Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Mumbai bleeds again....

I have stopped watching tv tonight. I can't bear to... what's the point?The same old platitudes from politicians? The same overheated 'Breaking News' from egotistic anchors faking concern?The same ghastly images? No, thank you. It is obvious from what happened this evening that we in Mumbai, are simply not equipped to deal with ,even less combat, terror attacks. It's that... or something far worse - we don't care. For we , in Mumbai remain sitting ducks. Soft targets. How many more blasts do we need to prove our utter inadequacy and apathy when it comes to defending ourselves? When will Mumbai 'jaago'? Is it not a matter of shame that while Delhi was celebrating a meaningless cabinet reshuffle, here we were in India's commercial capital, taking another hit! One more body blow... with zero resistance. Targeting Mumbai is a cakewalk for just about anybody willing to assemble a bomb. No matter who claims 'credit' for the latest attack - this much is clear - it isn't the last one. For the truth of the matter is simply this : Mumbai is exactly as vulnerable today as it was during 26 \ 11. Nothing has changed. Perhaps nothing will. People will continue to die... and we Mumbaikars will be left to our own devices to cope as best as we can. That we do so magnificently is another story. We have no choice!
While the CM mouths the usual, trite lines ( "Terrorists have struck at the heart of India..."), and Chidambaram reels off numbers in a measured voice, over 20 innocent mumbaikars are dead. Several more injured. Not that Delhi is bothered. Wonder what R.R. Patil's thoughts are today? Remember his priceless quote in the wake of 26 \ 11 about "Bade Bade Sheheron mein..."
Here's a prayer for the families of those who lost their lives.... my God comfort them.
I was all set to watch 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara..." on friday.
It seems like a morbid option now.

19 comments:

kakaka said...

I dont want to offend anyone. But i think the terrorists are being very kind to us by not doing this everyday. Because they can get away with it.
The place looks so bloody crowded there is no place to stand. Anyone can place a bomb, how can u track them down. What can security officials do? What can policiticians do?
In all honesty a population of around 2 crores for a small island is too much!
India needs to do something about this and stabilize the growth, not just the hindu growth by the way.

goodluck said...

2 to 3 days back 2 train accidents took place. One was attacked with a remote controlled bomb.

And government cannot be in every gully. Let Anna Hazare and the civil society take over the security and make mumbai and other places safe. Civil society has medicine for every disease.

This politician bashing will not solve problems like this.

Mumbai should be decongested. the way there are milling crowds everywhere, makes it an easy target.

Why Zaveri Bazaar is targetted everytime? It has the rich jewellers. Why dont they employ security agencies for that area?
What happened to security at Opera House? Dadar faces one of the worst possible crowds all the time. Mumbai must recruit special security police on a priority basis and deploy them in vulnerable crowded places. This will boost the employment for the locals and provide massive security.

hamaarethoughts.com said...

in sorry state of affairs...Indian government
.....may the departed souls rest in peace!

Vishal Bheeroo said...

Hi Shobha
I just came from Zindagi Na Milega and was going to write a review on my blog. Got the message of the blast and it serves no purpose to assess the merit of the film which is a gud one.
Yes, you are rite we are such a soft target and lessons are not learned. We are so tired of the same old song every 2 years from ministers and CM and PM. Till there is no uprising and public anger, it definitely will not be the last one.

harmindar said...
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ritesh said...

Now, lets all sit and predict! Varying news reports will now emanate - some will say SIMI some LeT etc. Then the state will say "No actionable intelligence was received from the IB" and the home ministry will say "intel was passed on to the state govt". While the two sides are busy knocking each other, newspapers will flash with photos of badly injured people. Out of the hoardes of injured, under political pressure, newspapers will choose to print photos of Muslim victims - - to make a jurassic point - "bombs know no religions". The finally, Mumbai police will use its info network and find that Monkey-ur-rehman-fuqvi was the man responsible using Dawood Ibrahim's network. Intelligence will find out that Monkey-ur-rehman-fuqvi is connected to ISI's commander. P Chidambaram will up the ante and talk of ISI's involvement. India will raise the ante at various fora. Obama will get on the phone with Manmohan Singh ask him to shut the f*^k up and look eastwards. Two months later Rahul Gandhi (probably through Digvijay Singh) - will speak and call it Hindu terror. We will pay tribute to the dead, call Mumbai resilient. Time will pass by and the cycle will repeat again. Wanna call me Nostradamus or are you just plain stupid?

Anonymous said...

Hello PMji / CMji / HMji/ and all the other @$$holes.. morning guys.. hope you had a good nights rest on that expensive bed that you bought after marofying our hard earned money.. I just thought you might be interested in knowing that 'mumbai mein aur ek blast hua'.. I sincerely hope that some day the terrorists bomb your houses.. cant wait to see you guys Resting In Peace!! Amen!

चंद्रमौलेश्वर प्रसाद said...

Mumbai has been in the shackles of dons from ages- from haji mastan and patel to dawood and except probably reberio no one has yet tackled this issue seriously. Even police is helpless coz of hand in glove of politicians and dons. So .... the life goes on with these muscular streams.

Ashwini Sane said...

M'am, Just like the bombs the movie you will watch may be a rehash of older 'yougistan ka wow' movies.

Well, what can one say ,but we need more committed government and the spy network has to be smarter than the enemies. Local politics and Foreign politics have to be totally seperate. This sort of an attack was to be expected after things being quiet for so long. India is an easier target than other countries I suppose, they must have exhausted all other options I suppose. In all this the middle class man suffers the most.
I feel sorry for those who died.

But there is always a SOLUTION for everything but what is needed is a GENUINE DESIRE, to put things right. When will that happen? And who wil do it?

me said...
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teju said...
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Ambika said...

I am sorry to sound so cynical, but the fact is that no nation in the world is safe from terror attacks. Even our hostile neighbours. So let all the cities in India wear the Mumbai Spirit badge on their sleeves and carry on relentless. No spy/intelligence network is going to be foolproof. So lets gear up for more innocent civilian deaths. That's the bitter truth.
Criticise the Govt, intelligence networks, the lopsided machinery as long as your alive. Next moment I could be bombed and even you.
I feel terrible writing this. I have been saved from being a witness to such terror attacks even from close/far quaters. But everytime I step into a mall, theatre or a crowded bazaar for Diwali/Christmas/Birthday shopping, I look around for suspicious ppl, unclaimed bags and tiffin carriers. I don't know if I am going to come out alive.
Looking over shoulders is how we all should live.
Thanks to all the world leaders.

Unknown said...

Anna Hazaray going to start next agitation from 16 July, 11, as he anounced, in the mean time Mumbai got bloody, there might be something wrong, isn't it ?

iola said...

A story which I wrote after hearing about these blasts:

The class has begun & the teacher opens a new chapter from the Marathi textbook. It has the famous incident of Saint Eknath. The story begins with the saint coming out of the river after bathing. As he is drying himself, a Mlencha comes near him & spits on him. The Saint doesn’t react in any way but calmly goes down to the river to bathe a second time. This time when he comes out, the Mlencha is waiting on the banks for him. He once again spits on Eknath. Eknath calmly goes to the river & bathes once more. This cycle continues for a long time. In the meanwhile, a large crowd has gathered on the banks to watch how calm Eknath was. Some appreciated his calm approach to the entire situation but most were angry beyond measure. A Mlencha - how did he dare to insult such a great man?! They stood on the banks getting angrier by the minute & whispering furiously to each other. Finally the Mlencha gets tired & falls at Eknath's feet & begs for forgiveness. Eknath forgives him. The people are amazed by this entire episode & walk off whispering to each other about what they had just witnessed.



The teacher after reciting this story emphasizes to the students the importance of non - violence. Later she asks the class, "What does each one of you feel about what Saint Eknath did? Do you believe his non - violent ways were correct? Was he right in not punishing the Mlencha & letting him walk away so easily." All the students agreed that there was nothing better than non - violence. That the Saint behaved exactly as is expected from someone of his stature. It was agreed by the class in general that the story couldn't have ended in any better way.



However, one student among them rose, and spoke. He boldly said that he felt the Mlencha had been let off too very easily by Eknath. Everyone fell silent. The teacher asked the student, "Do you dare to say that the Saint was wrong in what he did? Do you question his wiseness?" The student smiled & replied politely, “I never questioned the Saints wiseness. All I said was that the Mlencha had been let off too easily. Eknath was a Saint. He did what suits him best. He remained calm in the face of provocation. He did not resort to loud screamings or verbal abuses as any commoner would have done in this situation. When the Mlencha realised his folly, Eknath forgave him immediately. However that is what is expected from a Saint. But there were people who had gathered on the banks. They were the common men, they were no Saints. What is wrong in this entire story is that the common man played the role of an onlooker when one of their reverend Saints was being insulted. What is wrong is that they did not do their duty of stopping the Mlencha from insulting their Saint. The Saint did his duty to the hilt; however the citizens failed in their duty. Their duty was not to stand there as mere spectators & wish for the Saint to act & help himself. Their duty wasn’t to stand there getting angry & whispering like the womenfolk. Anger if channelized well can work wonders.Their duty was to punish the Mlencha & set an example for any other person who might think up of more such cheap tricks in the future."



The class fell silent, some marvelling at this student’s courage to express his opinions without fear, some appreciating that this guy had dared to re - think the whole situation from a different perspective. This student went on to become the legendary Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Sawarkar!

Wish we follwed these mans teachings today rather than .....

.

Philip Verghese 'Ariel' said...

My Heartfelt condolence to the bereaved families.
Terror repeats and it looks like its going to stay here for ever.

Today again I was just watching some of the channels, They are continuing their heated debates and debates, no end to it, the so called intellects, VIPs and Politicians are always involved in to safeguard their interest with attacks and counter attacks with their words and the TV channels get their due the TRP rates and these voices some are much valued and noteworthy but sad to say the concerned are not interested to note that and they are just worried about their vote banks nothing else. No doubt in few days things will get normal, why, some channels says Mumbai is getting back to normal, the families lost their dear ones are the losers here and the politicians and the terrorists and their beneficiaries will go on with their business as usual and decide where to plant the next bomb. This is really sad, our concerned are not worried about the lost soul and the peace of the country, but they are only worried about their vote banks, Alas! This is really an alarming situation! Will there be an end to this? Will the authorities look into it seriously to stop it? Or the innocents need to be again and again become the scapegoats? These are some of the appalling questions came to my mind after the repeated terror attacks.
Sobha De thanks for sharing your concern.

Amit said...

Shobha, I saw you on CNN IBN online. I echo your feelings. Common man's life has become very cheap for our politicians. The problem with India, is that we do not have leaders we have politicians. I dont forsee any change in the near future.

Such incidents are unfortunate for common people, and it seems these have become BAU for us. Such incidents also tend to earn good TRPs for the news channels.

I also don't rule out a nexus between the cop, politicians and the people who plan such acitivities. Maybe it is a way to divert attention from the contemporary issues

dev said...

Bus petrol ke daam badhao, Gas k daam badhao, Mehghai pe discussion karo, Lokpal bill pe discussion karo,bich me Ramdev ji free ho gaye to wo charcha me aa gaye, fir sun ne ko aaya ki Kalmadi saab Jail me AC me beth k chhay p rahe hai,Rahul gandhi jab ji aaya to kisi garib k ghar me ja k 2 roti kha lete hai aur unko 1000 Rs de k aa jate hai, Bomb blast huva delhi se Mam saab and PM saab aa gaye aur dukh jataya... Bichare Manmohan ji kya bolte hai kuch samaj me hi nahi aata. Jinko jinka kaam hai wo karna chahiye. Manmohan is good wen he works as FM not as PM. Every where is like Bose D K ..... Bolte hai young generation ko politics me lao sala rahul aa k kuch bhi bolte rahte hai.kiski tarif kare samaj me hi nahi aata. Sale neta logo ne hamari marke rakh di hai...
Shobha i am a Software Engineer working in MNC, We can raise our voice but we dont hv any identity. Hum kuch bhi bole, gali k kutto ki tarah ithar uthar bhokte rahenge lekin Awaz gali tak hi rahegi. Har koi ye chahta hai ye sab na ho hame kuch bolna chahiye, log bolte bhi hai hota kya hai. Ab 2 mahino tak security badhegi baad me sab kuch normal.
No Solution. these kind of topics are only for discussion. News channel me aap ek side bologe,dusri side Javed saab aajyenge, Smruti irani aajayegi, Aue bich me betha huva BJP ko ek taraf layega and Congress ko aur 1 hi saval puchega.
1) Aapki sarkar ne kya kiya blast ko rokne k liye ??

Ans : No Ans

Wat d hell we peolple are doing ????

Now as usual i will do my work,will go home and TV on karke firse 10 din tak blast ka tehkikat sunte rahenge.

Aur yehi hota rahega.

Divya (Virmani) Chadda said...

I don't agree with many of the readers. The point here is not that Terror attacks will occur unquestionally anywhere and everywhere...the question is why Mumbai only? Why India only? 9/11 didn't occur again in US? Howcome? US army flew their' SEAL's to Pakistan, grabbed the culprit, killed him and threw him in a large sea AND came back home safely! If they have the guts to show the terror world what they are capable of, why aren't we? Why are we always the soft target? Why can't we give the most horrible death to Kasab to prove to them what we are capable of??
I feel for every common man out there and pray for the victim's families! RIP!

Latha said...

@Divya, Kasab was separated from his parents & taken away by Hafiz sayeed. If you were in the custody of Hafiz Sayeed, would you dare to disobey him ? All the culprits of 26/11 were young boys from poor families separated from their parents when young. Three fingers of one of the boys were found missing in his deadbody leaving only 2 fingers to trigger the gun. Perhaps he refused to kill. I guess this chopping off took place in front of all the boys to horrify them in case they disobeyed. You, I or anybody in Kasab's situation would've done what he did. Moreover he had to think of his parents' life as well. We should know the difference between the puppet & the puppeteer. What are we going to prove to the world by giving a horrific death to a foot soldier like Kasab ? That we are impotent to kill Hafiz Sayeed ? US would've done exactly that if this had happened to them. Why don't we give a memorable punishment to Hafiz Sayeed ? But he is a muslim. What about the minority votes ? Our politicians wouldn't do anything.