Bombay.

I wouldn’t be Indian if I didn’t write about the Mumbai terror that shook my country for three days starting on the 26th of November. I know this is really late, considering it’s been nearly 4 months since it happened.
I was talking to my best friend (who incidentally lives in Mumbai) on the phone when her sister ran into the room yelling, “Bomb blasts in Bombay!” We, of course hung up immediately and went straight to the TV.
Of course, I wouldn’t even BEGIN to anticipate the drama that would unfold in the next 60 hours…
This terror attack, it wasn’t like the others, for me anyway. I was watching the news right from the start of the horrific siege, and I really followed it, right till the end, and I guess that was why this one really shook me. As I was watching the gory TV feeds, I was so ashamed of myself – why didn’t this sadness, this grief, reach me for the other gazillion attacks on my country? Have I become that jaded just because I live in India, where so many terrorist schemes take shape?
When I heard about the train blasts in Bombay and the Malegaon blasts and the Bangalore blasts, I just tutted in sympathy for a little bit and went back to whatever I was doing. But for the 26/11, the shock and sadness hit me hard. And I was super angry at whoever didn’t share the same level of empathy for the bereaved.
Some losers (and notice the plural… there were more than one) I have the misfortune to know actually made a joke of it. A joke! Of people’s deaths! What if it were their mothers or sisters out there in the Taj huh? Their dads getting shot in the gut?
And then I guess I realized I was being a hypocrite because I didn’t give too much of a shit earlier either, but atleast I didn’t laugh!
Why does this happen to our country? Sure, India is corrupt, money hungry and has one of the highest rates of illiteracy in the world. But so what? Does that mean we pay with our lives? No sin deserves this much punishment, this much grief. It’s just not fair.
What impressed me was that the politicians didn’t sink to playing petty blame games this time. And the soldiers, the policemen! It’s like I never truly realized their worth before this. I so completely salute them, and I am so grateful to them for saving so many lives.
This of course has worsened the ever-fragile relations between India and Pakistan – but that can’t be helped really. I pity Pakistan though. Because of the bloodthirsty violence of some of its people, the entire nation is looked at as a bunch of terrorists, which is completely untrue! Some Pakistanis did shed tears for the dead in the 26/11 massacres, while quite a few Indians didn’t. I have Pakistani friends, and they’re really nice people. Don’t brand the country on the basis of its worst citizens! And the poor Pakistani cricket team will be totally isolated from the cricketing world now that none of the other countries are willing to play in Pakistan because the Sri Lankan team got banged up. But hey, how is that the fault of the Pakistan Cricket Board? Not that I blame the other countries for bailing out though, because safety is the main priority. But having said that, I do believe Pakistan should be more assertive in wiping out the many, many terrorist camps that operate on its soil.
Back to the 26/11. Lots of news channels called Taj the “symbol of India.” And then I saw this article in a magazine that said – “The symbol of whose India?” Which is so true. And this attack was way more hyped and publicized than the earlier ones. Is that because the rich got hurt?
Anyway, pray for the dead and the bereaved family. Amen. :)