November has been an eventful month in terms of remembrances. So much so that i have forgotten half the things that we are supposed to remember. The most noise however, was for Nehru’s & then Indra Gandhi’s birth anniversary, the Babri Masjid Demolition – thanks to the tabling of the Liberhan committee report and now 26/11.
Like practically everything else that we do — we have lost the essence and the learnings of these people and events — and have reduced all the incidents to rituals – flowers, words, tributes …. but, not much else .
The old afflictions remain :
- Our leadership is still dis united on core issues- everything is a party political issue . Political Capital is to be gained on every little event. National interest be damned.
- Corruption is still rampant – and National Security will be damned unless that is checked.
- We Still want to wail from rooftops on being the victim – it is time that we stopped being victimised and started fighting back.
- Our Media is still sensational – polarising opinion deliberately for ratings. Divide & Rule still rules
- We still don’t care about people who are not like us. Which is why 26/11 is important and other dates when people died due to terror are not. Which is why the Taj and the Trident are important, but VT is not.
- Life is cheap. the poorer the life, the cheaper it is
- We don’t believe in responsibility and accountability. It is always someone else’s fault. Always.
- Rules are for others – not for us
- And finally, the most dangerous of them all – for us talk is action. We are so happy with bluster that we forget that action is needed so that what ever we say is taken seriously.
If we want to prevent other such 26/11’s – maybe we need to introspect . maybe we need to fix things within. None of us can prevent a madman with a death wish from blowing himself up and us with him — what we can prevent is responses that make us like him.
Maybe the greatest tribute that we can give those who have died is to ensure that we don’t make cosmetic changes or have knee jerk responses — but ensure that in the long term we are a safe and secure country that doesn’t allow the murder of citizens to go unpunished
Rightly Said Gargi…you stuck the bulls eye by making this to the point observation..India is a country of rituals, rituals is what came to define us globally (before IT).
But 26/11 is one of the culminations of what what we have learned and unlearned and refused to learned and forgotten in the mist of rituals and propaganda…..Remember Delhi 29/10, 28/09….maybe not..why….because even Delhiwallas have forgotten it and may be me in the chores of our daily lives….
We Indians are always been so laidback…but is it worth it
@Gargi Madam, The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting. There is no end of this circle of violence untill matter is resolved by talking. Its our vigilant fault, they were just doing what they were told by their Wahab school of thought. We remember Independence day beacuase we celebrate it each year.. priority of dates and events changes with human nature to ‘move on’ in the life. And farmer suicide is not serious issue as no specific date is attached to it,, bloody thousand lives gone and their voice unobserved and unheard… 26/11 will only be remebered by those who had felt impact of it on their lives. Those who had resources are good in speech and talk shows,less in the accountability and others are just struggling for their day to day needs each day…
@Tarun,Its not about Delhiwallas and Indians. its the emergence of passiveness to social, religious and political issues where entertainment has taken prime driving seat in the herd mentality of the people.
Yayaver….just take a little peek in our history…we have a good history of passiveness….
Well said!
It is obvious the media exposed some of its own baseness in celebrating 26/11 the way it did.
Following 9/11, America portrayed itself as the world leader in being victims of terror. The Indian television media also for some reason felt obliged to agree to this concept, conveniently forgetting our long periods of suffering from cross border infiltration. But they also secretly desired for an event (with footage, of course) that would enable them to put India on an equal footing with the US in terms of being terror victims (at least). They needed the Indian version of 9/11, badly. They needed something that could be shown up as India’s ugliest wound from terror. Then, 26/11 happened, and Indian TV was ecstatic. People aren’t afraid to go to Mumbai one year on, though they may be scared stiff to step on Kashmiri soil; Mumbai didn’t suffer the economic ruin Kashmir did thanks to terror; but 26/11 is now the most powerful icon of India’s victimization by terror, as designed by the media. Of course, they can’t help but celebrate its anniversary. And one may be excused for wondering whether the media or terror were the greater beneficiaries from the tragedy.
Of course, the US didn’t have its gas tragedy and its mosque destruction. Therefore, it never struck us to eulogise Bhopal and Babri as 3/12 and 6/12.
Then again , survival rather than remembrances is the most pressing issue for most people,who have to worry about the price of food and clothing (something that has sky rocked in recent past). i mean the daily grind called life is exhausting enough.
Dear Harini Ji!
I discovered your blog today itself. It is very interesting, I must say.
I have bookmarked it.
And, thanks for posting the link of my article ‘The Alchemy of Identities’ on Twitter. Will be happy to hear from you.
All Best,
Abdullah Khan
Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992. Not in November. You did not have to remember it in November.