Friday, November 28, 2008

Afterwards...

Sixty harrowing hours afterwards - its finally over.

The Heroes - some sung, some unsung. The unnecessary martyrs. Those utterly wasted lives. How can one explain, justify, brush it away.

The Terrorists - Mumbai brought to its knees by teenagers, young men. How do they have so much hate in them? Why do they have so much hate in them?

The Stories - One degree of separation. The ex-colleague at Leopold (alive thank God), my maids employers brother, my friends acquaintance (dead), my other friend's boyfriend (NSG)

The Brave hearts - The tale of the Taj GM who was ushering out guests trying to save them, as his wife and kids were getting burnt. The superb ( by all accounts ) staff at the Taj - who stayed calm, professional and helpful even in the midst of this chaos. Beyond the call of duty. Grace under pressure. The real heroes.

The politcos - conspicuous by their absence - where is Raj T when people from "North" of India chose to lay a siege on his city? The babbling incompetence, the blame game, the finger pointing, the marked lack of solidarity even when India needed them to come together as one.

The Paparazzi - there is no way they can be dignified by being called media anymore - chasing TRP's even as a tragedy unfolded. The inane, insensitive questions. The dangerous "LIVE and FIRST ON TV" reporting. And also, their courage to stick it out for hours and hours in a brave, if foolhardy attempt to cover the incident.

The Armchair Experts - Trigger happy with the criticism, shooting their mouths off - while the real heroes were shooting the terrorists

The Heroes - The Marcos, the NSG, the security forces who risk their lifes under inadequate ( and often non-existent) support.

The victims - May your deaths not go in vain. May this be a long overdue wake up call. May you rest in peace

The City - Bruised. Bleeding.Shaken. Weary. Angry.But hopefully not broken.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Finally it is over. I hope, the deaths don't go in vain - I truly truly HOPE this is a WAKE up CALL!

where the heck is Raj Thackerey?! Damn HIM!

EggHe/\D said...

I just want to say this -
https://twitter.com/gryphusnick/status/1029191216

Iya said...

definitely not broken..amen..

Mo said...

I like this post, it strikes a despondent note somewhere.

I hope and pray for eventual closure - wishing at the same time, that the closure doesn't mean the incident is forgotten.

A change is needed not just for the leadership, but at the level of the society. We need to realize that the world is not a safe place anymore, and learn to be cautious - give up some freedom, which we consider our rights.
You get where I am coming from, don't you?

Cynic in Wonderland said...

Veens - I think there should be a ban on him.

egghead - yes. exactly

iya - i hope people get angry now. very angry.

yes mo. we need to give up some freedom to be safe. but that is really minor freedom actually.

Pinku said...

Raj has finally resurfaced....how he actually manages to look into a mirror is beyond me.

Why wasnt he and his sena out there helping the victims or something???

shilpa said...

And the Villains..the politicians who will stop at nothing..turning even this tragedy into a vote issue...even as the last embers are still burning...

Morpheus said...

I looked for Mr Raj Thackeray too...

Anonymous said...

Peace.

Anonymous said...

Are you referring to Major Unnikrishnan.. Was he your friend's boyfriend?? You knew him???

Cynic in Wonderland said...

Anon - nope. Not major unnikrishnan. This was someone else.

HOBO - amen to that.


Morpheus - he has been giving some press statements I believe about how his sena WAS helping .

shilpa - they are an utter disgrace. like wrecktangle said in his post it looks like they have a self destruct button. i hope so

pinku - his sena are just bullies. do u think they have actual courage?

Jay said...

Hmm...well written. The feelings of so many sets of people affected by this, minus the politicians and the media of course.

AmitL said...

Hi,Cyn-being one of those who watched the drama unfold on TV,I can just say Sighh!!I too hope that all the sacrifices will not go in vain!

Iya said...

There is something for you on my blog..go check it..

Princess Fiona said...

i have read through countless posts on the mumbai terrror strike...i havent left a comment on a single one..somehow was compelled to leave one here...well written...we all feel the pain!!!

ps - what got to me most was the caption "india's 9/11"...As if somethin like this ever needed a benchmark!!!!