When you're at the end of the road and you've lost all sense of control,
When your thoughts have taken their toll and your mind breaks the spirit of your soul,
Your faith walks on broken glass....
(21 Guns, Greenday)
Last evening when I was at work struggling to complete a note on the registrations required prior to the commencement of aircraft operations in India, my co-intern got a bbm saying that there had been a bomb blast in Bombay. Soon, the office was abuzz with news confirming that there had indeed been bomb blasts in three places in South Bombay. I refreshed the NDTV and IBN websites but they did not suggest anything to that extent had happened. Then the news channels started showing live coverage from the mauka-e-vardaat.
The cellphone networks had been jammed by now and there was no way I could contact anyone. Infact, I had to ask my friend on Facebook to call up my parents. Imagine the anxiety.
My journey back home that takes nearly an hour by road and a witness to a tired city still bustling with activity, took me less than 20 minutes to cross the island city. There was an eerie silence as darkness descended upon a bruised city.
Within minutes world leaders condemned the blasts. The politicos and our Mr. Mute Singh dashed off statements saying this is a very unfortunate turn of events. We condemn the blasts. Justice will be done. OFCOURSE you condemn the blasts. Don't add insult to injury by making such pointless statements!
While my twitter newsfeed was abuzz with comments such as 'Now the city lives up to the reputation of being 'BOMB'ay' and 'Happy Birthday Kasab, hope you had a blast', there were a few other prominent people condemning the blasts calling it an act of coward while they themselves sat in the luxurious comfort of their Malabar hill home or accessing Twitter on their iPads sipping a glass of red wine waiting for a news channel to call them and try to find out what is going on in the minds of the ordinary Mumbaikar. Funny though, how Shobha De and Suhel Seth are designated as the voice of Mumbai who are supposed to have a legit critical opinion on whatever happens in Mumbai, be it the blasts or the soirees or sanitation issues.
So what did the blasts actually do? Shake the spirit of the city whose spirit refuses to die? Shaken but not stirred, you would like to believe. Not true, I say. The reason I and scores of other Mumbaikars chose not to take a leave from work the following day was because we couldn't. It wasn't because we were very resilient. It was because we were forced to report back to work or wherever it is we had to go.
While some people took it to social networking to vent out their feelings as to how Kasab should be hanged, how the perpetrators of this latest incident should be subjected to public trial, how the world has but we have and never will learn a lesson on how to combat terrorism, how it was an intelligence failure, a failure of government machinery, the list is endless...
some others thought of carrying out peaceful protest marches and candlelight vigils espousing the cause of justice for Mumbai, a city anyone and everyone chooses to mess with at a whim, there were a few good samaritans who were actually on the field, lending physical and emotional support to the victims and helping the city get back on it's feet. I have immense respect for them. The unsung heroes whose sole aim in life is not to be featured on Television talk shows wearing D&Gs and Sabyasachis.
The skeleton of the city has been fractured and repaired several times but the scars remain and I don't know how resilient it is to withstand future dents. Our government's blue eyed boy has stated that we've been able to prevent 99% blasts. Considering inspite of this we're attacked almost once every year, I shudder to think how much hatred exists in the souls of the perpetrators against this city!
