12th March, 1993: 13 bomb explosions in a matter of hours rip through the city of Bombay. More than 250 people are killed are around 1400 injured.
1997-98: 3 blasts near Jama Masjid, Virar and Malad. Around 10 dead and same number injured.
2002-03: 2 blasts in Ghatkopar, Gateway Of India, Zaveri Bazaar, in a train near Mulund Station, Vile Parle, Bandra. Around 70 people killed and more than 350 injured.
11th July, 2006: 7 blasts in first class compartments of Suburban trains in a span of 20 minutes. 181 killed and 890 injured.
So that is a collective loss of more than 500 lives and more than 1200 injured.
WHY am i stating these facts??? Simply because I am sick of them. Simply because I am sick of living with the constant fear that I dont know whether I will come home everytime I leave my house. Simply because its probably one of the worst ways to die...and also because i believe its time WE did something about it.
You know, one of the worst things that we CAN do, is to put up a brave face and go to work the next day. I am so sick of the term "Spirit of Mumbai" being splashed around sub-grade and low standard news channels by reporters who dont care what happens to the people around them. After every blast that happens, you are so sure that this is going to be the headline of yet another article about how the rest of the 17 million mumbaikars got up the next day and went to work/school/hell...
WHAT is the matter with us??? Have we become so stone-hearted that the first thing we do after the bomb blast is to return to work??? Have we started portraying selfishness and cowardice as resilience??? DONT WE FEEL ANYTHING????
The so-called Great Thinkers of society argue on prime time debate shows that this is all we can do...what else should we do they say??? leave everything and sit at home??? isnt that what the terrorists want?? that we should give up our jobs and be afraid of them?? How can we let them WIN???
But i often wonder...does neglecting all that is happening around you and going to watch a movie in the same locality or travelling by the same train mean that you are actually DEFEATING the terrorists???If that was the case...shouldn't the blasts have stopped by now???I mean we have DEFEATED them a lot many times already haven't we???Surely they must have learnt their lessons by now...
I think the basic problem is that we have forgotten WHY we are human....You remember reading in your 7th standard Science textbook..."Man is a Social Animal"...If you did not know...the keyword there was SOCIAL...what makes humans HUMAN is their ability to live in a society...to care for each otehr...to SHARE each others emotions and feelings...
Yet all we care about is not losing a day's salary because of a blast that happened in some metropolitan 1500 kms. away from me...Why should i care about the 30 people who died in Delhi...I did not know any of them..Did i???
I think its time to stop PRETENDING that we care about what happens to the semblance of humanity that still exists around us...I think its time to actually do something about it..
What can be done???
Well...firstly stop creating a bias in your own mind...stop treating people differently...we are all made up of the same matter and you cannot take that fact away inspite of engraving divisions of Caste, Gender, Nationality on our superficial existence.
Secondly, be a part of the SOLUTION, not the problem. Use the diversity that exists amongst cultures to LEARN various things, not to demean others on the basis of what they practise or preach.
The most important thing...VOTE!!!be responsible for the people who Govern you and they will be responsible and answerable to you. After you vote take an active participation and show some interest in the things that happen around you. Become involved in a group..and if none exists..establish one that questions the local corporator of your area regularly. The last time i heard India was still a Democracy...why dont we USE it?
Question the media too...the role of media is to inform and educate..not to sensationalise the happenings and to point fingers.
And last but not the least..MEDITATE...I know a lot of you sceptics will frown at this and call me names..but MEDITATION is one of the most powerful ways to remove the negativity in the atmosphere. Just like the environment can affect you...Even you have the ability to affect the environment...If more and more people meditate the BAD of the world HAS TO reduce...Believe me people...WE have the ability in us to stop anything...its just a matter of realising that potential and utilising it...
If we really want to demolish the concept of the pseudo-spirit that we are holding on to...its time we showed the world what TRUE spirit means....
I am sure going to give it a shot...
Because I dont want to see anymore bloody bodies splashed around on the front page of the newspaper once a month...
Because I still believe in humanity...
P.S I got a lot of inspiraton for this one from Bawa's post about the same issue. Do read that also.
