Given the sports (esp. cricket) aficionado I am, it would have been unimaginable to make my blogging debut with a post that does not talk about sports or cricket. However, it was not meant to be. There has been another terrorist strike in India, more specifically Mumbai. I have been tuned in to live Internet broadcast of an Indian news channel since the last 60 hours, also pouring over any news that I can get over news websites. Now I don't live in India at the moment and don't even have an acquaintance being involved in the crisis. But I am anguished, I am tired, I am embarrassed and I am outraged.
Following is a list of major terrorist activities starting from the infamous Mumbai blasts in 1993 which resulted in widespread communal tension & led to riots across the country (Source: wikipedia):
| Date | Place | Loss of life |
| Mar 1993 | Mumbai | 257 |
| Feb 1998 | Coimbatore | 46 |
| Oct 2001 | J&K Assembly | 35 |
| Dec 2001 | New Delhi Parliament | 7 |
| Sep 2002 | Akshardham, Gujarat | 31 |
| Mar 2003 | Mumbai train blasts | 11 |
| May 2003 | J&K Army camp | 30 |
| Aug 2003 | Mumbai car blasts | 52 |
| Aug 2004 | Assam | 16 |
| Oct 2005 | New Delhi - diwali | 70 |
| Mar 2006 | Varanasi | 21 |
| Jul 2006 | Mumbai train bombings | 209 |
| Sep 2006 | Malegaon, Maharashtra | 37 |
| May 2007 | Hyderabad | 13 |
| Aug 2007 | Hyderabad | 42 |
| May 2008 | Jaipur serial blasts | 63 |
| July 2008 | Bangalore | 2 |
| Sep 2008 | Delhi | 21 |
| Oct 2008 | Agartala | 4 |
| Oct 2008 | Imphal | 17 |
| Oct 2008 | Assam | 77 |
| Nov 2008 | Mumbai | 185 |
Besides the fact that the list is shockingly long, I am flabbergasted to see Mumbai facing some of the worst strikes - repeatedly. Mumbai is the financial nerve centre of the country besides being a true reflection of the new & emerging India. Without diminishing the seriousness of any other place being affected by such a demeaning incident, how can we allow a place of such critical importance to the country being exposed to such despicable acts - time and again. What irritates me the most is the proclaimed notion of the 'spirit of Mumbai'. Apparently the city goes back to normalcy after such incidents, and it is elaborately saluted and hailed across the country. Does this really sound worthy of acclaim? C'mon people, the city is not inhabited by zombies who don't feel a thing and keep moving on. I wonder if people are really courageously moving on - I am afraid that they have given up. I wonder if the faces that don't show fear are showing resilience - I am afraid that they have simply turned cold.
Now I am not questioning the enormity of the task and I understand that it may be impossible to 'decimate' extremists harboured by hostile neighbours. But guys - what's new about this - we have known this for donkey years now. If our neighbours are not able to keep their stinking garbage from overflowing and entering our household, we can't keep on cribbing about it and let our house stink. We shut the doors and windows, we get an air freshener, or something else, but we do something about it. Similarly in this case, how much more time do we need to realize that we need to have a more robust security framework in place to ensure:
1) Our borders are not porous to such elements to move in & out of India at pleasure
2) Our intelligence forces are enabled to nip in the bud any such prospective acts
3) Our forces are prepared - in terms of man & material to handle any eventualities
4) Our citizens & more important - our media knows what to do in case of such violence
5) Our emergency services are equipped - medical, fire fighters, traffic, state police to handle such acts
6) We have dedicated teams in at least major cities who are staffed - equipped - trained - and regularly primed with drills, etc. so that they can drastically shorten the time which we take to react and address such eventualities.
Sadly I see no improvement in any of the above every time such an unfortunate incident happens. I always see:
1) Civilians on the spot lifting victims with their limbs - not sure if that makes their injury worse
2) Ambulances/Fire fighters reaching the spot late because of traffic/late communication, etc
3) Policemen on the spot with 303 rifles & no bullet proof vests while miscreants have the most advanced armoury
4) A crowd of people around the site - it not only hampers movement of forces & emergency services but is also a potential hazard
5) Media dramatizing the incidents for TRPs - not only it sounds ridiculous, I suspect it might even provide assistance to the terrorists in terms of security force's movements, position, strength, etc. when they are holed up in hostage situations. Ofcourse the media will say that on such occasions the power, cable, etc. to the hideout are cut, but my dear friends if they can have satellite phones can they not have portable satellite TVs running on batteries. Now I may be wrong but why should we take this chance, expose our forces and inadvertently make a spectacle out of an unfortunate situation.
Humans are supposed to be the most intelligent species on the planet, and the most important sign of intelligence is one's ability to learn from past mistakes and not repeat them. Hence the phrase "once bitten twice shy". The Mumbai city has had more than its share of suffering in the past few years in form of bombings, riots, floods, and last but not the least the sensex meltdown. It is time that the 'powers to be' understood that even the resilient Mumbaikars have had enough. Looking back at the tumultuous past it has to be said that it is within our means and capabilities to prevent such dastardly incidents from happening again. As India envisages to be a world power, aiming as high as putting an Indian on moon, it only needs a political will to guarantee the most basic of the human rights, the "Right to life".
