When we say ‘We will not forget’, isn’t there a tiredness to the tone?
Hasn’t the below list grown a little too long to remember?
And we are not shaken, perhaps because there is nothing left to be shaken, perhaps we are mature enough to treat terror attacks as another news item.
Many of the dead would have been waiting for that 7-0 sweep, little do they know that they watched the last ball of the series.
Going by the toll, one in about ten million Indians were directly affected. Not a big deal. But when you connect the hundred dead to faces, families, friends and neighbourhoods, and then you imagine the sudden explosion and the ugly randomness of the deaths, it gets a tad heavy. And then we change the channel.
Sacrifices are important for a cause. People die. Not a big deal. But as someone put it, when you are young you have dreams, you hope to hell and don’t want to die. All the attackers, reports say were in their early twenties. Very young. Most of them are dead, and the police will kill the rest of them in a few hours.
Guardian reports one of those young men saying “Muslims in India should not be persecuted. We love this as our country but when our mothers and sisters were being killed, where was everybody?” – I hope this is not a trick question.
A day of true heroism from the Mumbai police. They are the chosen ones, the good shepherds.
For one day, maybe for a few hours more – We are all Mumbaikars (hope Raj has no issues)
No point in blaming Pakistan, they had a suicide attack even yesterday.
Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka – there is something seriously flawed about our civilization.
It’s tiring isn’t it? the toll?
When we say ‘We will not forget’, isn’t there a tiredness to the tone?
Hasn’t the below list grown a little too long to remember?
courtesy: Guardian, Wiki.
May 13, 2008 – at least 63 were killed in 9 bomb blasts along 6 areas in Jaipur.
July 25, 2008 – at least 2 were killed and 20 injured in 8 low intensity bomb blasts in Bangalore.
July 26, 2008 – 56 were killed and over 110 injured in 17 serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad.
September 13, 2008 – at least 15 were killed and over 110 injured in 5 bomb blasts in Delhi markets.
September 27, 2008 – 1 killed and at least 17 injured in bombings at Mehrauli area 2 bomb blasts in Delhi flower market.
September 29, 2008 – 10 killed and 80 in bombings in Maharashtra and Gujarat bomb blasts.
October 1, 2008 – 0-4 killed and up to 100 injured in Agartala bombing.
October 21, 2008 – 17 killed and at least 40 injured in Imphal bomb blast.
October 30, 2008 – 45+ killed and at least 300 injured in Assam bomb blast.
November 26, 2008 – At least 101 killed and 287 injured in a coordinated attack in Mumbai.
And in time…
March 12, 1993
257 killed and more than 1,000 injured in 15 co-ordinated bomb attacks in Bombay. The attacks were seen as retaliation for earlier anti-Muslim riots that left hundreds dead
February 14, 1998
46 people were killed and more than 200 injured in 13 car bombs in the city of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The attacks were blamed on the “Al Umma” Islamist group
December 13, 2001
7 killed when five gunmen, one wearing a suicide vested, attack the parliament complex in New Delhi. The assailants all died in the attack, and four members of the Pakistan-based Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammed were later convicted for their part in the plot
August 25, 2003
At least 45 people killed and 150 injured when twin car bombs exploded, one near the Taj Mahal hotel, and the other in a jewellery market near the Mumba Devi temple in central Mumbai. No group claimed responsibility, but authorities blamed the Kashmiri Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba
October 29, 2005
61 killed and at least 210 injured when three bombs explode in markets in New Delhi two days before the Hindu festival of Diwali. A little-known Kashmiri militant organisation, Islami Inqilabi Mahaz (Islamic Revolutionary Group) claimed responsibility, but authorities blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba
July 11, 2006
At least 200 killed and 700 injuried when seven bombs exploded in crowded commuter trains during the evening rush hour near Mumbai. Police blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)
August 25, 2007
At least 42 people killed when two bombs exploded in Hyderabad’s Lumbini park and a restaurant
May 13, 2008 – at least 63 were killed in 9 bomb blasts along 6 areas in Jaipur.
July 25, 2008 – at least 2 were killed and 20 injured in 8 low intensity bomb blasts in Bangalore.
July 26, 2008 – 56 were killed and over 110 injured in 17 serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad.
September 13, 2008 – at least 15 were killed and over 110 injured in 5 bomb blasts in Delhi markets.
September 27, 2008 – 1 killed and at least 17 injured in bombings at Mehrauli area 2 bomb blasts in Delhi flower market.
September 29, 2008 – 10 killed and 80 in bombings in Maharashtra and Gujarat bomb blasts.
October 1, 2008 – 0-4 killed and up to 100 injured in Agartala bombing.
October 21, 2008 – 17 killed and at least 40 injured in Imphal bomb blast.
October 30, 2008 – 45+ killed and at least 300 injured in Assam bomb blast.
November 26, 2008 – At least 101 killed and 287 injured in a coordinated attack in Mumbai.
We forget as long as we are not hurt directly. I think that’s the problem.
Pathetic and excruciatingly painful…when is it going to end??
When politics mixes with religion these things are bound to happen. Clowns who did ‘Rath Yatras’ should have known this.
The base problem of injustice to the minority section has to be tackled and the guilty in both sides have to be punished. Till then this will be hard to be stopped. Really painful. Till 1992, we had none of this religious conflict except in Kashmir. The punjab problem was not upto this level.
Bindhu, true! and terrorism may not be as common as pollution or poverty.
Jina, yes its sad! its like somekind of war
Karthik, I agree that injustice done to marginalised minorities is double injustice. While we dont forget this bombing and chase the perpeterators, we should not forget Gujarat and its genocidal chief minsiter. Unless Modi is put behind bars, India cannot command respect or demand peace or justice.
Then again I dont think the bombings was against ‘Hindus’! It was against the Indian state of things, which still protects the Modis and Singhals, which still allows the governments in Orissa and Gujarat to continue.
Audacity is a word that has been used countless times in the past two days…In the last 48 hours of continuous images that shocked, shamed and made one shudder, an image refuses to leave my mind – Modi in front of Oberoi, speaking to the press and declaring one crore for the families of the deceased soldiers…and I thought to myself “thats a living national shame and thats as much audacity as the terrorists have shown”…
I was reading the blog and I wondered whether the distance and the uncommoness of it all make this affect us any less? If yes, then thats something we really have to worry about…because I guess that would have to make us think hard about “How is it that we identify ourselves as Indians above our million other identities of self? How do we connect to that larger feeling that makes us feel proud, ashamed and happy at the same time?”
Brahma, completely agree with you!
Also, please read the Iranian Prime Ministers statement in today’s ‘Hindu’. Makes a lot of sense !
We’re surely starting to lose count of the terror strikes on Indian soil. But I’m happy that at least this time there were signs of an impending change…Because I’ve high hopes on the character of the city of Mumbai..
If there could be a sea of change in India, it would only come from Mumbai.
We’ve already seen the citizens’ reaction and frustration at these continuous attacks on their lives and property. The citizen’s groups in Mumbai is highly strong and they will force a change at the way things are controlled now. The city will bounce back, no doubt, and when it does this time it will hopefully be with a knock out effect on some of the rotten ways of administration.
Also interesting to note that the channels have not telecast even a single interview of our clueless politicos during the operation… Hope the trend stays, and the idiotic rulers shut their traps at this difficult times for the country.
Scorpio,
Are we talking about the same Citizen groups in Mumbai who cannot do anything about those monthly floods and drainage, the same overcrowded local trains where people move like cattle? 🙂
I agree that this time it will be different because Bombay is shutdown. and nobody mentioning the ‘resilience’ word – its shell shocked!
and when you read it along with the fact that the security cover for South Mumbai was lifted just one week back, it becomes clear that the need of the hour is better policing on the ground, better security systems at core installations and foremost better crisis response. Our response was pathetic.
Then again I believe the Indian politicians from VS to LK remain very valid even now, its not yet time to hand over the reigns to Ambanis, Nilekanis,CRY and the Ford Foundation 🙂
btw VS said Kerala is safe, so I’m kinda ok 🙂
Priya,
hey there! look who s come
I’ll tell you why, I don’t have TV at home, I don’t have live images and flashing news waking me up, I don’t have Barkha Dutt asking someone whose wife has been killed how he feels like, and if that lacklustre Hindu doesn’t come tomorrow morning I am Robinson Crusoe 🙂
well…without TV you are also spared from TIMES NOW doing self promotion every five seconds in the middle of this terrible crisis…its detestable to say the least…
[i]btw VS said Kerala is safe, so I’m kinda ok[/i]
Thank goodness!
I can finally breathe a sigh of relief…At last I’ve found a safe haven in India.:)
And oh, tell him to have a peep at how the Vagamon adventure clubs are doing when he takes his bulldozers to Munnar next time.
Scorpio, 🙂
why Vagamon man, right here in Kochi, the NDF has a deluge of posters with outright ‘Madanyesque’ stuff…those guys are in for some serious shit…these politicos better stop their bickering and act. Heard Advani stayed off the all party meet tonight – this is serious bull man!
Scorpio whatever VS says (he, i thnk is a tad deluded in this sense), i certainly dont feel that Kerala is at all safe… considering the fact that our coastline in more porous and more vulnerable than any other(read innumerable deserted islets, deserted waterways, defunct marine piolicing)…the perfect, safest haven it seems for terrorists and smugglers… eg:
kolahalamaedu, vagamon…a few months back a group of 30-odd people pitched camp at Vagamon for a couple of weeks to do combat training….the locals thought they were regular hikers …heard intermittent firing and thought it was rubber estate owners practising their shooting! so much for vigilant populace.
Brahma…abt advani…guess its bak to politics once again…