Time to Stand Up for yourself

Forgiving a Terrorist is left to GOD. But fixing their appointment with GOD is our responsibility.
                          ---INDIAN ARMY---

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My nephew Krishang turned 4 today. In the midst of his birthday celebrations, our constant fixation with the news channels continued as we watched the terror drama unfold in Mumbai. Amidst the reports of heroics by the Indian Armed Forces, the NSG and the Marine Commandos, we heard the news of another child who celebrates his birthday today, with the biggest tragedy of his life.

Terrorists killed all 5 hostages held at Nariman House. Among the dead, were this little Israeli child's parents (age of the child unknown, but from the pictures, he appears 1-2 yrs old). For two days, India and the rest of the world have scrapped their routine television schedules to watch the latest developments taking place in South Mumbai's landmark as well as elite hotels.  The Taj Mahal Palace, Oberoi and Trident are household names now, if not earlier. The world is watching us. Maybe because of the number of people from various nationalities who were attacked. 


And we have the familiar sights yet again. Politicians raking political mileage out of all this. I've been listening to this crap throughout this entire ordeal. L.K. Advani, Shivraj Patil, Pranab Mukherjee, Narendra Modi....the list of name callers goes on and on. I have enormous respect for Manmohan Singh as an economist. But as the leader of this country, I think he's a hopeless failure, these terror attacks notwithstanding. 

The whole blogosphere is angry. Including myself. Why shouldn't we be? Can't we be safe in our country and our home? I am angry not with just the political blame game. I am angry with myself for being a silent witness to all this name calling and unkept promises by the so called leaders. I have questions....I have no answers.

Where the hell is Raj Thackeray now when innocent lives were lost in "his" Mumbai? Where are his MNS supporters now?

Is it just me, or the terrorists seem much more united in their cause than we as a country seem to be? Aren't we our biggest enemies in that case?

L.K.Advani, Jaswant Singh, Narendra Modi, Shivraj Patil, R.R. Patil were all shown at the scene of terror for a fleeting glance when they came to make their poilitical statements. They wasted all that money to come down to Mumbai and give us all that crap and stand at safe distance from the scenes of horror to address the media to use this as campaigning platform?

How many more terrorist attacks before we learn to demand action from these incompetent men at the helm of the affairs of our country? How many more days will we go back to chasing our materialistic dreams and brush aside things that concern all of us, by saying "The Governement should have done so and so"?

Is it not our duty to keep the government on its toes and make it responsible to take action against every reasonable grieviance we have? Why should we be helped if we are not ready to stand together and raise our voices and ask for what is rightfully ours?

How many times have we complained about the bad road conditions on our way to work/college etc. and never bother to demand the government to provide us what has been promised?? Why do we keep using those bad roads, or in other case, use other roads, waiting for the government to take steps when it has time?

If we cant stand together and demand for our basic rights, why do we expect the government to do anything else on the much larger issues?

We complain about non-availabilty of young, honest, dynamic, educated leaders to lead our country. How many of the people who actually fit that profile, would rather lead this country than run the affairs of a Multi-million dollar MNC?

Why do most parents encourage their children to become lawyers, doctors, engineers, chartered accountants? Why not something bigger? Like the Prime Minister of the World's Largest Democracy?

It is such an irony that even I am a coward when it comes to answering these questions. These have been troubling me throughout the day as I sat there listening to chilling accounts of horrific tales that are being told in Mumbai. Its not about religion, nor nationality. Nor caste, nor status. 

Its about human life. 

And how its value seems to get depreciated in the hustle and bustle of daily life. 
Can Rs 1 Crore for the families of the brave martyred soldiers diminish their pain that they are feeling now? 
Can those few thousands of Rupees repair the fractured souls of the people who went through this ordeal?
What goes on inside a terrorist's mind to kill someone else in flesh and blood? What?

I can go on and on and on. Writing here might not serve any greater purpose than to serve as a medium to vent my ire. I know I have been shaken like never before. 9/11 was a spectacle for me, something I had witnessed and shrugged off, as a carefree teenager. 26/11 cannot be that. For now, the world has changed many folds. 

Do we want our children to grow up in a hostile environment with a constant fear for their life? 

Do we want to blame particular communities and countries for our sufferrings, forever and ever, and just witness all this until it reaches our very doorstep?

Do we want to be just passive watchers and just comment from the sidelines thinking, "Oh it has happened somewhere else, lets think of something more important, like say, the recession".


Do we want to still wait for the government to keep playing dirty political games, talk only about elections, take out extensive rallies with our hard earned money and not give us basic like street lights?

Or do we now start demanding them to give us what we as tax paying citizens of this country deserve and make our voices heard?

After all, even we deserve the chance to live our life free of fear. If the politicians deserve the elite security forces, can the rest of the 1 billion odd population just settle with less than mediocre??


ARE WE GOING TO WAIT FOR ANOTHER INCIDENT TO SHAKE US AND JUST WRITE OUR MINDS OUT, OR ARE WE GOING TO TAKE SOME ACTION??

ARE WE??
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17 Observations:

  1. Jiggy said...:

    I hope Smriti this anger, this rage that we are experiencing today does not fade with time. Public memory is short, and that is what I fear.
    I couldn't agree more with you that the general public is equally at fault as the government. We, the people of this country, love taking the easier route by slandering the politicians, the police, etc. We always ask for our rights, never fulfill our duties.
    We need to bring about a change in the society. And the time is now, or else the country will be a complete wreck pretty soon.

  1. Priya Joyce said...:

    I agree to ya cumpletely...I actually that wen these politicians come ther coverage itself shud not be taken..huh! who the hell wants a politically correct statement...
    bloody F**k..I am sorry to take out aall ma anger out here...

    I am not able to forgive these...
    My INDIA has been attacked..how can I?

  1. Anonymous said...:

    hey smrithi...
    so many posts related to this,
    and all have one common denominator, that is the anguish and the hatred, the rage and the shock...
    its a political war now, rather than finding the culprits, its a blame game...we need to be helping the wounded, the ones who lost loved ones...
    we need to change... the society needs to change too...better efforts to stop such attacks(god forbid, i hope there isn't another)...the time is now indeed...

  1. anger showen ...:(...i dont know how to express my anger :(..

    urs..hemu..

  1. Cяystal said...:

    Its just like the stuff I wrote..but Smriti..we're showing off our anger over here..can we do anything later in the long run?
    And NO..we wn't wait for anything more..btw..come read the comment of Suresh Kumar on my blog..very thought provoking.
    Gonna follow your blog,dear..try doing the same if you wish to stay in candid!

  1. alok said...:
    This comment has been removed by the author.
  1. alok said...:

    I can understand the anger, but at the same time its quite obvious that everyone of us here has a role to play and we (as the citizen) have to make note of only one thing that we must not forget what took the lives of the innocents? The candle we light should burn until we accomplish our tasks to fight against terrorism.

    The only people who are responsible and accountable for these mishaps in this country are non-other than some of our own politicians and bureaucrats. Their highly indifferent attitude, negligence on duty, lack of knowledge on critical situations and above all the inability to take decisions for what we see could have prevented these kind of situations at first hand. For example, the top ministers of the state are like hopeless jerks; they even don’t know how disgustingly they handle media & pass information, totally out of focus. And citizens, now have a bigger challenge to face in terms of identifying the right leadership. We must not let down while exercising ‘the power of vote’. Which means together we can make the difference and we are not helpless yet and we shouldn’t underestimate ourselves.

  1. Anonymous said...:

    Do we want to blame particular communities and countries for our sufferrings, forever and ever, and just witness all this until it reaches our very doorstep?
    It has reached our doorstep long back ...fear gives way only to fear ..a glance of doubt mistrust...alienation and discrimination,,,,humans everywhere are victims of these feelings, even the ones who cause it and that's where solution to every problem lies...you deny something, you neglect something and one day it comes back to you like a demon....no single individual is responsible for it....we when on fine day started identifying ourselves to tags , felt a irreplacable need for them and survival now without those things is a nightmare. and we are living that very nightmare......

  1. Unknown said...:

    Wats the use writing all this???Whats the use blogging about this issue?? What did u get by hearing what those so-called 'Leaders' of the country had to say abt it??? What did u get by watching the war on TV??? What did u get by discussing it with frens?????
    According to me, its all funny... Mah brother and me were so agitated,we both felt like we were watchin an on-going disastrous Cricket test match and we kept checking the score from time to time.
    It was disgusting...
    The media talks only abt the Oberoi and Taj victims...Not about the CST and other roadside victims who got shot...and we listen to watever they have to say!!!!Hypocrites are we????
    The so-called Leaders are ready to resign at the drop of a hat now when we question their abilities...But none of them are thinking about wat can be done in the future to avoid such things!!! Why are we like this????
    What are we gonna get by voicing an opinion in the blogoshpere???
    I wanna say only 1 thing in the end... Like Mah friend Smriti said- "We complain about non-availabilty of young, honest, dynamic, educated leaders to lead our country. How many of the people who actually fit that profile, would rather lead this country than run the affairs of a Multi-million dollar MNC?
    Why do most parents encourage their children to become lawyers, doctors, engineers, chartered accountants? Why not something bigger? Like the Prime Minister of the World's Largest Democracy?"

    In the end... its no use talking and writing... Action is wat is required here... not the words!!!!!

  1. I cant find it in me to rant, or yell it just hurts to much. all i can think of again and again is all that human potential lost, all those lives, both of the victims and the terrorist. I wish the cycle would end.

  1. aqua gurl said...:

    the title just says it all.
    Its right to react this way and i bet everyone in mumbai is reacting in the exact same way.
    All i'd say is-this is the time for the gov to shake themselves up b4 the people make they're life hell.

  1. Anil Sawan said...:

    i wish the answer is NO.

  1. Unknown said...:

    We need action now.

  1. Reflections said...:

    Smriti....I share Diva anger against the hypocrisy. I'd go as far as to say that the whole system is corrupted....even if a clean guy steps in to take the helm he would soon be kicked out if he doesnt knuckle down or sucked in.
    Its a vicious circle:-(.

  1. Reflections said...:

    I wanted to ask u whether u saw my comments in ur "Ads u must watch" post coz u havent replied as yet:-)

  1. Salomie said...:

    Very powerful post! I can't answer those questions too, but I'm just reminded of my favourite Gandhi quote: Be the change you want to see. I think this applies in every facet of life: you should behave in the way you want others to behave, and I think that slowly, changes for the better can happen.

    You've been awarded, by the way.... :)

  1. Renu said...:

    Very valid questions, but now we need answers and action.

 
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