not unfortunately) emerge....
ReplyDeleteYes,Savita,Iam with you.You have rightly expressed the feelings of people who want to do something but donot know what exactly to do.
ReplyDeleteOur brave policemen,soldiers died for us.Hundreds of innocent people killed by a few terrorists.This country of 120crs of people can do nothing but just watch tamasha?
Shame upon us.Shame upon useless politicians!
WE MUST UNITE TO FIGHT FOR JUSTICE.
We must insist that unless and untill following things(to quote a few) are done,within a maximum period of 1 month,we are not going to listen to any of ur election campaigns.
1.Formation of central agency to combat terrorism consisting of experienced police personnels like
J.Rebeiro,Arvind Inamdar,Kiran Bedi
and the like.ITS IMMEDIATE ACTIVATION.
2.Thorough training programmes for police force.Providing them with advanced weapons,bulletproof jackets IMMEDIATELY.
3.All public festivals like Ganapati,Garaba,Navratri etc.to be stopped immediately.Energy of the policeforce to be channelised for really important things and not just for escorting politicians or such public frenzies.
4.No more security expenditure on
politicians.Let them live common peoples" life.They are our representatives.
If we really care for those who fought for us and died for us,WE SHOULD NOT STOP TILL OUR GOAL IS ACHIEVED.
SO,as responsible citizens of India let us plunge into action NOW.
Vandana Pradhan.
Thanks Vandana for sharing your ideas. I believe we are going through the same cycle for last many years. Let us not forget that 'we have made the politicians the way we needed them'. Making one or two persons scapegoat will not solve the problem. Bringing people together or governing people is not an easy job in India. Unless we make changes in ourselves (different levels, different categories, different aspects...) this will continue to happen again. I think expecting others to change is one part of the story. Let each one of us share what changes we are making in our lives, our responses so that combat against terrorism gets more meaningful. Let us take care that it is not just a temporary emotional outburst. Let us share our actions, and one of it may click and ripe depending on the demands of the situation.
ReplyDeleteGood luck.
I AM DEFINITELY WITH U
ReplyDeleteupto now lot has been spoken and commented upon but nothing concrete is coming up from the masses. India has lot of young and dynamic energy but in a scattered form. cant something be done to bring them together and synergise their efforts. we need urgently to build strong platforms to pursue various issues. for eg. today everyone talks and agrees about expenses incurred on security of various political leaders who really do not deserve it at all. In fact some of them have a criminal background too! cant we have a forum which can take up this issue (out of the various issues) and pursue it rigorously until the service rules providing such security is amended?
What i am confident is that if strong personalities like Arvind Inamdar, shobha de,
kiran bedi or there may be many other unsung heroes from various fields like lawyers and journalists who can influence people, call upon the masses to act under their able leadership the whole nation would join them in their mission.
also media should be urged to come forward to help such organisations instead of dramatising the crime reports and showing them over and over again.
this and many other issues can be dealt with by mass participation which can build up pressure and expedite the process. but the only hitch is to begin with.
thanks disha. different people are trying out different actions. some time in future, i will present the compilation, if my friends give me the permission
ReplyDeleteWhat happended Savita. Nothing on your blog for a long time. Busy reading some book is it.
ReplyDeletei m certainly with u.i also do not believe in fundamentalism but people r becoming fundamentalist is a fact. all d terrorists r muslims & that too pakistanis is also d fact.
ReplyDeletesecularism has ruined this country to such an extent that it is beyond repair. before fighting against terrorism we must shoulder d resposibility, take d blame on ourselves and like true patriot let us come together be united & fightfor d cause.
everybody says that we must act but how?what should be d line of action?&a million dollar question is who will lead d country?
people r awakened,people r coming up with good suggestions but we r all confused, fragmented.
everyday i pray to d god from d depth of my heart to send dynamic, unselfish leader like chanakya who will unite d country and lead d nation.
here r some of my suggestions wich came into my mind.
-mr. n modi or dr. kiran bedi should take d lead.
as far as mumbai is concerned it should be governed by mumbaikars, have its own policeforce.
-formation of new party having people from non politicalbackground.
-make d government to act using rti.
hoping for d best.
Very nice article. Thoughtful and To-the-point. We all are responsible for scenarios like this. We do not vote and think of election's day as another day-off. It is because of this, that shameless, corrupt, spineless, criminal, illiterate people are being elected as leaders time and again. And these eunuchs are causing India a great deal of trouble. But, we as citizens of India, fail to take any solid action against the situation. It is rightly said that, 'We get what we deserve'
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