All of us come face to face with different emotions...Some easy to handle some really hard to describe..I am writing about one such emotion i am going through right now which is so strong that it hasn't left me from the past couple of days...And that is the feeling of being 'numb'... Feeling a sense of hollowness and numbness after following all that s happening in our nation,our city, our Mumbai.
I have never been to Mumbai before...never really had the chance to travel...but honestly i have never felt closer to Mumbai than now. After seeing what literally is 'War in Mumbai', following it for 4 days in and out...i feel like i am in Mumbai though am far far far away from it. I ve never followed an act of terrorism soo closely like how i have done in the past 4 days.My God 4 days is such a long time...4 days of gun-fire...4 days of innocent killings...4 days of bloodshed...4 days of anxiety(for the loved ones)...4 days of ghastly activity...charring lives...monuments....and most importantly memories...
I have always read about terrorism...heard about it on television...watched it being faked on movies in terms of entertainment...but never really watched it closely to feel the pain that goes through it....
My first real encounter with the after-effects of such gruesome acts was during Sept 11th this year when i was travelling from New York to my New Jersey office..I could see people paying homage to the victims...crying for the loss of their innocent loved ones...saw the angry slogans of organisations against the brutality...the least i could do then was feel sorry and count my blessings that such an act of terror will never happen to us in future...
Well i guess i was wrong then- while i see the gruesome acts on Mumbai...devastating our financial captial...bringing it down to its knees for 4 days...makes me realise that terrorism is indeed a world-wide phenomena...anybody could be a victim of it...even as i write maybe somewhere my fate is being cornered...or maybe not...We ve all played games when we were kids...i wish i can play games with God today...wish for an Aladdin lamp...rub a genie out of it...ask for just '1' wish....to take these 4 days back in history...make it such that these 4 days never happened in our lives...get all the innocent victims back to life...bring our brave martyrs back to life...
It was soo horrifying to watch all that happened these couple of days...to watch people being killed indiscriminately..being a hostage to a carnage they dont deserve to be a part of...losing their valuable lives in a way they dont deserve to...The impact on their kin is soo strong...that i feel soo small in comparison to the people who braved it out of the act..I definetely cant say that i can feel what it would be like going through an event so horrendous...but i can definetely say that i could feel the horror...the pain(of a spectator to this event) and more importantly feel the anger boil through me....the anger on how can one value life so little and create such a massacre...
Day 1(or rather Night 1 , the 26th)- i thought it would just be something like the previous few attacks on the city which will not have a huge impact
Day 2(27 th) I read , i see , i hear the terror unfold...hear about the loss of the 3 high end cops being shot point-blank during the attack...feel horrified at the turn of events..I really wished i could have visited the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai before all this happened...wished i had seen how it is to be in a crowded CST station...wished i had seen what the place Nariman Point is all about..wished this terror would stop
Day 3(28 th) I feel totally numb...unable to concentrate at work...unable to keep my eyes of the browser opened onto the latest news...hoping..praying..wishing the carnage has come to an end...
Day 4(29th)numbness continues but with a sigh that the people responsible to this act have perished and met a similar death like those whom they had victimised.I just wish they got tortured before meeting their death.
I knew i could do very little to what was happening in Mumbai but very strangely following news,reading about the incident by the minute, listening to interviews about hostages who managed to escape free,listening to the brave acts of the employees of the Hotels(Taj and Oberoi) and constantly keeping myself learned about the situation was like my contribution to protest and detest such an act.I wish i could do more...but am glad i could pray with the entire nation and stand united.
7 comments:
The thing that is so palpable abt the whole episode is the audacity..nd the beastality of terrorists......Killin them by a simple gunshot is not enugh.......they should be put on a cross in public and then lynched till they are almost dead bt not really dead so that they atleast feel some iota of the pain they hv caused to their victiims.....
Each and every Indian is going through the same emotion you have lettered here. Yes, the degree may vary.
I'm actually not repenting that this ghastly event occurred. In fact a part of me says .. "Finally.. we will wake up" The sheer intensity and gruesomeness of this attack and the impact it has had on you, me and every SANE person has convinced me that things will change now.
How long will we sit back and watch people dying? What happened in Mumbai in the last 4 days is almost a daily occurrence in Kashmir. Is it because it has happened closer to our homes is why we are so disturbed by this? What about the Kashmiris who have been in the same mental state as we are in now for I don't know how many decades?
We need to wake up now, wake up from the slumber. The politicians will try to give us the best numbers, give us the best speculations and a lot more speeches and promises. How we bring an end to this, how can we make an impact is what we need to ask ourselves and make sure we don't let these sacrifices in the past 4 days bite the dust!
u have pretty much echoed my emotions in this post!
i just hope things get back to normal at the earliest in Mumbai.
there are multiple fears i m experiencing now... the situation is very very ripe for riots (god forbid)
just hope none adds fuel to the raging fire...
Poignant!
I believe these are the reactions of many of us who have been watching this spectacle unfold - Disbelief, Horror, and Anger!
But the question that we need to ask is what next?
Will this be a watershed event in the History of independent India? Will this be a precursor to a change?
Or will we all revert back to our "Chaltha Hai" attitude and let bygones be bygones.
My heart wishes and my mind reasons that it will be the former.
What we have just witnessed is not a terrorist attack, but a lack of leadership, governance, responsibility, priority in our society.
Our leaders have let us down!
The so called future of an Indian Superpower lies in its cities and its society. Unless we have a genuine leadership that cares and looks after its community, this future will only be a dream.
Will this be a wake-up call for our moribund society to wake up and cleanse itself off the cobwebs that pin it down?
We woke up once before, half a century ago to the cries of an ordinary man with an extraordinary vision who lead the nation out of darkness.
Its time to wake up yet again!!!
If I were to rub a genie out of a bottle, I d ask him to eradicate religious fanaticism. I simply cannot understand how the government can simply sit and watch when so many people are being killed. Its a national disgrace.
I think our government concentrates more on secular politics than on rooting out the "active terrorism" which is more like a root cause for all the problems in our country and world over. "Hindu Terrorism" is made a big news which appears to me to be a political tactic of the Congress government more than anything else.
Looking at the numbers gives me jitters. The number of people that have been killed. I am not saying that all "green labeled" people are terrorists, but they do form a (a more than)substantial part when it comes to number of terrorists. I think their religious schools need to be "purged" first! I think thats the foundation for such radical behavior on their part.
Local and global action is need of the hour. Food, shelter and clothing is no more the basic necessity of living. Religion has (unfortunately) become a part. Organized religion is what is backing global terrorism. In the name of Secularism, the world cannot isolate such dastardly acts. It is time when the world unites against "Radical Muslims". The Muslim community cannot turn a blind eye towards those people, who, in the name of religion are resorting to violence. Its a humble request from an Indian.
We decided on a secular government for free India. It is the responsibility of not just the Government, but the Muslim community also, to help cleanse our country of "Islamic Terrorism".
Indian
these are the emotions we can feel through out the country....the ppl can no longer take such events. ppl shall realise that its not enough by shouting at our politicians......they too are humans and they cant forsee such events.these kind of responses last for a short while. they mourn for the happenings for a week or two. this event also throws open, how handicapped our country is when it comes to handling terror situations. lets all stand united to fight against terror and hope for a peaceful world.......JAI HIND
what this attack achieved was what the terrorists have been trying for soo many years - attention of media... preferably western media. and they were bang on target this time...
attack on foreigners (british nationals in particular) in the business lifeline of india where there's no dearth of media coverage and at a time suitable for western media to cover it too (it started at night here when the west woke up.. so bbc started airing live feed)
we have such valuable lessons we can learn from this...
this has been eye opener abt our 'intelligence' and our special forces (im not blaming the 2 but theres lot of work to be done) and use this chance to bring intl. pressure on pakistan.
i hope this ghastly incident leads to some developments which puts an end to all of this :)
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