26/11: Ordeal by Innocence

There are times when you feel at a loss of words. It’s like a terrible nightmare you had. You are gasping for air, struggling to breathe, battling with your own body to shout or at least let out a soft whimper so that you will be heard. It’s scary. It’s surreal.

On 26th November, 2008, at 9.40 pm Mumbaikars were jolted out of their normal life and pushed into a bizarre mayhem that seemed nightmarish. A nightmare that scarred not just the city but its resilience too. The city that never sleeps, now shall take some time to wake up from its horrendous reality. God knows how long.

26/11 shall go down in Indian history as a black day. A day that shook the country and told the countrymen that no place is safe enough. The images of those four never ending days shall haunt us for days to come and shall serve as reminders to the normlessness in the country.

All that happened on the fateful night seems like a war movie. A gory war film. Gunshots being heard in different wings of the Taj, explosions inside the Trident, people held hostages in Nariman house, people being evacuated, injuries, and bloodshed. Just that this was real. In a movie the number of injured and dead increase within a stipulated time of not more than three hours. Here, there were four long days, four never ending days that saw death and destruction at its gory worst.

It was all a blur till the NSG commandos reached Mumbai 10 hours later. It was then that Mumbai realized that it was raging a war against terror. Till then, it was a pandemonium. The Taj ablaze, with staff, guests and the terrorists inside, the trident where one could hear explosions at different places and Nariman house where innocent lives were trapped: images that can’t be erased from our memory for a long, long time. Live coverage showed us how people were being evacuated, how they moaned the loss of their loved ones who were shot at, mercilessly in front of their own eyes. We saw the majestic Taj go up in flames, we saw wing after wing being demolished, window after window looking like a burning inferno. We saw people hoping against hope for their friends and relatives fenced inside, to return to safety.

Statistics of over 170 dead and over 300 injured tell us how uncertain life in this nation has become. 170, 300: mere numbers. Each one of the 170 dead was an individual with a life of his own, dreams of his own, a family of his own.

Each of the brave men who died fighting for our safety were men of valour and zeal. Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte, Vijay Salaskar and Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan gave up their today for our tomorrow. They fought relentlessly giving up every other worry in their life, so that we did not have to give up our peaceful sleep worrying about our wellbeing.

Now that the operation is over and all but one terrorist wiped out, is it remotely sensible to call our country safe? Are we out of the perils of terrorism that are haunting the world? Is our democratic set up strong enough to stand up to terror? Why were the repeated warnings by the intelligence bureau ignored? Why did the government turn a blind eye to the notice sent by the fishing community regarding the freight of RDX? Is there any guarantee that attacks of these kinds won’t happen again? Can the Indian government come out of its petty crib sessions and face reality for once? Are we really shining and a growing power? Can the system do anything to curb the hindrances in the way of our progress?
These are just some of the long list of questions to which public angst demands answers.

The fire at the Taj and the Oberoi-Trident is put out completely. But the incident has ignited a fire in the public that shall blaze for some time. It will take more than hollow reassurances and monetary help to stifle that fire. The answers that we seek affect our lives and our lives are too precious to be lost because of our inept politicians.

I would say, we have been done in by incompetent politicians and not by terrorists. We are done in by the lack of order in the system and not by the well planned terrorists. We are done in by the sheer negligence of our politicians and not by the far sighted terrorists. We are done in by what the terrorists have and our leaders’ lack: the do or die attitude.

Shame on the government for not being able to protect its system. Shame on the government for killing our tried and tested spirit. Shame on the government for exploiting the nation’s fortitude. Shame on the government for everything that it does and everything it doesn’t.

It’s appalling to see our politicians trying to get political mileage out of this mishap. News reports tell us how banners have been put up in Mumbai, in the honour of the jawans who sacrificed themselves in this encounter, followed by the logo of a political party. Our honourable Ministers attend the funeral functions of these jawans not because of genuine concern but because ‘minister xyz’ of party’abc’ is present there. How can he not be there as well? This is not just inexplicably disgusting but a disgrace to the brave jawans too.

These are testing times for the nation and the whole world. The blame game shall never cease and it is not a solution. It would be clichéd to say that the nation must stand united and fight against terrorism. The natural question of ‘how’ arises again and ends up at the bungling politicians we have.

Its one of those times when you don’t know what’s leading to what and you feel like shouting from the rooftops at the top of your voice: “WHAT THE F?”
The question unanswered is whether anyone hears that or not. The ‘blind-eye-deaf-ear-syndrome’ is something our system has not grown out of.

So is the political bashing we see all around going to prove fruitful? Are the forced resignations by Shivraj Patil, RR Patil and Vilasrao Deshmukh going to take us any further? Can our leaders assure us of competent successors in their places? Or is it just another cover up for the unpardonable crimes by the government?
Only time can tell.

But let’s face it. Terrorism is a reality. Let’s come out of the illusion that it’s a delusion. We saw it and we are suffering. Lets not suffer anymore at the hands of these spineless ‘poli-ticks’. Let’s call a spade a spade and demand answers to our questions.

Let’s rubbish the theories our politicians make of the buoyant spirit we Indians possess. Let them know that we won’t endure anymore. Let’s demand security and peace. Let’s not be the silent sufferer’s of the ordeal.