The dementors have closed in on me, but they are standing at a distance as there is a abyss between us; an abyss that has saved my soul, a soul that has been drained of all happiness, a soul that has lost its essence. And I feel bereft, I feel helpless, I feel lost and confused, for I believed that joy was the reason for existence, but I have been robbed of that very reason. The dementors are polymorphic tools of destruction, they can take on any form and shape. They will instill fear in your hearts, whether it is fear for your loved ones, or fear for your own life, and that fear will eat away your soul. These dementors are real, they exist among us today, their aim is to deprive you of your security, create chaos and wreak havoc!
Mumbai was rocked with blasts! Panic stricken people are now hiding in their houses in fear of these dementors, kids who have powerful weapons in their hands. They have no fear for their lives, their aim is to destroy, to taint the sanctity of the city, of our country. Their reasons are still unknown, their cause is yet undetermined, but what is certain is that they have penetrated into our lives with the surety of a knife plunged into a body and their goal is to leave behind pain and sorrow. It sounds dreadful, does it not? But it is true, that is exactly what they hope to accomplish. When we read children's novels, usually the villains are portrayed as different from humans as possible, it is because our subconscious will be unable to believe that a human can actually be that cruel. We can easily believe that a dementor is capable of converting a healthy individual into an empty shell, but a human destroying the soul of another sounds too horrendous to be true. I can still hardly believe it even after seeing firsthand exactly what man has become capable of! Even when we read about murderers and rapists, we classify them in a different category from all the other people that we know. Because I am unable to understand the mind of a person who is dedicated to destroy a thing of beauty, whether it is human being, or a building, or art, or a country. How can you burn down a beautiful building when you are not capable of constructing even ordinary one, when you are not capable of even visualizing an original architecture like that? How can you kill people who are doing their job, doing it well, doing it with creativity, with genuine love and joy? Each staff member in Taj who was killed, each police officer who was struck down, the son of a sweeper in G.T. Hospital who beheld the killing of his father, each individual harmed by this act of cowardice did not deserve it, they did no wrong. Goddamit, they were innocent men out to just earn a living! So how should I take this injustice towards my fellow brothers, how should I take this destruction of my city, how should I respect my government, how should I live to be happy once again?
Thursday, November 27, 2008
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14 comments:
That is exactly my point. You are thinking of them as a separate entity. You say that they are terrorists and leave it at that. What I am saying is that we need to question the very fact that they are so cruel, they have been instilled with the belief that we are their enemies. The ones who are behind it all, the masterminds are the ones who are corrupt, they are doing it for a selfish reason. But what about these young men who truly believe that somehow we have contributed to the downfall of their community. I wish to eliminate the reason for all this hatred, once we attack that there would be no reason for any killing. I know it is easy to say and difficult to implement, but if we don't even think about it, peace will continue to remain n impossible dream. These people have issues with the decisions made by our leaders, the leaders themselves don't want to take responsibility and so they label them as impractical and unreal. Then they are forced to take these drastic steps. I am not justifying what they did, but first we need to understand the reason as to why we are suffering this way.
The intensity of suffering is greater only in the recent times. The previous century has contributed to the technological advancement than in any other era.
Though we have useful things like satellite communication and telecommunication, on the flip side we have tools of convoluted conscience. Atom bombs, hydrogen bombs and what not.
A simple search in Google teaches a person, the know-hows of how to make an explosive device. Leaving aside the training camps for terrorists, we have these entities which educate people on the wrong habits to quench their vendetta.
Video Games and Computer Games. They are gateways to yet another dimension of violence and erosion of character. Not all games are bad but most contain gory scenes these days. Children love to watch it.
Schooled in this type of an attitude they turn out to be damaging individuals than the responsible citizens of a country. The shoot-outs that happen in colleges and schools abroad these days stand testimony to this fact.
Internet. Terrorism culture starts in a hacker's mindset. It enhances the urge for security exploitation. Today's youngsters are so advanced that they take personal contracts for wide scale destruction.
All of these reasons may contribute to a fraction as to why we are suffering this way. The rest hangs on the shoulders of destiny. Its operations are mysterious and not easily known.
Krishna, says in the Bhagawath Gita that, 'For the destruction of the vicious, for protecting the virtuous and for upholding the righteous, I manifest myself age after age'.
Wonder, why that has not happened yet.
It is very painful to read about your own country being torn apart by terrorists.What is incredibly more painful is when politicians make statements at press conferences about the blasts which rocked Mumbai.Wednesday night when all this happened, most of us called up relatives in Mumbai to assure themselves of their safety.What about the innocents who fell victim to the action of terrorists?What will happen tomorrow or the day after?Will anyone of us be safe in our own homes anymore?The motive of terrorists is to instill terror, and believe me, in this case, they have succeeded.
I do not know how long it will take for the media and the government to forget all this,public memory is indeed short; but I am proud of all the commandos, the national security guards and the polce who helped to bring back a few people from the terrorists and for telling the nation that maybe all is not lost, maybe some pieces can be picked up to re-build faith and trust again.
Your post was timely.It really reflected the anger and helplessness Indians faced last Wednesday-Thirsday.
There are two issues which all Indians need to come together and collectively reflect upon. And when i say "reflect upon" i, IN NO WAY, mean that the reflection is that of a memory that attempts to fade away like that of a receding shoreline. Firstly, India has to affirmatively shed its shade of being "a soft target" I feel shattered when foreigners abroad brand our country as a soft target and attempt to pass on the pity to us. India has to take stringent action as soon as possible. having said that, India has to ready all of its allies (US, UK, Israel), step up its intelligence networks and garner am exhaustive amount of proof pointed at Pakistan's direct involvement in Mumbai's terror attacks. There is already a handful of evidence proving Pakistan has aided terrorists one way or the other, and Pakistan can feel the heat closing in (that is why they have called upon their allies China, Afghanistan to support them and that is why they have increased their army forces at their borders). India has to devise a very structural and systematic plan to enter Pakistan, find the fundamentalists and terrorist group heads and kill them. Or the other alternative is declare a war against the ghastly country for a short period of time that will have them partially on their knees. This is why S.K Menon has traveled to USA to meet Barrack Obama, in person, to deliver the intelligence reports Indian Intelligence Wing has prepared, first hand ( for information sake, Obama is well known detestation against Pakistan). This seems to be the only viable answer to India's ever-rising spate of terrorist attacks because the problem does not lie with terrorist infiltration. The problem lies with those dastardly fundamentalists in Pakistan who conceive the terrorist or 'jihadi' mindset in young individuals who would be able to live normal lives until they allow these cowards to mindwash them. Lashkar -e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Dawood Ibahim....these are just some of the hordes of extremists banned throughout the world but yet continue breed in Pakistan....and how!!!!Take examples from history....Indira Gandhi, Israel, USA...India has to stop being so dramatically diplomatic in dealing with international ties not at the expense of Indian citizens. The government has to take a stand and has to assume a collective responsibility to serve its own citizens. Politicians have to shed their tainted image and understand the meaning of the portfolios they assume. Their is a dire need for all bureaucrats to selflessly work towards a goal, common to all Indians. Lastly, we as Indians have to abide by all rules and regulations and live our lives of normalcy to the fullest.
This is just a follow-up blog comment that i'd wish be published. My previous entry is not to attack a country or a religion in particular. My view is aimed at all eradicating extremists who in the name of a country or in the name of the religion carry out certain operations for their own selfish motives.
inadvertently you are serving the purpose of the terrorists, its tough but the message we need to get across is we are strong..
am reminded of a hindi verse from school
तेरी रक्षा का न मोल है
पर तेरा मानव अमोल है
यह मिट ता है ,वह बनता है
यही सत्य की सही तोल है
कुछ भी बन बस कायर मत बन .
i know its easy to say, i end up calling my loved ones asking them to avoid crowded places..
but lets try not giving them the victory in our lifetime..
@passerby
I agree with your statement that we need to be strong. This post reflected my feelings towards mankind, with respect to the loss of rationality among a certain group of people. When I look at mankind and when I think of any person, I assume that he has a reason for every action, for every thought! But this loss of rationality astounds me every time I try to delve into the mind of a murderer. This post reflected my disappointment in the image of man as a rational and logical human being.
Thanks for your comment. I hope you enjoyed visiting my blog! Have a great day!!!
@passer by
Tell me, in the event of your falling ill, would you not take some medication at the earliest to eradicate the disease that disturbs your health systems. Now, i offer you two health solutions which could help your health system:
1. Allopathic Cure : This therapeutic could cure your health problems at the earliest but your system would prone to a highly possible relapsing health attack. This happens because an Allopathic treatment, superficially, cures the problem without attempting to delve into the roots of the problem.
2.Homeopathic Cure: This curative would dig deep into your health problems and attempt to solve the health problems right from its roots.
India should be open to military action against any country which protects individuals that inflict terror into our beloved country, more so when India has concrete substantial proof against Pakistan and.....more so when President Zardari (as of yesterday) has refused to produce even a single individuals of India's 21 Most Wanted (all based in Paki). There has to be a solid integrity in the our government's pursuit of a befitting reply to this terror attack.
how about Ayurvedic.. wait for the body to cure itself and credit some herbs..
analogies make good reading material, thats all. military action is gross..it puts an economic pressure on us and it would not solve the pblm. terrorism in kashmir started in 89, iman was perhaps 2 yr old then..you kill terrorists today , tomorrow others would don that suit..
we can hurt them.. but that won't heal this illness.. the only way i see is "prevention being better than cure, you cannot stop rains, take an umbrella going out".. what i mean is.. secure our nation..
poonam, sorry for spamming your blog..i respect the fact that its your place..
@passer by
I do not mind a good discussion! I love it, in fact! So thanks!!
I do despise war, and military action is the shortest path to it, but I guess we signed up for it the day gunfire was invented. The point is that these militants have been recruited by people who are after power and they will stop at nothing to get it.
This exact thought led to this post. Why do people loose their rationality and cause destruction? Terrorism began with a bunch of unappeased people who thought that they had been victimized. So what led them towards this path of mayhem and murder? You have to also analyze the fact that some of these so called "Jihadis" are doing this all for pure selfish reasons. The question in my mind is : When does a man become so selfish and obsessed that he does not care about anyone around him?! When does he go the point of no return where he can actually kill a person without any remorse?
i agree with you that these few people have their selffish motives, but there is discontentment among individual, community which drive them to such extent..i will try to answer your question, you are true that terrorism began with bunch of unpleased people but it grew because any country in the world never tried to cure terrorism but they always wanted to destroy terrorist, they never tried to find out true cause of terrorism and solve it, its like curing the symptoms and not the disease...so when we people started targetting terrorist and not terrorism, what it did was it just started getting worse and now it has become an epidemic which is uncontrollable,
today theres no logic or sense behind a terrorist attack, some man just want to see the world burn..and unfortunately we have to live with it
have written on terrorim on my another blog..will appreciate your comments
http://wethecitizen.blogspot.com/
if you speaking about people who don't care..the society is full of them..our politicians don't care, the unaffected don't care..why we didn't care till it happened to mumbai.. what makes the terrorists different is they can kill without remorse.. and that hatred has been cultivated in them..
the fertilizers to that hatred could be revenge, religion,, poverty.. weeding this out with violent measures will breed more of this..
someone will continue to trigger them.. i repeat all we can do is protect self..not eradicate them..
I absolutely agree with you when you say we have to protect ourselves...there's no doubt about that....but what we agree on only flows in tandem till the we-protect-ourselves part.
Now, there is a big difference between the military option being hatred-driven and it being prevention-driven. If the govn. does choose war to fuel its hatred then it is very selfish of them to declare war to fulfill their own ulterior motives and the very reason of our debate will be lost. And by choosing war over self-protection im not advocating a full fledged war(see my earlier blog entries) that would burn a huge hole in our coffers. It has to be a short one, yes, war over a short period of time. And it has a lot of advantages: 1. In some way or the other the impact will be felt among Pakistan's officials and among the extremists and ultras taking refuge in the state. It delivers a strong case that they have stop considering India as cannon fodder for them. 2. Post-war, these militants are bound to go underground for sometime. And it is this time and space that the Indian government will need to rectify the millions and millions of loopholes in their administrative and security policies.
3. Pakistan WILL comply to some, if not all, conditions the Indian government desires to be fulfilled. They will be badly shaken up and in bid to re-bridge the-almost-burned-out diplomatic ties with its neighboring country. Plus, we have the solid backing of the U.S. They will aid us in any military logistics and solutions including updating the military gadgets and forces our army has.
Already Pakistan has given in to a certain extent by agreeing to arrest and hand over LeT commander Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhwi and former chief of Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence Hamid Gul, both perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, within the next 48 hours. And the U.S is almost close to branding them as a Terrorist State....
In all probability war may not be on the mind of the Indian top brass, but that solely depends on the next 48 hours which prove to be very crucial.
So, you will be able to know if your wish for no-war-but-self-protection is fulfilled over the next few days.
@UD:
Pakistan today has become a hornet's nest. leave it untouched and pray to god that we may someday live in harmony or disturb it today, bear the brunt of its painful sting and have a safe tomorrow.
what one fails to realize is that today, Pakistan has multiple centres of power. one - the govt and two - the jihadi elements. sadly, the one which actually wields the power to act is the worst enemy humanity has faced till date. the pakistani govt merely faces the consequences of the menace that the extremists create.
What then can one do in such a situation?
1. Express sympathy to the dismal state of the pakistani politics and provide financial aid to the govt to fight the miscreants.
2. invade the country, abolish the govt and set up international law and order in the state. Afterall, of what use is a government which cannot control its own ppl?
sadly, both of the available options have already been excercised elsewhere and both have failed dismally. Pakistan has been receiving U.S. aid in cash and in terms of military hardware to fight the taliban and they hv deployed those funds and weapons on the indian border. If i am correct, Iraq was invaded for the purpose of establishment of peace and security - but has become an extremist haven and the most deadly place on earth. Invade Pakistan - and you create chaos of such magnitude that the state machinery goes haywire and the nuclear discipline is compromised. In short, you make Iraq out of pakistan.
so, any crisis managers here....?
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