Sow and reap

We were all shell shocked by the terror attacks. This time they targeted anyone and everyone, Hindu or Muslim, rich or poor. What was our fault, we wondered. And what was their motive? They did not even have any set of demands.

As a friend aptly put it, every human has both the angel and the demon inside him/her. But if you look at India’s brand of politics over this new century, it has always tried to arouse the demons within us. It has appealed to the worst of the people’s sentiments, whipped up the worst of our passions, dividing us, creating doubts and uncertainties about others, and spreading hatred for others. It has caused the Gujarat carnage, the Orissa attacks, the Marathi-North Indian divide. And we have all allowed this to happen; some of us actively, many more passively. We have allowed the politicians to play with fire. And now we are all suffering as its gone out of control and burnt our own homes.

Let me make myself more clear. Whenever there are politics of negativism, of divisiveness, of fear and hatred, it is bound to cause only violence, destruction and mayhem. When we arouse the people’s worst sentiments, we are bound to get the worst results.

A simple example. When Raj Thackeray created this entire North Indian issue, most of my Marathi friends passively supported him. We do not agree with his methods, but we agree with what he says and demands, and hence we support him, they said. And they conveniently ignored the ends can never justify the means ideology. But what they forgot is Gaussian dynamics; that for every 95 of them who don’t support the methods, there are 5 who will end up supporting the methods too. And an innocent North Indian had to give up his life thanks to this. Isn’t that terrorism too? I am sure the Raj Thackeray supporters still don’t feel so (and this is the common man I am talking about, not the politicians). Its tragic, but not terrorism, they’ll say.

Similarly, what happened in Godhra and Orissa were all manifestations of Newtons laws. They were tragic, but not terrorism. (This, again, is the common man’s justification I am talking about, not the politicians).

Now reverse the story. The Muslims in India and Pakistan feel legitimately upset and angry over the Babri demolitions and over Gujarat. The politicians and religious leaders again exploit it and arouse their worst sentiments, asking them to retaliate, to show that they are no cowards, to show what will happen if anyone tries to attempt a Gujarat again. There are many who passively support the thought, but not the execution. And then again there’s the 5% who agrees with the execution. And then 26/11 happens. Tragic, but not terrorism?!

And then we wonder what we did to deserve this?!

Isn’t it time that we decide to throw away this politics of negativism and divisiveness? That instead of arousing the demons residing inside the people, we arouse the angels instead, that we arouse the best of human spirit, the spirit that we saw so much in action in Mumbai in the last three days. Lets remember that the same corrupt policemen who take bribes and what not also had no hesitation in risking and indeed laying down their lives for the city’s and country’s sake. Its just that their better self had been appealed to!

We all love the concept of a whole and united India. Lets just put it into practice, and I am sure the problem of terrorism will be a thing of the past.


- 'How noble this city must be, for we have spent 400 years trying to finish it off and we still have not succeeded.'

Dr Juvenal Urbino, Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

More on the terror attacks

A few of the barrage of thoughts storming me.

The most tragic scene of the entire saga was that of our poor lathi wielding havaldars bravely going inside CST to fight the AK47 and Kalashnikov wielding terrorists. Its indeed such a shame that inspite of Mumbai being repeatedly attacked by terrorists, our police force is not equipped with the latest weaponry which is at least at par with what the terrorists have, if not better. The best we had were the .303s and the ill fitting bullet proof vests wearing which Karkare and the rest laid down their lives. A bullet had even penetrated his helmet!! No helicopters, no infrareds, no night vision, no stun grenades, World War II guns, no bullet proof vests for the fire brigade (couldn’t they have at least flown those in from somewhere else, aren’t their lives important too?); forget protecting us, how the hell can one expect them to protect even themselves with this. Just like in med, the time when the maximum innocent lives can be saved is the first few hours, and it is the local police and the ATS alone which can do that. By the time the NSG is flown in, precious little can be done beyond flushing the terrorists without more collateral damage. Its too late for the innocents. Hopefully, modernization of the police force will be undertaken on an urgent basis now.

I didn’t find the news coverage irresponsible (of course I watched only NDTV and CN IBN) except for the CST rumors thing. Especially NDTV was brilliant, with Barkha and Srinivasan Jain doing a fantastic job. What I really liked was that they were channelising the people’s anger somewhat fruitfully. So Raj Thackeray was derided, with NDTV actually flashing that sms on TV. (In fact, when Bachhi Karkaria remarked that it was frightening was that a dozen terrorists could hold the city to ransom, Srinivasan remarked that if a dozen MNS hoodlums could do that, a dozen armed terrorists could do it as well!!). The North Indian-Mumbaiker divide was palpably broken. The public anger against the politicians, the gimmickry of BJP and Modi, the ineptitude of Shivraj Patil, were all given vent to. People’s minds are extremely mouldable at such a stage. It was good to see the channels acting responsibly and giving some positive energy and direction to the public anger. If the attacks manage to break the barriers of regional and religious divide which were growing exponentially, it might be a silver lining at the edge of a very very dark cloud.

And now, the politicians..sigh. Simply put, we got attacked because the will of the terrorists to damage our country was stronger than the will of the politicians to protect it.

One question keeps harrowing me. When will they learn? What, if not this, will it take for them to rise above narrow politics? Can’t they see that we have had enough? Do we really need to lynch a few of them before they come to their senses? Their response ranged from lackadaisical (read Shivraj Patil) to appallingly casual (RR Patils DDLJ dialogue of bade bade shahro mein chhoti chhoti baatein and Vilasrao’s Taj stroll with Riteish and RGV in toto) to downright hypocritical (BJP and Shiv Sena adulating Karkare).

Yes, I really feel we need to lynch a few of them.

As far as those blaming Pakistan for everything, the people in glasshouses thing applies. First lets set our own home in order. And just look at Thapar’s interview of Zardari. If there is one politician who sounded sincere amongst all the gamut of them, it was him. I believe no knee jerk reactions against Pakistan are needed. He and the common man in Pakistan are now as much a victim of terror as we are. He may not be able to deliver on all that he promises because of domestic compulsions and the hold of the Pak army, but his intentions sound genuine, which is more than can be said of our politicians. Lets give him a chance at least.

Ah Taj Ah..

If you ask anyone the international symbol of Mumbai, majority will say it’s the Gateway with the majestic Taj Palace heritage building on its backdrop. The foreign tourists will in fact say it’s the Taj with the Gateway in its view!

Yes, the Taj is special, in fact iconic, for every Mumbaiker. Not the Oberoi, not the Marriot, not Leela, not any other five star. Its only the Taj. Its Gothic architecture, its grand history, its location, the legacy of Jamshetji and the Tatas, I don’t know what, but it holds a very very special place in the hearts of every Mumbaiker. I remember the dreamy look with which I used to look towards it when I was a child, promising myself to someday have atleast a cup of coffee inside it shaan se, imagining how amazing it would be to spend a night in it. And I am sure this is a ubiquitous dream that has been cherished and shared by each and every Mumbaiker sometime or the other. The Taj has always represented to us as a sort of a symbol of our aspirations and of our success. And when I watched its domes burning on TV, it felt akin to Mumbai’s aspirations and dreams, of Mumbai’s spirit being up in flames.

But the Tatas have promised that they will rebuild the Taj, even if they have to begin right from scratch. And its time we Mumbaikers and Indians resolve to do the same for our city; to show that we may be battered and bruised, but we are definitely not broken. And then from the ashes will arise the invulnerable Taj Phoenix, more stable, more strong and yet even more majestic than before!!
Amen.