A Requiem for the Victims of 7/11

We were again at stations and in commuter trains in Mumbai just after a week—7/18 at that same 6.25 pm. which once shattered us. This time with the first citizen of India APJ Abdul Kalam and millions of Indians across the country to grieve and to remember those martyrs in the cursed 7/11 in Mumbai, yes we stood—but just for 2 minutes!

Imagine one of our loved ones on that train in Mumbai and the dimensions of the tragedy suddenly hits home. There were many loved ones who perished in this dance of death, in a wider sense they were us; mindless tits for the multiple tats and on it goes.

Some otherwise ordinary people on the receiving end, blinded by anger take refuge and find justification in terrorism committed against some distant clueless humans going about their life. Terrorists become so callous in their anger multiplied many times by hate filled ideologies that they lose all sense of decency, distinction and humanity visiting carnage in distant lands on innocent people.

These incidences are going on around the world with the regularity of seasons. Many countries are perpetrators and victims at the same time. When we think of whose lives snuffed out and those that will carry the scar for the rest of their lives, our eyes well up. It is a reflection of our individual failure; we keep quite, in the face of atrocities, unjust, often for selfish reasons or false pride, and above all apathy.

It is also a reflection of our utter failure to tame our split personalities forcing us into compartmentalized thinking. As individuals we suffer and grieve and perhaps throw a few crumbs through a charitable organization for the victims or sometimes even offer our blood, but as a society we create conditions through our silence when it becomes a sin to remain mere spectator.

In the modern times with communications and transport facilities the problems of poverty, discrimination and lack of security of citizens can and should have been solved. But what we see regularly as others do with ‘fanfare’ we give a chance through our inactiveness at times when we all must stand against all form of injustice.

We have unwittingly become a cog in the deception machine. All these lost lives had a story to tell. Once in a while these decent souls make us see. We feel momentary shock and sense of dejection. At times we feel utterly helpless and guilty for every morsel we take while others in nearby houses are suffering utter indignities, but life goes on.

The tyranny of power has been with us since the dawn of the civilization. The rebellious especially if they were powerless in terms of armament fought guerrilla wars or indulged in hit and run terrorism. In modern times with the enormous power of explosives including the WMDs and the means of remote controlled impersonalized delivery systems the governments especially the rich and powerful ones became brazen in their hegemonic pursuits. The terrorists though lagging behind have kept up with the technology of destruction.

The idea that the governments have an unbridled right to crush opposition within their borders even if they are contentious, or ethnically torment or kill the pesky minorities have been proven to be unattainable. British experience in Northern Ireland (Ulster) is a prime example. British draconian (State terrorism) iron fisted glove could not subdue the Ulster, instead the tit of torture created the tat of bombings in London. The British took head and settled with the Northern Ireland on difficult but equitable term, bringing peace to both and negating the old and false truism of force.

India is a sensible country with a proud nationhood. It is not as easy to derail this nation from the mainstream system of law. We have been tested in the past and again in the cursed 7/11, we have proved we are one and just one ‘Nation’. It may not taste well to the terrorists but mind it; this is unshakable India– land of sufis and saints. And remember we are not coward but we don’t believe in prolonging the conflict.

We can bring the offenders, the terrorists to justice through legal means. Not through violations of human rights and gulags that Bush or Israeli doctrine preach. It will be a very slow and tedious process. The ushering of a new paradigm truly based on internationally recognized norms will be difficult and slow, but start we must, to reach what we the citizens of India hope for, but have never truly tried with honesty.

We know this, but just as we have learned to put our personal family tragedies behind, we will put this behind as well, and the dance of death and destruction will continue. We have been guilty of silence, and they feed on our silence. It is time to speak with voice of humanity within us. No more blood tyranny, torture and terrorism in our country.


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Of Peace and Power


You speak of war I dream about peace.
You command punish I say forgive.
You know God's wrath I seek His mercy.
You warn others I welcome all human brothers.
You say go to Hell I wish them all in Heaven.
You destroy ‘Towers’ I feel it is of coward.

You take revenge I feel need of a debate.
You say ‘everything is fair in love and war.’
I say humanity is at care now and every hour.
You bomb the ‘Terror’ I know it as your horror.
You want them death I wish them ‘have a life’.
You are proud of power I feel warmth of my love.

You search out ‘evil’ I fear you like a ‘devil’.
You dream of sword I breathe with pain of hunger.
You see the world a ‘desert’ I feel everywhere is a ‘heart’.
You want to destroy I struggle to build.
You want to go back I want to move forward.
You are busy in yourself I have forgotten even myself.

There is nothing we can share
You want justice but I want peace!!

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