Last night i was watching India beat England, when i started flipping through channels and Times Now was flashing something about a gangwar in colaba outside Leopolds' and it spreading till VT. Now I have spend my weekends of last 4 years in Napean Sea Road, and Leopolds' is one of the hang out places for me.
And suddenly it was not a gang war but a full fledged terrorist attack. Now Mumbai is not alien to terrorist attacks, but you associate bomb blasts with terrorist attacks, not terrorists firing indiscrimately outside Leolpolds' or outside and inside VT.
The Terrorists entered Taj, The Oberoi Hotel and The Trident Hotel and thus began a siege. But if you have to see the daring of these terrorists they hijacked a police van and fired on media and policemen outside Metro Cinemas. That's again where I go for movies. The terrorists also sieged Nariman house in Colaba.
The Mumbai ATS chief, Hemant Karkare leading his men from the front died in his line of duty. So did 13 of mumbai police officers. People may hate Mumbai police but it's the policemen who stand out in the time of crisis. The NSG was called in. And nearly 24 hrs later, The Taj has been sweeped clean by the army and the NSG. The Terrorists are still holed in Nariman House and I have no idea about Oberai hotel.
For me personally, this is 9/11 for India. The terrorists not only coming in Mumbai, spraying bullets all around and creating a hostage like situation. Not only that but also damaging one of the most beautiful buildings of Mumbai, The Taj's old building.
Now the question arises, how much more can the common man like me can take? How much more can India take as a country? Why does the state machinary always fail in case of a crisis? Where are the politicians? Why haven't they politicised it till now? Are we really a soft state? Will anyone learn any lesson from the last 24 hrs?
India has had its problem with Terrorism for quite some time now. But it's the same old story every time. The Terrorist attack gets its 15 minutes of fame in media and before we know it the media is back covering the latest Rakhi Sawant outburst, who's saying what behind the other's back in Bigg Boss. Everyone forgets about the attacks and life goes back to normal. No hue and cry is made for people who loose their lives in such mindless acts of violence. Will anyone look after Mr. Karkare's family in 6 months? The frank answer to this is "NO". The News channels or so they call themselves will be busy showing UFOs abducting cows and other bullshit mindless news. Is it news? Is this how media should act?
After every terror strike, politicians will come and give sound bytes. The Prime Minister will condemn the terror strike, The Chief Minister will do the same. The Opposition Leader will try to gather some brownie points and a whole new political battle will be fought. Sorry Mr. Prime Minister but I don't want you condemning the terror strikes, but I want you to take stern action. Please do something concrete and stop just condemning the attacks.
If this was happening in the US, do you think the US govt would just be condemning the attacks? Why can't we like the US in tackling terror? We aspire to be a 1st world country but how is it possible if things like this happens so frequently? US has tough terror laws and noone complains about them because they know its for their own good. When will India have such laws? I think "never". We are a proud democracy after all, arn't we? We don't need such laws because it's against human rights. After all let fellow country men die, what we care is that we cling to power or snatch power from the govt, isn't it our beloved Member of Parliaments? If, God forbid, during the terror attack on parliament one of the members of parliament would have been killed, would there be no strict anti-terror law till now?
In the end, it is the common man who suffers the burnt of these terror strikes. Not the politicians. It is the brave men like Mr. Karkare die for the safety of the common man, not the politicians. So what exactly do the politicians do? They try to use every terror strike to further their propoganda, whether it's trying to stay in power or try to come in power.
The city of Mumbai will bounce back from this terror attack. It always does. But for Godsake, please learn some lessons from this terror strike.
Be careful everyone.
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3 comments:
hey nikhil awesome blog....it really touched me man...
"And nearly 24 hrs later, The Taj has been sweeped clean by the army and the NSG"
Wrong figure....more than 2 days.. ;-)
good one by the way..FRIENDS wala
Suyash: If I am not worng, he's the gel that brings all of us together. He's a gr8 pal, got a calm head on his shoulders, quite a good person to appraoach if u want practical advice coz he'll always call a spade a spade. Train journeys have a been a lot subdued since he's been not around. He was the newspaper boy for manan and me...lol.
He's a crazy MANU fan and even has a MANU jersey with his real name inscribed @ the back. We want to see u in the tee bro!!!....hehehe Its fun catching up with EPL matches over a beer with him. Bt i hate him for getting me hooked onto beer.
at daman this dude gave us a taste of royal treatment . Our stay @ daman wud have been a different story without him arnd. Well buddy keep it up with the blogs. I miss u all at interface. Waiting to catch up with u guys. its been really long.
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