Whole of India was glued to television sets when Mumbai was under attack. We all were expressing anger and anguish at the happenings and how government hasn't been effective in using intelligence to counter terrorism. We all were disturbed, scared, worried about our friends and family in Mumbai. But it took one question from my American colleague to realise that none of us truly cared what happened. Some of us were on way to Chennai just 3 days after the siege ended, on an official trip and my American colleague questioned how come it was business as usual for most of us. The larger world related these Mumbai attacks to 9/11 of US and was surprised at the response of rest of India.
Yes, Mumbai did close down for those 3 days and yes crores were lost due to lack of business. But what about all of us? How many of us were truly concerned? Did any of us lose any sleep? Did we not attend the weekend party? Did we not have our planned offsites? Yes, we didn't go out to shop or to watch movie but it was more out of fear for our own lives than for anything else. For the citizens of a terror stricken country, we were fairly apathetic. After we found out that no one we knew was impacted, we went on with our lives.
I did respond to my American colleague that "may be we are more resilient", but I couldn't hep but wonder if that's the real truth!
2 comments:
I don't think we are resilient - what did we lose anyway to be resilient about? At the same time, sitting at home would not have served any purpose anyway. We went about our lives because we did not know what else to do. Of course, also because we do not really have the courage to disrupt our regular lives to really do something meaningful (not just light candles).
I don't know if things are a bit different because we are outside India, but we actually lost sleep. We actually did not go out to shop or watch movies or felt like visiting friends, even though there was no immediate fear here in Ipswich, UK. The fear, the anger was all inside.
For the first time in my life, I was ashamed to be an Indian. This is not a standard patriotic statement, I don't thing there is anything great in being an Indian, but then till now it was nothing to be ashamed of. This time, 10 people were holding my country to mockery and we as a nation (including me) could not do anything.
Resilience, spirit of the city - I wanted to slap anyone using those words. Someone on the TV rightly said - the average mumbaikar goes back to work not out of some spirit, he goes to work simply because he has to ensure he has continued two square meals a day.
To answer your question - who cares? I think everyone cares, but no one thinks he is capable enough to think of a solution and then implement it. It is not resilience, it is resignation to being a nincompoop.
Post a Comment