So we had another terror attack - perhaps the maddest one this time, with terrorists going berserk in the city's landmark hotels (Taj and Oberoi) plus several other places in southern Mumbai.
How many terror attacks will it take for our wily politicians to do something about the security of innocent civilians?
As I watched the stupefied media coverage on TV (with anchors and reporters blabbering on and on without giving much information, filling airtime with nonsensical commentary), I realized that in a day or two everything will be back to "normal" - with normal people and normal politicians and normal media going back to their normal routines.
I don't have a .32 like Mr Bachchan (and don't support a US-style gun culture), but I must say that technology-driven surveillance and a trained police force are essential to avoid repeated terror attacks in India. I'm afraid people will start taking things with a pinch of salt like they do in the Middle East.
One of our biggest problems (besides scheming and self-serving politicos): rampant corruption amongst policemen across ranks. (Most of us are also guilty by taking the easy way out of a situation in our daily lives through greasing their palms.)
I acknowledge and honor the courage and honesty of those who laid down their lives in saving people. At the same time, I (and every other Indian citizen) must question the manner in which the attacks in Mumbai were carried out. Either we were extremely stupid or extremely corrupt - or a bit of both.
Terror's ugly face is irrevocably masked with the filth of corruption.
Showing posts with label mumbai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mumbai. Show all posts
Friday, November 28, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Raj Thackeray’s Arrest - Mumbai's Unrest
So the cops finally got to Raj Thackeray, who has allegedly been inciting his MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman (!) Sena) workers to go on rampages beating up non-marathis around town.
I remember the day when the Elder Thackeray (Bal) was arrested by the then Deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal some time around 2000. I was eating pizza in Bandra in Mumbai when all of a sudden, shops started downing their shutters and a riotous noise came from not too far. As the pizzeria I was at downed its own shutter – trapping people still eating inside – I was wondering what the whole fuss was about. Later somebody told me that Bhuj had dared to arrest Bal – but it would be a matter of minutes before the roaring lion would be out.
In the meantime, however, lakhs of people on the street going about their work or eating pizza must suffer anxiety and risk injury at the hands of the marauding Shiv Sainiks who were livid at the incarceration of their beloved deity.
Like that time, I think this Thackeray, too, would get out sooner rather than later.
But it amuses me how the media is going rapturous with malicious delight as to how the whole arm-twisting drama between Raj and those in the raj will play out.
As Raj allegedly unleashed his goons on the city, so have the TV crews (read ‘crudes’) descended on unsuspecting viewers – giving ball by ball account of the arrest, the unrest, and the rest.
We have seen this recently before. But I can’t help thinking that Raj is able to do all his rabble-rousing because there are so many unemployed able-bodied youths in the state who, having nothing better to do, are only too happy to flex those muscles.
Rather than a Raj Thackeray, we need a Kaj Thackeray who can give lakhs of jobless people some constructive kaam-kaj (work).
I remember the day when the Elder Thackeray (Bal) was arrested by the then Deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal some time around 2000. I was eating pizza in Bandra in Mumbai when all of a sudden, shops started downing their shutters and a riotous noise came from not too far. As the pizzeria I was at downed its own shutter – trapping people still eating inside – I was wondering what the whole fuss was about. Later somebody told me that Bhuj had dared to arrest Bal – but it would be a matter of minutes before the roaring lion would be out.
In the meantime, however, lakhs of people on the street going about their work or eating pizza must suffer anxiety and risk injury at the hands of the marauding Shiv Sainiks who were livid at the incarceration of their beloved deity.
Like that time, I think this Thackeray, too, would get out sooner rather than later.
But it amuses me how the media is going rapturous with malicious delight as to how the whole arm-twisting drama between Raj and those in the raj will play out.
As Raj allegedly unleashed his goons on the city, so have the TV crews (read ‘crudes’) descended on unsuspecting viewers – giving ball by ball account of the arrest, the unrest, and the rest.
We have seen this recently before. But I can’t help thinking that Raj is able to do all his rabble-rousing because there are so many unemployed able-bodied youths in the state who, having nothing better to do, are only too happy to flex those muscles.
Rather than a Raj Thackeray, we need a Kaj Thackeray who can give lakhs of jobless people some constructive kaam-kaj (work).
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