I am not someone who can boast of seen a lot. I have hardly seen twenty-five springs and don't even remember the first five of them. The ones that I remember are so much full of terror and death that I succumb to believe that India is an unsafe place to stay. The year my parents must have been celebrating my first birthday, the country burned under the Hindu- Sikh riots post the Indira Gandhi Murder. The impact it had on my family was that my elder brother who was six years old then, was shifted from his school, just because it was named Guru Gobind Singh Public School and hence got attacked by mob everyday.
I was in class 3 when some Tamil girl hung a bomb around her body and blowed away Rajiv Gandhi along with herself. I did not understand anything about terrorism or politics, all I understood was that 21st May 1991 is one more date I must remember for my G.K. exams. I had hardly crossed class 4 and entered class 5, when a mosque was broken in Ayodhya and there were riots all over. Bombs exploded in Mumbai. i remembered another date for G.K. exams 6th December 1992. I kept moving from one grade to another and so did the terror. One year in the Parliament, and another year in Varanasi. Once in Hyderabad and next in Ahmedabad. By the time I passed school, the World Trade Center was also demolished - a date that no one could forget 11th September. As i moved to college, the progress in bombs was alarming. They blasted local trains in Mumbai, markets in Delhi and ghats in Varanasi. Now that I work in an MNC, I even forget dates. Someone told me yesterday that there were six bomb blast incidents in the country in the last six months. And I don't remember the dates of any.
Has my memory become weak. Or i just don't care. Or may be I have accepted bomb blasts as part of my life and there are no more a surprise for me. Last week, some bombs exploded in Taj hotel in Mumbai and were followed by long hours of shootout. Hundreds died. How did I react? I watched the TV. I saw the TV and kept changing news channel to know which one had better screen shots. The channels knew I was doing that so they kept advertising each news item as their Exclusive news. It seemed like an action movie being watched live. Every move of the NSG was being shown by the media. The journalists portrayed themselves as brave men by using 40x zoom cameras from 4 km distance and completely unable to track the moves of the terrorists. After watching the news channels, I felt as if everyone in this country is useless and the only people doing good for the country are the one blabbering news on TV. After a couple of days, I just stopped watching the TV and preferred reading the papers.
After a long ordeal with a small group of 20 men, we were finally able to end the struggle. By then it had already cost us millions of rupees and hundreds of lives. We were patting the backs of the NSG which could end it all in 3 days. But then I thought how would he be feeling who sent these twenty men to run this show. He must be patting his own back and reciting inspiring stories of the Taj Massacre to the young pupils of how only 20 people can not only breach Indian security at all levels, but also keep them busy for three long days. I think it was a huge achievement for whoever planned it.
Now that it's over, all of us who were afraid of even going near the site in those three days are out on streets trying to blame someone or the other. The most easy target is obviously the politics. The ruling party becomes an easier target of the group. And politicians have another easy target to put blame - Pakistan. The ruling party asks some of its ministers to resign, and I don't understand what the hell will it change. Are the new ones more capable than the ones who were there. Has anyone of them passed a test that certifies them in combating terrorism? It's no use swapping a rotten egg with a less rotten egg. They will neither hatch nor make an omelet. Nevertheless, that at least gives people an impression that the government is doing something. Some people are too generalist to blame the entire politics, as if wishing for a divine system to replace the democracy. Only of those who are lighting candles now, cared to go out to polling booths and cast their votes. Anyways....
As for Pakistan, I really pity them. They are beaten by both sides. When they say that they do not know anything about LeT or their activities, believe me they are true. They hardly get an year of democracy and elections after a decade. Where do they have time to look into these issues. They are a little too busy to postpone the next military coup by another six months. They know that terrorists flourish in Pakistan, but they really can't do anything about it. They are getting their hotels blown away anyways. The bigger irony for them is that these are the same groups that they started who have become bigger powers than the government now.
Well, amongst all this blame game, one man completely walks away quietly. He comes out with a candle and blames politicians. He stands with a mic and a camera and shows us scenes. He discusses politics over the morning cup of tea and forgets about with the first flush in the toilet. It is the same man who was born with the Hindu Sikh riots and went to school to learn the dates of 21st May and 6th december. The man to whom the bombs have become a part of life and the best way he can think of escaping this to get out of this country. The man who believes that it's the job of the elite to blame the government, the job of the illiterate to vote and the job of criminals to get elected. No one blames this man. No one blames me. As if I am not involved. As if I don't matter in who rules in Delhi. Why is the blame not on me? Who is at fault and who will correct things?
