Monday, December 1, 2008

Of disbelief and helplessness??

I wanted to refrain from writing and talking about this. The last 5 days have been absolute madness with what happened in Mumbai, we all know it and its all we have been talking about. Everyone is still reeling with shock, anger and the worst of all helplessness. Usually, we see people blaming each other, other groups and sects, and even the government. But this time, everyone seems to be taking the blame. The government says that they have failed, and so are we. Now, isn't that the most confusing bit? If the citizens ourselves take the blame of not being responsible enough, what are we going to do to make things better, in effect, damage control? Isn't that the worst feeling? Of helplessness? What are we going to do? And what is going to happen? Most of us, and by us I mean my peers and the people I interact with. Did we even vote the last time? I know a lot of us who dint. Do we have the right to blame the government and say that they are not taking care of us and we need to live in a safe India? What about those of us who are not living in India anymore? I wake up this morning and see my mailbox flooded with email and my facebook home page full of events on Candle lights and walks, and gatherings and marches. I am not against such gestures, nor am I against people or groups who organize such events. But what good is that going to do? Doesn't that just reinforce our position of helplessness and fear? Light some candles, walk a 100 meters and then what? Go back home and watch the news, cry out in disbelief and voice a hundred opinions as to what the government should do? I cannot deny that I am scared. I am scared for my family, my loved ones back home and for myself as well. What can I, or even we do today? Honestly, I do not know. And neither do you. So please, do not pretend to.

6 comments:

Rainman said...

I think the candles and the walks are things people do just to make themselves feel better, so that they can think that they have done their bit, and achieve inner peace. Of course, that's just my personal opinion. Reality - there is nothing we can do, and yet, there is so much we can do. But then again, going by past history and reactions in the past, I think it is safe to say that most probably nothing much will be done, and within a few months, people will forget this incident and go back to living life as they used to prior to this horrifying incident. Sad, but true!

Ne said...

Lets see what happens.. everyone seems to have their opinion on what should be done..even when they have no idea of how politics work.That's just wrong..

Nikhilesh Murthy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nikhilesh Murthy said...

We do all this to make ourselves feel better. But the truth is, this is just a case of 'crying over spilt milk'. We weren't carefeul, we paid the price. And I don't believe the people of this country can do anything, because the kind of imbeciles we have in politics aren't going to help us either.

At least in the US, post 9/11...the Americans untied as one. They stood up as one people. They took pride in their country. They sang songs, held concerts,the usual jazz. But they did it as one.(they over-did it...but i won't blame them)

We have ourselves too to blame, because even after all these dastardly events, we will still never be proud of ourselves as a country. There will always be the whole north indian/south indian...
hindu/muslim...
Kannadiga/tamilian...
Maharashtrian/bihari...
etc.... until we can learn to unite as people....as a country.... this will continue to get worse.

This was just a rude wake up call. But I think, we'll soon hit the snooze button and go back to sleep.

Smiley Farce said...

United we stand, divided we fall. This line has to be etched on every street corner now, and tattooed on every politician's face.
Mumbai is slowly getting back to party mode now. We all seem to suffer from some mass amnesia. So..

Ne said...

@Nik and Smiley - Hopefully it will be different this time. We can get the world on our side, and its about time.