Finally! Kasab! Whew!  – via Facebook.

Pretty good week for Bombay huh! as Tunku Varadarajan aptly said “India hangs man responsible for killing hundreds of Mumbaikars days after it lauds man responsible for killing thousands”. Going by my friends’ gleeful reaction on Facebook, we should have public hangings in India every week. It is as if hanging Kasab was the albatross hanging around their ‘Bharat Rakshak’ souls, and his last few seconds, writhing on the hangman’s rope just made my patriotic friends collectively cum. The two idols of my ‘Bharat Rakshak’ friends, have chipped in almost on the same lines, the Ram-Lakhan’s of our middle-compartmentalized-class consciousness.

Anna Hazare: “Its taken too long to hang Kasab. He should have been hanged in public. A public hanging of Kasab would have been a lesson for anybody who causes loss of life in our country.”

Narendra Modi: “What about Afzal Guru, who attacked Parliament, our temple of democracy, in 2001? That offence predates Kasab’s heinous act by many years.”

Anna Hazare was acting like a crusader three months back, now he is acting like a joke. While Narendra Modi is no joke, has no regrets, knows no court will touch the new emperor of the Hindu heart, and thus wants to be Prime Minister.

Ajmal Kasab who is dead now, was given due process, and legal help by the Indian state. That’s definitely something Maharashtra and Union governments can be proud of. We are not Somalia or Afghanistan or Gujarat. And we did much better than USA on prosecuting terror related cases. The Indian state can claim some more credit for the fact that they never gave up on due process in Afzal Guru’s or Kasab’s case despite the cacophony of ‘Bharat Rakshak’s on social media, and blood stained Machiavellis plotting for Delhi throne braying for more blood.

If the collective conscience of a nation becomes satisfied when one of us gets hanged without a chance to defend himself , it speaks a lot about ourselves. The instant justice ‘Bharat Rakshak’ crowd believes the state should not hold a higher moral, the state should chop off arms and if possible arrange mass stoning of corrupt politicians, that the state should be crude, just like the Indian mob psyche that swallows nation, religion, and military without chewing or tasting. Everything must be extreme – like stupidity in our movies, like spice in our food, like ugliness in our cities. Our state should be ugly, always playing to the lowest common denominator.

Now one may ask what should be done to a terrorist? Before that, does any one in their sane mind think that the threat of hanging till death will deter these sons of bitches who come here to suicide fuck us? For the uninitiated suicide squads are composed of people who are willing to die. And they are willing to give up their life because they think there is a clear moral case against India.

How about bursting that bubble of a moral case against the Indian Republic. How about forgiving Ajmal Kasab? Just letting him go. Like we know you committed a grievous act against us, but we forgive you. How would Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar spin that one? Would that pin prick their bubble? Maybe not, maybe. Here is a story –

Six years back, 32 year old Charles Carl Roberts put 20 bullets in the fragile frame of a seven year old, Naomi Rose Ebersol. He went on to kill four more kids in the Amish school massacre.

Well, the real story began after the shooting.

Today, two days after the school shooting and the deaths, one particular thing that surprises me is the forgiveness of the rustic Amish community. Not a single person from that small community appeared angry despite their grief ““ they are unwilling to accept that the killer who took those innocent lives was evil. Many of them were on the networks saying they forgive the killer, especially moving was the account of Naomi’s grand-dad at the side of her body ““ with her wounds clearly visible ““ talking about the importance of forgiving the man.

Today they had a small prayer meeting where a slain child’s mother prayed with the killer’s mother ““ maybe they talked to god about those small things only mothers talk about. The clippings on the networks were heart rendering as a small village prepares to bury their little ones. They have forgiven the man who did it all and his family is receiving the forgiveness. It is easier to forgive than to receive it with all the humility and grace ““ and Carl Robert’s mother is doing exactly the same.

But we cannot do that. We are not people of guilt and redemption, but of shame and revenge. And our state should not have a moral higher than ours. The republic should just be as knee jerk as our movies,  as loud as our food, and as ugly as our cities. Goodnight and Good luck!