It started with the blasts of March '93. Since then buildings, the stock exchange, trains, buses and people have been targeted. Governments have come and gone, the city has been renamed and at least one vada pav sammelan has been held. The city is struck, again and again but no one ever quite brings it to its knees. Not the rain gods, not the terrorists.
It is amazing how we get back to work, ignoring our day to day problems, forgetting that meteors strike our roads throughout the day, overlooking that people fall out of overcrowded trains. Someone writes inspiring stories about the resilience of the city and its people, we pat ourselves on our back and get on with our lives.
Bombay is caught in a stampede, helpless, unable to escape the merciless rush of its citizens, its politicians, cars and rickshaws, its locals and immigrants, its intolerance and hatred. Bombay has been put on the defensive due to the indifference of corrupt politicians in Mantralaya and Delhi, due to its unpreparedness to handle any situation - natural or man-made. What was once the Financial capital of India has become the Disaster capital of India.
Soon, the vultures will move in. Politicians shouting for resignations, exploiting this tragedy. The sensible will plead for calm only to be called fools. The undecided will move one step closer to intolerance. The intolerant Hindu goons will blame Muslims. Some two-faced, some helpless Muslims will say "Islam does not preach this". Until it happens again and together we hasten the transition of what once was Bombay - Global, Safe, Welcoming, Tolerant, A city of dreams - into Mumbai - Local, Rotten, Intolerant, Unsafe.
Screw our strength and resilience. Let's just be human for once. And recognize that our resilience has stealthily turned into indifference, impotence. Realize how disconnected we are from the state of our city.
Something has to be done about this. I don't know what. I don't know how. Something.
TCP/IP's thoughts are with the families of 11 cops including Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, ACP Kamte. And the 87 dead, so far. And our prayers for those still stuck in this tragedy.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Mumbai Attacked - Financial Capital or Disaster Capital of India?
Thursday, November 27, 2008
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2 comments:
You are bringing back memories of Indrajal Comics ! thank you for that !
Let me get to the quibbles i have with this post. First off, there is no need to use words like "vultures" and "intolerant Hindu goons" etc.. In the last six years, India has been the second biggest terrorist target after Iraq. If you have people loudly complaining about the weakness of the Indian state, you cannot call them unreasonable or pooh pooh them away as Hindu fundamentalists. Yes there are always people who take advantage of situations, but for every one such person there are 100's more who have genuine questions on what exactly our intelligence agencies and our Governments are doing to keep the country secure.
The targets chosen for this attack were supposedly high security places. Security was no where to be seen at both the hotels - isnt that the oddest thing that strikes you?
I am willing to wager that there are some moles in the IB who knew these attacks were being planned and probably helped the terrorists out as well.
You should ask yourself a question - do you think Shivraj Patil should remain the Home Minister given the terrorist attacks that have happened over the last 4 years, and not just today? Whether other politicians call for his head does not really matter - as a citizen, ask yourself how you can deal with the most incompetent boob that Shivraj Patil is.
I recognize the need for "something" to be done. But it first requires political will to confront terrorism head on. India is a weak state when it comes to responding to terrorism- plain and simple.
There needs to be fundamental reform of how we gather intelligence and how it is distributed to other parts of the nation.India also needs much better technological capabilities to deal with terror - it might have to take lessons from US and Israeli intelligence to deal with this situation. Clearly Indian intelligence is a laugher.
I dont even want to talk about the Coast Guard and the Navy WHICH HAVE MISERABLY FAILED. Incompetence and Impotence seem to be the two most striking qualities in this awful nightmare.
Dont worry a week from now, Bombay will go back to normal. After all, it is a city of resilient people. Besides, life does not have much value in India - it never has - no matter whether you are rich or dirt poor.
This was another terrorist attack on Bombay. nothing to see here. lets move on.
@nagarajan:
Enjoy the comics. I don't post as often now.
What else does one call them? Maybe I am too young or too naive or both, but it started with Mandal, was responded to with Mandir and there is no peace since. Forget the last 6 years, this has been going on for over 15 years and longer if you get Punjab into the mix.
But the power structure is intact. The basic issue is our indifference and our inability to hold politicians accountable, and we are never sure if the next one is going to be worse or better. We move too fast to notice what happens around us.
I wouldn't pooh-pooh away a bunch of people questioning our intelligence apparatus and our security as hindu fundamentalists, as this has nothing to do with hinduism or anything close. I would however be concerned about how this whole situation will be cleverly tilted towards labeling 150 million muslims as terrorists, and those would be the hindu goons, because what was once known as the fringe is now fully embedded.
I, like many, was not brought up on a staple diet of hatred and anti-muslim propaganda. But what was that about "a lie repeated a 1000 times ..."? While some are able to see through the nonsense, many fall prey to the propaganda, only increasing the animosity.
And yes, Bombay will move on. That's what is hurting the most now.
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