Skip to main content

post-calamity effects

Not a very happy occasion to write. Yet another page of Mumbai’s history has been colored in black ink. Yet another series of blasts! The tough Mumbai spirit was again put to test. And the strong Mumbaikar once again took control over the situation. People came out on the roads and helped their brethren. The ones who survived the blasts called friends and family to check if they had survived it too. Some emotional fools, too shocked even to make those calls, sat and cried. And the not-so-emotional fools gave them a piece of their mind. Some others made their cries loud enough to be heard by the government. The government, in turn, turned a deaf ear to people’s chaotic cries and said, “Things like these happen, they can’t really be controlled.” And for Kasab, it was actually like,
फूल क्या तेरे कदमों में हम
भेंट अपने सरों की चढ़ा जायेंगे


Done with a series of actions that usually follows such an attack! Yeah! It has become such a usual thing for us! Tomorrow morning, after the high tide of rage has passed, we’ll be back to our 7.47s and 6.20s. But what else do we do? We all have our families, our ambitions, our lives! We can’t do an “A Wednesday” in real lives. But what we can, and must do, is to channelize our energy, our anger into something constructive, let’s make it a way of life! Let’s swear today to be more alert, and not to laugh when someone checks under the seat for bombs. Let’s not make a fuss when the security guy takes 10 seconds extra to check your bag. On the contrary, let’s make sure that the security guards do their job well; we have all the rights to remind them their duty. Instead of cribbing about how the government asks for heavy taxes and never does anything about it, let’s make solid and meaningful use of tools like PIL and RTI. Not voting, because of all of them are crooks, is not an option. Throw the government out of power if you are not satisfied with it. DON’T BRIBE! Even for the smallest of the things! Corruption, even at the most unimportant level, is still corruption.

Everything said and done, change takes time. What do we do in the meanwhile? Die in blasts? Let’s govern ourselves. With the course of time, we have become emotionally and physically more independent. Let’s have an internal security system, in our neighborhood, and even in buses and trains. If we can celebrate our birthdays in train, we can come together for more serious things too. Let’s have a non-corrupt anti-corruption department in our workplaces, where both employees and customers can report about the slightest of corruption in any form.


And last but not the least, let’s live and let live. Spread love! Don’t forget to make at least one person happy everyday! That’s the only way to make this world “livable”! Care! If we care for others, we’ll think 10000 times before doing something anti-social. Pray! It might sound silly and out of context but pray that we achieve our goal soon. Let’s pray for the terrorists, too. May be that’s all that they need.
कर्मणि वाधिका रस्ते
माँ फलेषु कदाचन

Many of you might just discard this as a post-calamity-frustration-piece! But if all of us really make an effort, it seriously doesn't seem impossible to my eyes. Let's make a conscious effort this time and just see if it works.

Comments

  1. Correctly said... Let's live and let live and not Leave and let Leave... u'll be left nowhere in that case... dont leave it on others to be proactive.. be proactive!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautifully written..
    last second para very gud1..
    n yaa more importantly vl try to avoid corruption from my side atleast..:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. very nicely put into words nirali, these attacks reveal that India's
    so-called security system is incompetent.
    we all have to raise our voice for our country and for our city...

    ReplyDelete
  5. ur blog shud be put in a newspaper or a public website so that it can reach the masses....ssly ask renu if she cn do anything about it....its inspiring 2 me n if people find it so too, we all can make a difference....

    ReplyDelete
  6. well written lady.. face the sun and shadows will fall behind.. lets hope that we start doing it..may be that will end this viscous circle...
    abhishek

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

मीठा अचरज - 2

When one travels by train (all Mumbaikars take it as a given that “train” naturally implies THE local train), one always has a bagful of experiences to share, some good, some bad, some simply…strange. Today’s experience was strange but rather pleasant! I was sitting in the train, staring out of the window, when one of the ladies sitting opposite me, called out, “Ashish” (name not changed) in the direction where I could not see who this Ashish was. (Now, as a woman, when you hear a man’s name in the ladies’ compartment, the brave side of you immediately takes on guard while the timid side hopes it is just a kid that you will have to face). But I was completely taken aback to see that this Ashish was a eunuch! She comfortably came and sat next to me. I just kept staring at those two women (trying hard not to be caught while doing so), who were so sweet, so kind with her (I think it is only justified to say “her”). They started discussing everything from mundane chores to family matters t

L’Amour Courtois: Really a phenomenon of just the Middle Ages?

After the “epopee” or epic that greatly valorizes the honor of a chevalier who dies in the battle field, literature took on a new dimension, with love playing an essential role. The chevalier was now more eager to prove his worth to his mistress than to his land. It was not just important to love but win his love over the others. Almost ten centuries later, the concept of love, for men, does not seem to have changed much. This is especially true for Indian men (am not commenting on others as I hardly know any). L’amour courtois rejects all kinds of indiscretion and also any hasty confession of love, everything has to be done as per a “code of conduct”: friendship --> courtship (the most important and probably also the longest lasting stage) --> love. Is it related to the masculinity of men and their perpetual need to prove it to themselves and to others? Even in today’s age, men prefer a woman who plays the role of the Dame courtoise, or of the Indian “devi” in the Indian context