This from last year’s blog post , and they say that change is the only constant !

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 other 26/11?s are to be prevented – maybe introspection will help . maybe things  need to be fixed   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