A Wednesday

No No – I am not writing a review of the film “A Wednesday” but I intend to discuss a more serious and contemplating event that started on “A Wednesday”. This was a Wednesday that saw Mumbai being held hostage by madmen. This was a Wednesday which saw country’s security system fail once again. This was a Wednesday which brought out “again” the utter inability or should I say impotence of the politicians to the fore.

Media has already given it a name 26/11 but this was not a single day event like 9/11. This was when Mumbai was raped, mauled, mutilated continuously for more than 50 hrs. It seemed that it would not end. I was shocked to see the attack persist throughout the day. The shock then took the form of anger. An anger mingled with sorrow for my people who were in the middle of this. My family and friends were worried about me. But all I was thinking like the rest of the mumbaikars was of South Bombay.

Now when the city is breathing again, I am sombre. I am thinking and there are certain opinions, I am beginning to form. First that our politicians are inept at their jobs. They lack administrative skills evident from the slow deployment of NSG on the scene. Second there is a disconnect between our intelligence agency and various security groups otherwise we would not have had so many bombings/ terror attacks in the year. And Third we people fail to learn from our mistakes. We forget and forgive. We will again wake up in the morning and dress up for office. We would again follow the routine. We would again take solace in the “Mumbai Spirit”. We would again be comfortable.

We can not be Gandhiji’s three monkeys. We can not afford to stay mum at this time. We want answers from the government. Why did they let this happen? What are they doing about this? And how would they ensure that this will not happen again? We can not stay blind. We have to be vigilant, eyes wide open staring at the world saying that we are watching and we will reply. We can not stay deaf. We can not let this noise pass into oblivion. Those bullets are still firing in my head. We have to think and react. Till we believe that enough is enough, “A Wednesday” will come and haunt us again.