I feel sorry for the Congress pre-elections. I feel sorry for Ratan Tata post-Nandigram-Singur. 2008 has been unkind to them. But, though down, they are not quite out.
What about the 183 who have died? What about their families? What about the hundreds of others who will recover from their injuries but suffer from the trauma for the rest of their lives? What about the millions in a nation who will feel helplessness and fear every time they step out of their homes or lock their doors at night? What about our security forces that will have to expend time, effort and money to replace the 14 who have laid down their lives in the line of duty? What about them? What about you and me—the Bihari, the Mumbaikar, the Bangalorean, the Delhite—who waited 60 long hours for a nightmare to end and who are living with a lurking fear that it may begin again any day?
You and me—we are no intelligence experts, we are no ministers deciding on the defence budget. We are merely India’s citizens who can speak up and demand our right to feel empowered. I want to feel empowered with the knowledge that my India gives me the right to be safe in any place of the country, with the knowledge that I can have Muslim friends visiting my home without being suspected, with the knowledge that no Chief Minister will offer my family a measly crore for the loss of a dear one, with the knowledge that 25 misguided, crazed young men at a time will never again make life come to a standstill.
I do not know for sure where that power will come from. I may sound naïve when I say that I have a nebulous hope that the power might just come from you and me…from our shedding our deceiving belief that it cannot happen to us, from our shedding our apathy to take the time to look around, stay alert and reach out to all who may need us to stand by them, from our decision never, just never to let go.
Sanjana Kapoor was right when she said that this is not a war for in a war you know who you are up against. Here we are in the dark, groping for answers that will hardly help. It just might be impossible to win this battle but we need to pledge our solidarity against these forces of the dark. The sad truth is that, after all, it is a reality we will have to learn to grapple with. It is a matter of our survival—yours, mine and every Indian’s.
HERE'S A PEEK INTO MY SOUL
- COMPOS MENTIS
- kolkata, India
- if i were a man, i would mouth slogans like fidel castro and still own a private jet. since i am a woman, i let men be such hypocrites. impatient, hot-tempered, garrulous and taciturn by turns, i am also a social anomaly, an anachronism, a drifter, a dreamer and a pucca anglicized 'tyansh' from kolkata. love winding roads, the sea, books, book lovers, fashionistas, perfumes, churches, cemeteries, home-cooked food, academics, the erstwhile bangali aantel, and the smell of sandalwood, oranges and green chillies. loathe disrespectful 20-somethings, teenagers, winter and monsoon evenings, my mom crying, my dad losing, pettiness, zits, insects and navigating waterlogged streets in sarees.
AND ALSO GUILTY OF BLOGGING ARE...
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Telling Young Lives: A book review16 years ago
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Of Films and Relationships17 years ago
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1 comment:
it's really sad, you know that we live in a world where these things are so common. only when it strikes us, our countrymen that we become a little concerned.as i was reading an essay written by a student in the exam i was really surprised to find that the teenagers, whom we scold all the time for not paying attention in the class, are not just watching the terrible scenes on the tv, but they are also thinking.... feeling and experiencing the same helplessness and anger for not being able to do anything in the face of such cruelty...... then i find a solace in the thought that even if they have failed to understand what great writers say, they have nurtured in them the basic human values which are surprisingly lacking in the youth of today.........
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