Hi
Here is a very nice piece of writing on The Bombay Blast by Shobhaa De.. one of India's well known female journalist and writer.. maybe some of you will be interested in this:
Here goes :
Forget the spirit, it’s time to fight back
SHOBHAA DÉ
How I hate statistics. I’m staring at the headlines and turning
away from those cold, harsh numbers: 11 minutes, 7 blasts. 190
dead. I’m reading everything listlessly, my mind numb, my eyes
glazed. We already have a name for what happened last evening —
Terrible Tuesday. That’s how it will be remembered from this
moment on. “Bombay — The Bomb Blast Capital of the World,”
declares a daily, almost as if it’s some sort of a macabre boast,
a grisly achievement.
“We are with you,” Condi Rice is assuring us. So is Tony Blair.
And of course, our general from across the border, Pervez
Musharraf. Something snaps within me. Oh yeah? I say to myself.
How easy it is to utter such inanities, such platitudes.
A girlfriend calls from Karachi on my cellphone. Her number
doesn’t flash. “Private”, reads my display. Wearily, I take the
call, wondering which foreign journo it could be, sweeping down
for an appropriate quote to file the mandatory copy, more
concerned about a deadline than the dead of my beloved Mumbai. I
don’t feel like “cooperating” with co-hacks. I refuse to go on TV
channels, hastily putting the right mix of concerned panelists
together for prime time specials. I cannot, will not, be a part
of the media-circus dishing out well-rehearsed sound bites in a
safe and cosy studio.
And I absolutely will not stoop to saluting the “Spirit of
Mumbai” one more bloody time. I’ve had it. I’m up to there. And I
don’t need to draw the world’s attention to this amazing “spirit”
of ours. I want to yell, scream, protest and hit back. I don’t
want to be ladylike and generous, calm and resilient. Hell no.
And I’m pretty sure it’s this very spirit of ours that has
allowed the most recent atrocity to take place. Had we been more
vigilant, more angry, more aggressive the last time such a
ghastly crime was committed against it (2003), perhaps we would
not be the sitting ducks waiting to be annihilated with such
ease, as we were.
Why Mumbai? That’s the dumbest question to ask. And yet, so many
informed and intelligent people have been asking it since the
first bogey got ripped apart at 6.24 pm, Khar station. It is
shameful that the Union home minister should squeak his apology
after the horror of the attacks had hit home. For him to
acknowledge that there was enough information available to
suggest something major was in the offing, but that the
intelligence agencies had no clue as to where, how or what would
be the target, is a pathetic admission. If they did not possess
that most vital piece of information, what are they talking about
in that case?
In retrospect, it’s easy to claim the government agencies weren’t
sleeping on the job — but damn it — the truth is, they were! And
someone must take the rap, own up responsibility and tell us what
the next step is going to be. I suspect we’ll hear nothing, for
they have nothing to say. There is no plan in place, there is
nothing by way of disaster management, and all those
self-important mantris sitting in Delhi don’t have a clue. They
are as dazed as those hapless commuters one saw on TV, babbling
incoherently while trying to make some sense out of the
monumental tragedy.
There is a devilish method to the madness. Mumbai is a marked
city. Let us make no mistake on this score. Once we face up to
this brutal truth, we shall have to ask ourselves what to do the
next time such a thing happens. For it will. And the demons
orchestrating these terrorist attacks are not going to wait for
13 years. Or even two.
Why should they? They’ve seen for themselves how easy it is to
hold Mumbai to ransom. They know how vulnerable the metropolis
is. They’ve realised Mumbai is the safest target in the world.
Unprotected and naked. Anybody can waltz in with anything and
blow it up. Doesn’t take much. Just a few willing “volunteers”
who can nonchalantly and effortlessly move around the city,
planting explosive devices that go undetected till — Boom — they
blow up a few hundred innocent citizens. Nothing happens even
after that.
The people of Mumbai are “cho chweet”, they forget so fast — they
forgive so easily. Look at them — back at work already — not even
24 hours have passed. And see how they helped one another —
complete strangers offered their homes, shared meals, shared
emotions. Wah! Wah! Really, these Mumbaikars are amazing.
Yes, sir, we truly are amazing. And I hate us for being so.
Amazing does not mean accommodating. To hell with being
resilient. It’s high time we fight back — fiercely, ferociously,
fearlessly. Only then will I be able to hold my head high as a
Mumbaikar.
We owe our dead at least this much. Let us not insult their
memory by being passive. By being “nice”. Tough times need tough
people and tough talk. You have the city’s marching orders, Mr
Deshmukh. Start walking!