Till 2 days ago, I have always been glued to the idiot box for more than 2 days at a stretch only when the Men in Blue dressed in white flannels played some other country on 22 yards of packed mud in a stadium. But this week made me watch a Test Match of horrendous proportions. As i watched the beloved symbols of my city crumble. I lived and died with every shot, experiencing every stage of the 5 phases of death...anger, denial, bargaining, depression and acceptance. There is a lot of pent up emotion in each of us. What we do with it, is what will define us. Here is what i would like to see.
1. Dr. Manmohan Singh - You have too much to do.
a.I want a Marine BSF. Equipped with the latest speedboats and enough firepower to challenge any Mother pirate ship.
b. I want you to rattle the UN. If US had the right of hot pursue in Afganistan, me and my people have been violated. We can and we should roll out our forces of these installations in Karachi and take them out.
2. Mr. Ratan Tata - Start the Taj as soon as possible. With doubled energy and purpose. In all its splendour. Rename all the banquet rooms in memory of each staff member you lost. Turn the loss of each employee into a piece of history that every visitor will remember. Turn our pain into our strength.
3. Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai - Hold your cameras just a tad bit longer. In the mad rush to report first, many a times you report wrong. Also it serves no purpose for me to see a burning window of the hotel.
4. Mr. Hassan Gafoor - Although the 3 main cops are celebrated enough, see to it that the sacrifice of the unknown is not forgotten.
5. Mumbai & Maharashtra Police - Yes you are in a thankless position. Yes you are understaffed, underequipped and over-worked. Yes the media, the public and the politicians do not let you work as you like. But since you are already in the uniform, recognize the respect and power you have. While we all earn salaries, you unknowingly earn a lot in your lifetime. I will perish one day and be gone...but the Hemant Karkares, the Ashok Kamtes and the Vijay Salaskars live on forever. You have the opportunity, use it.
6 Mr. Dutt - I do not doubt that the NSG is the best we have. What we saw did not seem logical enough. Please come sooner the next time we need you.
Why was a curfew not imposed within a 3 km radius?
Why did a unit not storm from helicopters of all 3 buildings on day 1 itself?
Yes it ended, but the length of the ordeal shows that we are far from the best. No matter how strong the enemy is, we have to crush it in the shortest time possible. an 80+ hours ordeal merely shows our flaws.
7. Average Indians like me - Always in life, we are confronted with options - an easier one with lot of gains and a difficult one with not much gain in sight. For most of us, we opt the easier one, even if it is immoral, illegal or unethical. Our choices boomerang to haunt us. While we may have passed that day with ease, we have given birth unknowingly to a demon that will come at us more strongly in the near future. The evil is within. We need to take stock of our daily actions on a daily basis. It is an easier job to criticze politicians, police and government from the outside. This is what we have chosen to do till this day. Its time we changed tracks in whatever little way we can.
Till that day - dont send foolish forwards on 15th Aug and 26th Jan praising India as the best nation in the wold. We are not there yet...we still have to toil to reach...
Dilli..Ye Mastano Ki Dilli!!..Dilli-6
15 years ago