Shock and Awe

Ever got weathered down by too many emotions clogging your mind and overwhelming your senses that you get numb? I am going through such an ironical state of mind, benumbed by a very shocking incident and then its after math and then, points, counterpoints, arguments, counter arguments, allegations and counter allegations…buck has not stopped yet.

Recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai and the magnitude and form of devastation was too much to bear…but barely the traumatic hours got over that the dark side of democracy raised its ugly hood. Politicians barking unnecessarily, media over-sensationalizing the sensitive matter, attention seeking Page 3 celebrities pouring all over TV screens to grab 2-minute fame on national TV mouthing well-measured and well-rehearsed words to make the lasting impression, activists in khadi kurta/pyjama/saris raising never-ending list of points, intelligence agencies of the nation looking for corners to hide and then, turning their ire towards other agencies for lapse…

Darker still is the side of Secularism, the underdog of Communalism and now Regionalism. It’s refusing to end with Hindu-Muslim differences and the problems. Tons of chain mails are churning on the Internet to spread that Mumbai is suffering the most…Mumbaikars paying the price for giving shelter to Muslims, north Indians citing such examples and explanations that it could cause riots there and then; North Indians (read Biharis and UPiites) retaliating saying none talked about CST killings but talked about 5 star hotel killings only because CST killings were mainly of north Indians. And yes, there’s another angle also, that why so much of coverage to this terrorist attack and why so much if hue and cry over this attack compared to previous attacks…because this time rich and famous got hurt..that’s the only reason, who cares for common masses.

shut up….. Shut Up…..SHUT UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

I have yet to grieve over sorry state of affairs, I have yet to mourn the deaths of innocent lives…I have yet to sympathize with the families who lost their loved ones…but where’s the time…We are trapped in the quagmire of so many other things that it belittles everything including standing united against terrorism. We forgot that terror has no religion, that bombs don’t distinguish, that lives are not cheap or expensive. This time not only they took away priceless lives and our spirit but also shook us more from the roots widening the cracking gaps between us. True, sometimes you pay lofty price for lofty ideologies…what democracy, what secularism?