India : Taken for granted

[Note: Long post]

It was the fifth ODI against England and I was anticipating a blistering knock from Sachin Tendulkar as he had failed in the earlier ODI. He had started well. I was following the match on internet as I was still in office. Sachin was in his 20's when I left office. By the time I came home, Sachin had scored his fifty and got out. Feeling disappointed, I continued watching the match hoping for some fireworks at the end by Dhoni and Raina, India was in the drivers seat already, but the match continued at snail's pace with India still needing another 50 odd runs. Feeling dizzy I decided to catch some sleep...... Reacting to flashes of light caused by constant fluttering of window curtains I opened my eyes and checked my mobile. It read 9:30AM, time for breakfast and newspaper. I was very eager to know how the match ended so I switched on the TV to surf some news channels but I never learnt the final score. All the news channels were beaming the same breaking news "Mumbai Under Attack". I quickly made phone calls to some of my relatives and friends to check their whereabouts and well being and to my relief no one was anywhere near the site of attack. I sat back and watched TV for almost 2 hours feeling helpless, anguished and agitated by the turn of events which unfolded. The world knows what happened next, three days of carnage. So many disturbing scenes of CST, Trident and the Taj. I associate a certain closeness with these places for the fact that I have lived in Mumbai for almost 3 years and have visited the vicinity of the sites under attack on several occasions with some wonderful memories to cherish. But the audacity of the attacks was something that shocked all of us, an inhuman act and a slap on humanity. 

The entire country was in a state of distress, suddenly the Malegoan probe and the controversy surrounding it, the general elections, England's tour of India and other top stories had taken a back seat. For the first time fear had gripped an entire nation to a point where every common man felt unsecured. 'If a place like Taj is not safe then what else is?' is what most people questioned. Several blasts had taken place in the last ten months but this attack was unparalleled. At the end of three days nearly 170 were declared dead and 300 odd injured. All innocent, mind you.

A public outcry followed resulting in sacking of a few ministers and mere words of assurance from the government with opposition parties trying to make the most out of situation in hand for petty vote bank politics. Several peace rallies and demonstrations were seen in different cities across the country. Media was busy covering the event with every news channel having different perspective to share. The government of India was busy trying to pacify the public anger and rope in as much international support to nail Pakistan as inceptive investigation showed involvement of ISI and other militant groups based out of Pakistan.

India's Homework :

Ok. So the public was angry. Some lighted candles to offer condolences for the deceased, others participated in peace rallies, some expressed anger in media and print, some lashed out at politicians and there were others, most of them, who were oblivion about the whole incident. Now the million dollar question. Who is to be blamed? Answer: EVERYONE. 

Most people took a dig at politicians blaming them for bringing the country to the state which it is in. Agreed, but are they the only people to be blamed, criticised and loathed? If they are corrupt we, as citizens, have made sure that it has spread to the very root of our society. I still drive my two wheeler without a license, there are plenty who take pleasure in jumping traffic signals, most of us give bribes to get work done faster, how many of us have a voters ID? How many of us who do have one ever use it for voting? I bet most of us dont. Why care about voting, when we feel that its best usage is as a national ID. But we still curse and condemn politicians for everything uncivilised around us. If they are responsible for wrong practises then we have been the most effective medium who have helped them propagate to all corners of the country. No one cares a damn about law and order. And rules can be bent and compromised according to our whims and fancies.  

Even as the operations at Taj and Trident were underway, a TV show was being aired hosted by Barkha Dutt with some film personalities and Mumbaikars on the obvious topic of Mumbai attacks. I found it strange that the common consensus among the agitated crowd was on compulsory military training for youngsters and refusal to pay taxes. In a land with umpteen diversities where people are fighting for reasons varying from language to land, I find it difficult to understand how we will cope up with the violence from trained civilians? Who will assure that trained population will not use the combating skills acquired to support vested interests? We have a good enough army to defend our country against any foreign dominance. Let the Indian Army do its job. Civilians dont need to know combating skills to protect the country. They can help this cause by simply being responsible and alert. Now, coming to the question of not paying taxes. How will any ruling administration work if there is financial non - cooperation? Its only going to jeopardize the functioning of the already spineless administration. Instead, citizens can monitor and ask for accountability from the current government. Mere paying of taxes is not the only duty we can do towards our nation. Consider an example of we buying a house. Do we become carefree once we make a payment for the house/flat? No. We are keen on knowing how its shaping up. We keep a check and monitor its progress, don't we? India today is a growing economy where every individual, at least those who are considered "learned" , should chip in with their contributions. If we are reluctant to contribute, we can abide by the laws, to do the least. Stop giving bribes, not indulging in malpractices, are a few examples that each one of us can surely do.

Media Responsibility:

In recent years the news channels have grown in numbers, if I may ridicule, considering the gravity of the situation, the number must be more than the underwears I have purchased after starting my career. For 59 hours continuously all the news channels aired live footages of sites under attack, debates, expert comments and what not. Each of them fighting to get their TRPs(Television Rating Point - The rating of a show represents the percentage of households tuned to a particular television show as compared to the number of television sets in particular geographical location) up. 

Some of the terrorists had called up a news channel and their conversation with a media person was being beamed on national television. The terrorists seemed to be clueless about their demands but constantly gave reasons why they have enrolled themselves for such Jihadi causes. Such conversations may help the handlers of such attacks indoctrinate more youth into joining Jihad by giving them the examples of these 10 terrorists and the sacrifice they have done in the name of Islam. And even if the militants would have stated their demands, common man and media could have done little to fulfill them. Such calls should have been directed to government officials who could have got an expert to talk with them. I think it was India TV which managed to talk with hostages inside one of hotels and managed to get the floor and room number of the hostages. The next thing they did was flash this vital piece of information on national TV!!!
I mean I fail to understand how did it not cross any of the media personnels' minds that even the terrorists would have been listening to all this. Next, all the news channels were continuously beaming pictures of the operation going on at Nariman house robbing the NSG commandos of their element of surprise. How can they pounce on every hostage rescued and ask for their reaction after the terrible experience they have gone through? How low can they stoop? Perhaps, there is no answer to it.

Thankfully, a PIL was filed in Mumbai court to ban media from showing such news live which would compromise the operation underway. The media will have to learn to be more sensible. The job of the media is to report the news not to sell it. Unfortunately they are busy selling it.

India, Pak and US:

Ever since 26/11, the Government of India has been busy asking for support from International community to pressurise Pakistan to eradicate terror camps on its soil and Pakistan has been in denial mode rebuffing any claims made by India. The United States of America has been playing significant role in easing off the tension between the two nuclear armed nations. But is this going to help India in anyway is the big question that one needs to ask.

Consider the situation the Mumbai attackers have created. First, the Indian government faces an internal political crisis driving it toward a confrontation, with public and opposite political parties, it didn't plan on. Second, the minimum Pakistani response to a renewed Indo-Pakistani crisis will be withdrawing forces from western Pakistan, thereby strengthening the Taliban and securing Al Qaeda. Third, sufficient pressure on Pakistan's civilian government could cause it to collapse. Finally, the United States' situation in Afghanistan has now become enormously more complex. Even though the US has been supporting India, the moment there will be conflict of interests between the two nations, clearly, the US will try to dominate as it has too much stake in Pakistan which it cannot ignore. 

Even with the incoming President Barack Obama, whose foreign policies are ridiculed to be meek, things show no sign of improving. Obama, through his interviews before and after being chosen as President elect, has constantly hinted that he is a pro Pakistan man and plans to send a special envoy to solve the Kashmir issue. Clearly, this move of sending a special envoy will ask India to give concessions on Kashmire theryby helping Pakistan release its tension along the Indian border and concentrate on its western border aiding the US on its mission Afghanistan. Only thing that consoles India is the fact that Obama in one of his interviews has commented that he would like to attach some strings with the financial aid that the US has been giving to Pakistan. But in any case the US is mostly looking after its interests in the region. 

As seen in last two months its just the blame game that is going on with no substantial progress.

Even after sharing the investigation details, which has been approved by FBI, the Pakis still have credibility issues. As far as I can see there can be three logical conclusions. One, the International community pressurizes Pakistan to clean up the scum on its soil, which is not likely to happen. Second, India going for a full fledged war with Pakistan. Enough we have taken their shit. Given the fact that we spend so much on our defence apparatus, if its not able to safeguard us then there is no point in having it. Time and again they have infiltrated into our soil and taken innocent lives, so far nothing satisfying has been done to avoid such incidents. But even second possibility is not likely to happen and that leaves us with the third option, to sit back and take things lying down as they are. After all, we are a selfish and forgettable nation.

Conclusion:

Even in such times people were seen ridiculing and joking without understanding the gravity of the situation. The rural India is not going to be affected much and given the condition they are in, they will not be able to contribute more. It is the educated India that will have to take the mantle ahead. Mumbai exhibited an unprecedented show of solidarity but only a few other like Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata etc. followed. Why did not the others follow? Why did not the whole of India stand together? When India won the T20 World championship the entire country was on streets to celebrate and drunken revelry followed, why cannot everybody stand united during such an hour of crisis? We always take pride in saying 'Proud to be an Indian' when India does well in sports, when some Indian achieves the impossible without us doing anything whatsoever. Perhaps, the receptionist who picked up the phone at Taj at 2 AM on 27th Nov '08 and said 'The Taj Mahal hotel. Good morning, What can I do for you? , the firemen, the defence personnel, the railway announcer at CST and many more like them 'only' have the right to say 'Proud to be an Indian'. Its not that we don't love India, the feeling of patriotism is there within most of us, it just needs to be tapped and channelised into something more actionable.

Often, since 26/11, I kept contemplating on how the hell would have Mahatma Gandhi mobilised the entire country to unite together in the fight for independence. He was a man who fought without fighting and won us the independence. In today's generation his methods might not work but  probably we need a leader like him to unite our country. Even he hasn't been spared, was he? Today's generation calls him 'Taklu'. Pity us. We are not even qualified to talk about such dignified souls.

Remembered the last scene of the film 'Lage Raho Munna bhai' where a frustrated Sanju baba says to Arshad Warsi, 'Acha hua Circuit bapu aaj idhar nahi hai.. warna inh dare hue logoan ke chehre dekh ke bahut rota woh'. How true in the current context. 

If not taken care of now... Dark days lie ahead.

Acknowledgement: A million thanks to my friend Vinay Dhareshwar for his inputs and review on my fantabulous Angrezi.