Feline Musings

They came, they shot indiscriminately, and they held a city under seige. Their nightmarish fire-play dazed and baffled people across the globe for over 60 hours, and even after it all ended the questions and the intensity of the impact continues to flabbergast and traumatize us. The political blame-game started almost immediately after the crisis passed – from intelligence failure, to delayed deployment of NSG forces, to obsolote equipment or the total lack of it, to rumors and anger, to interpretation and misinterpretation of facts, to funerals and condolenses and finally to diplomatic and political moves – we saw it all and shuddered at the very sight of it. The “conflict areas” have been mopped, and the seige is cleared, only to have the political battle-field ablaze!

The world watches as India and Pakistan take on their stands, and portfolios are shuffled at the Center, and the State government and local political honchos seek cover from confrontation. But what about the average Indian – what is his line of thought. I, for instance, have looked at it from various angles, and I am sure many common Indians would also have seen it the same way. My first thought was it could have happened to any on of us, it could have happened in our own city – even our own home and our office.

The audacity and the motivation of the terrorists were unquenchable, and no target was distant or difficult for them. I have wondered how our country would have reacted and saved the day, had there been similar simultaneous attacks in different cities across India; or even if not simultaneous, what about a cascading attack – a series of attacks that break one after the other! (And the latest email that threatens attacks in Delhi and other sensitive areas of Mumbai, is a reflection of this fear). Will Delhi have to wait another 9 hours before the NSG is transported from Mumbai to New Delhi?

I may have read too many thrillers and sci-fi novels but my fears surrounding a “red-herring” attack are not totally dumbfounded. What if the Mumbai attack was a cover-up, a preamble, a diversion of forces and national energies, while at some other edge of this big country, a bigger conspiracy is taking shape? What about the sudden firing across LOC, or the mobilization of forces at the borders, or even the political and diplomatic impact of all that has transpired in the few days? Havent we been entangled in a mesh of sorts and time and time again are worst fears are realized. The terrorists are still using traditional modes of conflict and terror like guns and grenades; what if there was a biological warfare. Is India ready to handle mass-outbreaks of deadly diseases, or even worse diseases we havent even heard of? Hospitals in Mumbai said they felt ill-equipped to handle so many dead, the dying and the injured. What would hospitals do when a deadly disease strikes? Will people be quarantined and administered treatment, or left in heaps on dirty hospital floors as carriers of further death and destruction. It’s a very grim picture, but in a country like ours it can be our worst nightmare come true.

Men walked into a five-star hotel, booked rooms and systematically stored ammunitions and explosives over a period of four days, and as one witness said, “They can go on and on!” This implies that they had ample ammunition to last a long time, and this has been pretty much proven by the fact that the seige lasted so long. My question is can anyone walk into a high-profile resedential/recreational complex and carry any illegal stuff. It speaks a lot about internal and privately managed security. It’s high time that we looked into automated and modern ways of security. Have you ever seen the private security guards at public places, or even in your office? How many of them are armed, how many of them are strong and steadfast, how many of them are actually bothered, and how many of them would actually risk their lives to stop intruders. There meagre salary of Rs 1500 to Rs 3000 affords them motivation enough to only adorn their uniforms and “salaam” the big sahebs.

This is the irony of our nation. We are such a big mix of the “haves” and “have nots”. I may not sound very nationalistic when I say this but the fact is that different incidents have different impacts on the people of India. When a bomb blast rips across a common marketplace, the affluent sigh in relief that they don’t have to go around shopping in crowded marketplaces! When terrorists raid the Taj Mahal hotel or the Oberoi, and the rich and the famous cower under tables and corpses, how does it really matter to the poor! How many in our country actually understood the implication of what happened – we were talking about a iconic structure, a heritage monument, a more than 100-yrs of history, impact on tourism, consulates and diplomats, and nearly 60% of the Indian junta in small cities and villages, wasn’t aware of the implications. For most it was drama unfolding the likes of which they watch in the movies. For many it was vindication of sorts – that for once not the poor but the affluent have been targetted.

It will take years for India to bridge this gap of ideologies, needs and aspirations between the haves and the have nots. Till each Indian doesn’t relate to incidents in the same way, we cannot hope to have a united nation in the face of adversaries. And I say adversaries, because I don’t mean only terrorism. The flood in Mumbai, and in Bihar have to have the same impact on the psyche of the people; if the crops fail in the North, the farmers have to also understand why fishermen in Orissa are fighting against industralization across the shores; and similarly India Inc has to take off their dark glasses and see the true colors of India. Incidents, such as the Mumbai terrror attacks, are reminders of vulnebralties and frailities and sadly of an India that needs to be shaken and shocked from its complacent slumber of “Alls well that doesn’t happen to my part of the world!” Remember, a Doomsday will put each one of us on the Judgement Stand.

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