Today as we mark four years of the worst terror attacks that India has ever witnessed till date, many people, including the families of victims are still searching for answers to the reasons how and why.While its true that the only surviving terrorist was finally hanged a few days ago, I'm convinced that only a full fledged explanation to India by ;Pakistan will in some small way, help in mitigating the terrible trauma that was inflicted on one country by its immediate neighbour.
I'm using this opportunity to revisit a couple of blogposts I'd written around that time and as I looked over them, I felt the very same horror and anguish I'd felt on those days,
Pic courtesy-BBC News
The second one-
Sooner, rather than later-(1/12/2008)
I'm using this opportunity to revisit a couple of blogposts I'd written around that time and as I looked over them, I felt the very same horror and anguish I'd felt on those days,
Pic courtesy-BBC News
The first one
60 hours, 183 dead, and over 300 injured. The visible evidence of what has raged in Mumbai.
60 hours, 183 dead, and over 300 injured. The visible evidence of what has raged in Mumbai.
But what of that which is not visible, things that will remain under the surface and continue to smoulder...un-observed.
Until a tiny spark will light up the fire, once more, perhaps?
Many questions raised, some answers provided.
But the main one, as yet unanswered .How were 12 terrorists able to hold the whole of Mumbai to ransom, and where did all the ammunition come in from?
Someone....somewhere will have to provide these answers..
The second one-
Sooner, rather than later-(1/12/2008)
Today, we have a new Home Minister, and the Maharashtra CM has resigned, along with his Deputy.
The NSG finally has helicopters, and hopefully many more in the near future.
The two year old son, of a young Jewish Rabbi cries in confusion, having lost both his parents in a hail of bullets.
The ashes of the 183 dead people still smoulder...
Kerala CM Achutanandan vents his spleen on the slain hero,Maj Unnikrishnan's father, saying that if t had not been for him, even a dog would not have visited that house.
Some BJP leader objects to women "wearing lipstick and powder "and participating in a candle lit vigil, in the wake of this horrendous tragedy.
Can't help but wonder, what will tomorrow bring?
The third one
If only we all take control and follow through with our individual bit of responsibility
The NSG finally has helicopters, and hopefully many more in the near future.
The two year old son, of a young Jewish Rabbi cries in confusion, having lost both his parents in a hail of bullets.
The ashes of the 183 dead people still smoulder...
Kerala CM Achutanandan vents his spleen on the slain hero,Maj Unnikrishnan's father, saying that if t had not been for him, even a dog would not have visited that house.
Some BJP leader objects to women "wearing lipstick and powder "and participating in a candle lit vigil, in the wake of this horrendous tragedy.
Can't help but wonder, what will tomorrow bring?
The third one
Sunday, December 7, 2008
And so, towards the future..
It's been just over 10 days since tragedy struck Mumbai.
And it's a whole 'new India' that has literally woken up to that fact....
I rejoice in the fact that it's all sections of society, as well as all age groups that are involved in this silent, peaceful awakening.
In the aftermath, so many truths have come to light.
The most critical being the fact that there were security and administration failures.And repeatedly at that.
Then the fact that various politicians attempted to capiatalize on the situation, in ways that are crude and difficult to believe, even today.
Top of mind-remember Narendra Modi and his 1 crore rupees?
This is the time when all responsible Indians need to step back and think.
And think, long as well as hard.
What is the India that we would like to have? One that our future generations will be able to truly and proudly move many, many leagues further?
Or back into a regressive, and terrible situation where some of our own countrymen, will have to fear for their lives as well as their families?
Such as what happened to the Sikh community in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's murder?
The horrors of that clearly and deliberately orchestrated pogrom return to haunt us, even today...
The saving grace that I clearly saw, was yesterday, the 6th of December.
When possibly few, if any, newspapers remembered to report that it was the Anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition...
So-There is definitely hope for this great country, India.
And it's a whole 'new India' that has literally woken up to that fact....
I rejoice in the fact that it's all sections of society, as well as all age groups that are involved in this silent, peaceful awakening.
In the aftermath, so many truths have come to light.
The most critical being the fact that there were security and administration failures.And repeatedly at that.
Then the fact that various politicians attempted to capiatalize on the situation, in ways that are crude and difficult to believe, even today.
Top of mind-remember Narendra Modi and his 1 crore rupees?
This is the time when all responsible Indians need to step back and think.
And think, long as well as hard.
What is the India that we would like to have? One that our future generations will be able to truly and proudly move many, many leagues further?
Or back into a regressive, and terrible situation where some of our own countrymen, will have to fear for their lives as well as their families?
Such as what happened to the Sikh community in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's murder?
The horrors of that clearly and deliberately orchestrated pogrom return to haunt us, even today...
The saving grace that I clearly saw, was yesterday, the 6th of December.
When possibly few, if any, newspapers remembered to report that it was the Anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition...
So-There is definitely hope for this great country, India.
If only we all take control and follow through with our individual bit of responsibility