I feel extremely jaded writing about this, especially when I am not writing about anything else otherwise, but this just has to be said. Another terrorist attack on this country shouldn’t be that big a deal given the fact that we have one every other month, but then I guess this has gone too far.
The terrorist menace that the city of Mumbai and this country has been dealing with for over the past twenty-four hours just changes the dynamics of everything. I consider myself to be fairly desensitized against information about crimes against humanity, like terrorism for one, as long as personal kin is uninvolved. But with things turning out the way they have, I’m experiencing a plethora of new feelings.
Of course, I’m angry. And frustrated. It is only human to feel those things. But more than anger or frustration, what bothers me is a feeling of helplessness. A feeling that we are being subdued. That we are being personally violated. And that we can do nothing about it. This is disturbing. And I’m horrified.
All recent terror attacks in major Indian cities shared one common facet. To use a cliched expression, they were all acts of cowardice. No, I mean seriously. You plant 8-10 bombs in different areas using anonymous vehicles and innocuous items without drawing too much attention. The bombs go off. You have fled by then. You may get caught later but then that is just a risk you take. On the other hand you may not get punished at all.
This is different. This involves you taking to the streets, hotels, railway stations and other public places with an array of sophisticated weapons in your backpack and a smile on your face. You personally killing as many ordinary people as you can, fully comfortable with the knowledge that you are going down yourself soon. It is one thing to dream of something like this when you are feeling particularly evil, or another if you are playing a modern-day first person shooter. But this is reality - You can’t respawn here.
You can’t be a coward if you do this in real life. You must have serious balls. Either that, or you must be completely mental. Whatever be your reason, this scares me. And it scares everyone, more than it should.
