We can’t always forgive and forget…

Smita Mishra

Sweet are the uses of adversity, Shakespeare had said in one of his plays; now I know why. When fate strikes man hard, all faculties become numb and all finesse is washed away, leaving behind the crude basic matter. And calamity or adversity is part of every nation’s destiny. Sometimes due to the unbridled ambitions of the mighty ocean, due to the berserk movement of some willful river, at times due to the inexplicable vengeance of mindless nature and sometimes as fallout of some unknown mysterious movement beneath the earth…the wounds and scars on a country’s soul are added year upon year. And sadly each time the victim is the poor, unsuspecting man. But when this calamity is man made, when it is the result of strange ideas emanating from a few sick minds and when it is in the name of immaterial appendages to life as religion, region, culture or custom…it is the most painful. Mumbai attack was one such havoc that will remain in our memories as long as we survive. That unforgettable night of Nov 26 when we were winding up our work in office, longing to go to the quiet comforts of our respective homes after a long tiring day, reports of a few gun shots in the Mazagaon Dock area, just raised a few eyebrows. We were just contemplating whether to file the story which seemed more like a freak incident or to go ahead and eat dinner, when gradually more and more bad news started pouring in. Within an hour it was declared a confirmed terror attack and within another half hour the brave ATS chief, whom we had seen minutes before, getting ready to enter the site under terrorist occupation, was reported dead. The shock that we got was so much like seeing someone you know stepping within death’s sweep. And then for two whole nights we watched helplessly merciless flames swallowing the dear old Taj and the walls of Nariman House being battered by bullets. Public memory in India is very myopic. People have immense tolerance and they very soon forget the past. Most of us do not remember the dates when Delhi, Mehrauli or Assam blasts occurred. It is hardly three months and they have completely been wiped away from our memories. But one attack on America seven years ago is imprinted in the world’s mind as the unforgettable 9/11. But this time it was perhaps India’s 9/11. The anger and reaction of the masses was overwhelming. When people cheered at the security men going to fight the terrorists, my heart surged with pride and I could visualize at once long rows of men and women shouting Vande Mataram as the cavalcade of Gandhi, Nehru or Subhash moved across towns and villages some decades ago….but wait….these uniformed men were not leaders…they were simply the loyal faithful soldiers of our land. So where had all the ‘leaders’ gone for whom we vote every five years with the hope of bringing in some happy change in our otherwise morbid and commonplace lives? But for two days when we were covering the news from Mumbai, with half of the people remaining in office, more due to concern than because of actual need for manpower, all our leaders had suddenly vanished! We mused in amusement about the whereabouts of the messiah of Marathi Manoos and the slayer of Biharis, Raj Thackeray. In what burrow did this savior of Maharashtra hid himself, we all wondered. And then when all became quiet a few MNS workers went to some hospital insisting to donate blood, creating more mayhem and confusion. Well, but all was not quiet from Mr Thackeray’s end. His wife Sharmila messaged friends that “All those who had lost their lives while saving this city were Marathis!” The public till now was not aware that the NSG recruits were only Marathis! And the bullets of the terrorists too were custom made to hit only Marathi hearts! It gave such a bad taste to all those who saw and heard of it at an hour of national calamity, when the entire country tensely kept a watch over the Mumbai tragedy, feeling helpless and sad. How easy it was to send a cheap, tasteless SMS from the cozy confines of one’s bedroom when the city was being charred to death. If democracy is by the people, it is also for the people. Who gave these politicians such big mouths and the license to speak at will, to act as per desire? As much as the Mumbai carnage shook our souls within, the irresponsible act of these political bluffs, their shameless, insensitive statements and acts did the damage too. When the agitated women took to the Mumbai roads protesting against the horrendous carnage, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi of BJP said, “Women wearing lipsticks and powder are abusing politicians and spreading dissatisfaction”. Why should the politicians not be abused if they are not able to perform their duties well? While the Deputy CM of Maharashtra RR Patil dismissed the loss of 188 lives by saying that in such a big city such small things keep happening, Kerala CM, expressed his anger against a broken father of martyr Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan saying, not even a dog would look that way! And refusing to apologize for two days till a lot of political pressure forced him to. Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh drew flack from all quarters for setting off on a tour of the destroyed Taj hotel with his actor son Ritesh and filmmaker Ramgopal Verma at an hour so grave as this. And Narendra Modi’s frantic attempt to be the man of masses collapsed as slain ATS chief Karkare’s wife refused his ‘generous’ compensation. The naked drama of selfishness did not end here. Even as a somber Mumbai looked up indifferently to the change of guard at the state cabinet with Ashok Chavan swearing in as the new CM, Narayan Rane, maddened by the frustration of his ambition of becoming the Chief Minister dashed, could not resist showing his clout by creating so much melodrama, when the ashes of the attack victims had hardly grown cold. Our leadership has been badly exposed this time, and forgiveness should not be our way now. A shocking report, a couple of days ago, said that one in every five MLAs in our country has a criminal background. What makes us vote for such people? Has democracy made us idiotic? Or has abundance of freedom made us indifferent towards it? Or in courting life, we have married despair and helplessness? To live, we have shunned the drive to move and react. For food we have learned to accept, for comfort we have forgotten to protest and give back and for money we have turned blind to all ills! Human chains, protests, anger and agitation should continue. Let all know that the time of the underdog has come. We should refuse to be ‘common’ any more. The nation the leaders, the bureaucracy, the police is for our own comfort and safety. One Buddha or one Kalki cannot save this billion plus nation now. We all need to awaken within us our sleeping heroism and the dormant genes of greatness that so conspicuously asserted their presence during the Mumbai crisis. Let’s shun our sick leadership, let’s be locusts, whose numbers are their strength and size not weakness. Let us be fearsome, formidable and a force to reckon with. Let Mumbai not be a hurt, but an unforgettable lesson to give us the power to clear all that is bad and undesirable. Let’s not forget we are special and that……. Man’s eternal energies can make An atmosphere around him, and so take Good out of evil like the yellow bee That sucks from flowers malignant.. A sweet treasure……….