Desperation, cynicism, hopelessness, frustration, anger. Not just among people but even within the security forces and the government. Have things been ever so bad? Will things get worse or better?
Unbearable loss. (Reuters photo by Adnan Abidi.)
Snatches from conversations heard around.
Blasts in Delhi?
O, is it? … (after a long pause) So what!… When is the next and where?
How insensitive… Hey comm’n… so many people killed, injured… Families shattered…
It’s happening anyway for years now. What’s new…
Why do these blasts keep happening?
It’s so easy to set these small but effective devices off. One TV report said it takes just Rs 1,000.
After all, who is gaining from these death and mayhem?
No one.
Then why?
Because “destruction and loss” is the new mantra! Sad but true… There is so much negativity in the words of our politicians and other leaders… Look at our insensitivity to fellow human beings and the world around us… How rude and discourteous we are… Where is respect?… Look at the violence in our society, on the streets virtually every day… People attacked, vehicles damaged… bandhs, strikes… Where is positivity?Where is constructive building of society happening… who is bothered, who is even trying… who is encouraging… Pathetic…
Why is no one caught and brought to book?
For that, where is the conclusive proof that someone actually plotted and carried out the attack. Look at the number of terror attacks in the world and the number of convictions, even 9/11. Terrorists aren’t fools… they are some of the best brains around… They don’t leave clues like that… Even if they do, you think we are good enough to make use of that…? Convictions… so many politicians and people in big positions are caught and convicted. What difference has that made?
What about better intelligence gathering?
Who said that’s not happening? Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi says he himself told no other than the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 10 days back about possible blasts in Delhi?
So why was nothing done, even though the PM was informed?
When was anything done anyway, with the pile of information that must already be there?
That’s why that is the US and this is India.
Hey, how do those guys manage to keep the place safe?
There is discipline and order in their society. There is commitment to work and sincerity in even the little things they do… everyone from ordinary people to cops to officials to politicians… They care for the society they live in, not just themselves. We talk so highly of our social values and virtues and say in the West there is nothing… Actually they have more bonding and care for one another than we…
Why can’t there be better vigilance and policing here?
What all you think the police should do? Catch people who break laws and on top of that keep an eye on the garbage bins on the streets to see what people put or keep there… areh wah!
You mean we can beat terrorists also by keep our streets garbage-free?
Sounds funny… but you seem to get point… If we don’t have within us to keep our place, and society, clean… we are just creating a good breeding ground for not just germs but also terrorists…
Such hopelessness. All of us are just lucky to be alive.
Don’t forget to thank the terrorists for sparing you, for sparing us.
Sands of Change 